(begins at 1.26)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E77HpMMbDYc I do speak english as a second (third) language... if I don't concentrate or look at the video but hear it in the background and somebody asked me I would say they are speaking english.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adriano_Celentano I'll just post some songs that I listen often (for more of him see the singles list from wikipedia page). Adriano Celentano - Soli http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLRtU0iUAQ4 Adriano Celentano - Susanna http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sRh4c9yyIk Adriano Celentano - IL tempo Se Ne Va http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmmKcQ5ZsUk Adriano Celentano & Mina - Acqua e Sale
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.
This also happens with children. It seems they first learn to hear the sounds of a language before they are able to speak it. Take this example: So the child hears the difference between the s and th, even though she can't pronounce it herself.Recently a three year old child told me her name was Litha. I answered "Litha?" "No, Litha." "Oh, Lisa." "Yes, Litha."
Language Log did a post about this film some time ago. Be sure to check out that "British Movie" link. http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3514 As eb, I too speak english as a second language. So, yeah, thenewgreen, that sounds like english to me, probably because of the rhythm and the sounds they use.
Just showed this to a friend the other night. It's a go-to vid for me to introduce to people. I really enjoy watching it. Great acting, great concept and cool music. I wonder what made them choose the song? Could it be that it stands as contrast to the "english" being spoken? If so, it's a good call... it works.
Ha, I didn't even realize the song was in a different language. I thought it was made up, too! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckwnRT9RCmg It's beautiful, isn't it? I don't know why they chose it, but I want to find more music like this.