Moment of Curiosity

[pt_tangles]

What does English sound like? I live in a very mulitcultural area, and I have come to appreciate the sound of languages that I don't understand. I can't really describe them very well. Hindi/Punjabi sounds kind of singsongy ... as does Cantonese. Japanese I recognize from the hard consonant sounds. Manderin has a lot of back of the throat sounds. Russian has a lot of 'sk' sounds. French tends to be a bit nasaly. Etc.

I often find myself wondering what English sounds like to someone who doesn't understand what is being said. I think that the best way to find out might be to be far enough away from someone so that you can still hear them speaking, but not make out what they are saying. Either that, or go to a place that has so many people speaking at once that you cannot focus on what is being said.

I may try it out and see what I come up with. Most of the time when I don't understand someone, I find myself straining my ears to catch stray words and guessing to fill in the gaps. I am going to try and not do that.

--Phae

Comments

[estaratshirai.livejournal.com]

I think about this every so often.

[pt_tangles]

It makes me feel mildly strange to think about it, but I have accepted that I am just strange. There is not fighting it ;)

--Phae

[pjvj.livejournal.com]

Read while listening to a news anchor out of New York, like on ABC, NBC, or CBS if you can. That should give you an idea of the lilt to the language here. Then do it with other english speaking anchors on different channels. Maybe that will help.

[pt_tangles]

That's a good idea, PJ, thanks :) I may give that a shot.

--Phae

[porknbeans.livejournal.com]

I think about that too, especially when my husband and I talk to each other in English in front of Thais. I really wonder what we sound like.

-TA from PW

[pt_tangles]

Hey! I have been wondering for a while who you were :) I see the nick porknbeans around all the time, but I can't for the life of me figure out where I know you from.

--Phae