a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment
mk  ·  4674 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: How English sounds to non-English speakers -- a short film in fake English
Magalone mieshit! -LOL

A German friend of mine once told me what Midwestern English speakers sound like to her. It was basically: "wee ta wi ri a we". I told her that German sounds something like "bloff grush liben" to us.

My wife is Chinese, and I work with a lot of Mandarin speakers. I recall when I first heard Mandarin, I couldn't tell where one word stopped and the next one began. It's weird, but my brain hears it completely differently now. Even though I only understand a small amount of Mandarin, my brain breaks up the sounds into words somewhat automatically.