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caio · 4426 days ago · link · · parent · post: How English sounds to non-English speakers -- a short film in fake English
That's awesome. If I may speculate, I think what happened is your brain picked up the phonological structure of mandarin. In other words, even though you can't quite understand it, you now know what sounds are used in mandarin and what aren't.
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."