How German sounds compared to other languages

[Y_B]

[MikeL]

Schmetterling?  I wonder how "The buttterfly fluttered by" would sound.

[Suvitar]

So different languages sound different and if you shout the words they sound even more different and weird. 

[Bill W]

Obviously the guy doing the German translation was pissed off about something. 

[Aditus]

Obviously the guy doing the German translation was pissed off about something. 

Maybe because he agreed doing the video.

[TetRefine]

My German grandmother would of gotten a kick out of this. 

[rustle]

Someone once said German always sounds like someone is either instructing or scolding.

[Aditus]

Disappointed

[paya]

I find it very troubling that this kind of humour is funny mostly to people who have never met or spoken with a real German. Any language can sound unpleasant, especially when they're spouting nastiness. Prejudicial jokes mainly show ignorance.

[Kitt]

Perhaps it is the fact his family doesn't think me good enough for him, ( even 31 yrs later) but I always found being excluded from the conversation by reverting to German to be demeaning, and to me it always sounded like they were angry even when they were quiet and smiling at each other. My attempts to learn the language were thwarted as well. If three people give you three completely different meanings to the same word you will never get anywhere.

[rustle]

I find it very troubling that this kind of humour is funny mostly to people who have never met or spoken with a real German. Any language can sound unpleasant, especially when they're spouting nastiness. Prejudicial jokes mainly show ignorance.

 

I've heard a great deal of German spoken by native speakers. Regional dialects vary greatly, and I like the sound as it's spoken in the north. Texas German sounds...unusual. There's no doubt this vid played up the comedy.

[Gene Splicer PHD]

Not to derail (much), but here's an Italian take on how English sounds to non-English speakers (listen to the song, it kinda grows on you if you like that 60's - 70's vibe). It's definitely interesting, but I have no idea how accurate it is:

 

 

 

 

To me, it sounds like we have lots of "ayes" and glottals in there. Any of you non-native English speakers want to weigh in on how we sound to you?

Edited November 5, 2013 by Gene Splicer PHD

[paya]

Perhaps it is the fact his family doesn't think me good enough for him, ( even 31 yrs later) but I always found being excluded from the conversation by reverting to German to be demeaning, and to me it always sounded like they were angry even when they were quiet and smiling at each other. My attempts to learn the language were thwarted as well. If three people give you three completely different meanings to the same word you will never get anywhere.

 

I know your frustration as I have felt both sides of this problem. Bigger half of my family are native Hungarian speakers while my native language is Czech. So whenever I visit, I feel similarly "out of place" - but that never stopped me from trying to understand as much as I can. Now since Westie is English, whenever we visit my family, he's the one who feels excluded because he doesn't understand the language. I'm trying to help him as much as I can but you can't force people to speak only in English if it's not their native language and they never really studied English. So even if they revert to German after 31 years of your marriage, it can just mean they are not comfortable enough talking about everything in German, more so if it includes things/people you don't really know (catching up). Or they are just reminiscing about something that happened before you met them. So even if you feel excluded, it doesn't mean they mean to do that. 

 

As for your troubles with learning a new language, again, I feel I can relate to you. Being both language student and teacher, I experienced both sides of the problem again. As a student I would LOVE to have every word in Czech = one word in English. But that never happens. You get at least two, three or more meanings to any word, more so if the usage differs from your own language. Then you need to learn the situations in which those words are used and what meaning they convey. Being a teacher, my students always wanted me to present every problem in the language in a short uncomplicated way. And what about all those exceptions from the rule and varying usage (again)? Suddenly I spent several hours explaining and exercising some rule only to be subverted by next first exception. I am sure I could find three completely different meanings of the same English word, as well as three completely different pronunciations of the same group of letters (and let's not forget the popular they're/their/there).

 

Giving up on a language at first obstacle will never get you anywhere. If you feel uncomfortable in the surroundings you don't understand, you can either ridicule it (tried that) or learn about it to understand it (doing now). After all, learning new languages means discovering new cultures and enriching our horizons.

[Kitt]

I appreciate your position Paya, but this was not a difficulty in my ability to learn, it was a function of not being welcome in the family.  I speak three languages and I am quite sure had i gotten even the smallest cooperation I would have learned much more than when to slap (metaphorically) my mother in law as she used words like gold digger and harlot in reference to me. The situation has changed little except that most times she now does the insulting in English. I am unsure if that is a function of wanting to make sure i understand or one of her parents no longer needing to, but the result is the same.

[paya]

Not to derail (much), but here's an Italian take on how English sounds to non-English speakers (listen to the song, it kinda grows on you if you like that 60's - 70's vibe). It's definitely interesting, but I have no idea how accurate it is:

 

 

 

 

To me, it sounds like we have lots of "ayes" and glottals in there. Any of you non-native English speakers want to weigh in on how we sound to you?

 

You have to bear in mind that mostly when we learn English, we are taught by our own speakers who learnt English before us. That is certainly true for beginner and intermediate levels. There of course are listening exercises but they usually are recorded in slow or perfectly pronounced English, depending on the difficulty/experience level. Next thing is, in Europe we study British (Queen's/BBC) English, while listen to American songs and watching American films and TV series (mostly dubbed into our native languages but there are more and more people who watch in original with subtitles if they can). So paradoxically, more people are comfortable with US English accent than the real English one because of the culture experience. I still have sometimes problems distinguishing the English accent from the American, Scottish or Irish one. And then there is the Souther drawl, English regional accents, Welsh, Australian, New Zealand... 

 

So how do you sound to us? Well, my experience is that you either sound "right" (meaning I have already met the accent and had time to adjust to it before) or you sound "new" and I have to make an extra effort to understand you 100 % (there usually is an overall understanding of what is going on but you would be surprised how one misunderstood or completely new word can derail the whole thing).

 

Otherwise, you always need to compare to other languages. You might sound harsher than let's say French, but softer than Norweigian or Dutch. You might sound clearer than let's say German (and Dutch again) but less clear than let's say Italian. And believe me, you sound completely different than Czech (or other Slavic languages) or Hungarian.

I appreciate your position Paya, but this was not a difficulty in my ability to learn, it was a function of not being welcome in the family.  I speak three languages and I am quite sure had i gotten even the smallest cooperation I would have learned much more than when to slap (metaphorically) my mother in law as she used words like gold digger and harlot in reference to me. The situation has changed little except that most times she now does the insulting in English. I am unsure if that is a function of wanting to make sure i understand or one of her parents no longer needing to, but the result is the same.

 

OK, in that case I understand that you feel excluded and I'm sorry you got into such unwelcome surrounding. 

[Aditus]

I appreciate your position Paya, but this was not a difficulty in my ability to learn, it was a function of not being welcome in the family.  I speak three languages and I am quite sure had i gotten even the smallest cooperation I would have learned much more than when to slap (metaphorically) my mother in law as she used words like gold digger and harlot in reference to me. The situation has changed little except that most times she now does the insulting in English. I am unsure if that is a function of wanting to make sure i understand or one of her parents no longer needing to, but the result is the same.

You're absolutely right Kitt. this is demeaning and rude, but it's not a problem of the language used to insult you, but of the people doing the insult. My father is Italian, and although I understand Italian I don't speak it very well. My cousins always speak Italian with a local accent only they can understand when they talk about me, I can only guess it's nothing nice they have to say. Lucky for me, my father always throws one of his famous Italian temper tantrums, when they are like this. I like Italian, even though my family sometimes sounds as if they would have a huge fight when they are only talking.

[Zombie]

ignoring the irony about lampooning sterotypes on a gay site, all Englishmen obviously speak like Brian Sewell ...

 

[MikeL]

OLL RAIGTH!  American English sometimes sounds like Gene's video to me. 

 

Is this the point where I should remind everyone that English is a Germanic language?

[Ron]

Not to derail (much), but here's an Italian take on how English sounds to non-English speakers (listen to the song, it kinda grows on you if you like that 60's - 70's vibe). It's definitely interesting, but I have no idea how accurate it is:

 

To me, it sounds like we have lots of "ayes" and glottals in there. Any of you non-native English speakers want to weigh in on how we sound to you?

 

I didn't understand a word of it but it didn't stop it from being a great fun thing to watch. I loved it.

[Former Member]

I won't comment on the video, because I might be biased.

 

But listen to someone talk in Arabic. They can say the sweetest things to each other and it still sounds like they are going to kill each other.

[Y_B]

On the topic of international jokes

 

[colinian]

Schmetterling?  I wonder how "The buttterfly fluttered by" would sound.

 

(This is a slight diversion.) When my little sister was just starting to talk, she used "flutterby" whenever she saw a butterfly. I thing flutterby makes more anatomical sense than butterfly, and it's a cute sounding word, too.

 

Colin

[Arpeggio]

I laughed so hard at the map.

[Thorn Wilde]

This whole thread makes me kind of uncomfortable, actually. Stereotyping with regards to language also enforces cultural stereotypes. Like the comment about Arabic. I think Arabic is a gorgeous language, I've heard it spoken a lot as I've gone to school with Arabs and lived in an area with a lot of Middle Eastern immigrants, and I don't think they sound angry at all. I mean, I know that no one here is a racist or anything, but (as I recently rediscovered) some things that you can say to your friends and people who know you can come out pretty wrong when you're talking to people who might not know you that well.

 

That said, this video is a pretty accurate portrayal of what English sounds like to non-English speakers:

 

 

This is almost exactly how I 'spoke English' before I learnt it properly, back when I was about 4. You know, you'd picked up a few words, and you knew what the accent sounded like, so you kind of just mimicked the rest.

Edited November 8, 2013 by Thorn Wilde

[Zombie]

That said, this video is a pretty accurate portrayal of what English sounds like to non-English speakers:

 

No it isn't. This is a portrayal of American English. Although this is "faked" it shows why much American English can be difficult to understand, specifically the lack of clear consonants. Accent is mainly about varying vowel sounds and these can vary to a remarkable degree yet the words will remain comprehensible provided the speaker takes the trouble to use clear consonants by articulation using the lips, tongue and teeth (those three words are also excellent words to practice clear elocution of consonants ). But downgrade the consonants and speech becomes unintelligible.

 

Which is why I'm a big fan of Brian Sewell

 

 

 

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Edited November 8, 2013 by Zombie