OT - Is This What English Sounds Like?

[TracyA]

Completely off topic, but I'm bored and this is interesting (found it on Reddit). This is supposed to portray what American English sounds like to non English speakers. It's eerie because I feel like I should be able to understand the "words." Is that what American English sounds like?

If that's really what we sound like we sound like idiots, but we sound like cool idiots?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZXcRqFmFa8[/video]]YouTube - What American English sounds like to non-English speakers

[bleep]

OT - Is This What English Sounds Like?

What a surreal video. Can't really comment, seeing as I'm an English speaker, but it did sound understandable. Was that the whole point of the video?

About to head for the airport, so will check back in tomorrow... Have nice day!

[Otter]

OT - Is This What English Sounds Like?

That is Adriano Celentano. The song is a spoof. He has had a show on Italian TV for years.

Here is his version of Stand by Me in Italian sung to the Pope.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neid3-6gHCE[/video]]YouTube - Adriano Celentano Preghero live

Italians think he is the sexiest man on earth!!

He has been around since the fifties. Italy's Elvis.

[TracyA]

OT - Is This What English Sounds Like?

Bleep, I'm not sure of the point, but he was trying to make the sounds of American English without using real words. I read somewhere on Reddit that he was making the point that lyrics don't matter much in American music. I've had two people watch it (husband and daughter) and they both stopped in their tracks and listened really hard trying to understand the lyrics.

Otter, thanks for sharing the video. I think he deserves the title of "Italy's Elvis."

[Otter]

OT - Is This What English Sounds Like?

I have read the words. They are proper English words but they are just gibberish. I came across it when I was looking into old English dialects of Scotland and how close they sound to some German and Dutch dialects. The point, I suppose, is just to make fun of English language modern music.

Latin, "romance", languages such as Italian, Spanish are so structured that it is difficult to write lyrics. Listen to Italian popular music and it sounds like someone is trying to shove to many words into each lyric, and every line ends with a word rhyming with linguini or bungaro. English is such a mixed, mongrel language with so many words that can be used to say the same thing that it is much easier to write lyrics. The result to a speaker of a "romance" language such as Italian is bizarre because it does not have the structure of their language. It just sounds to them like words thrown in to make a lyric but without any meaning. Also, it must be very hard for, say, an Italian to follow the lyrics of most English rock songs because there are so many slang words etc thrown in so that, even if they speak English, they cannot understand the songs.

I was interested in dialects because, having moved to Scotland, I could not understand what the people here were saying. I started looking into where the accent came from. I thought at first it was just a regional accent of people who had spoken Gaelic but had learned to speak English. I found out that the Scottish are not actually Celts at all, but a Germanic tribe and that the English they speak is closer to old English before the Norman invasion of Britain.

I feel a Baclofen connection coming on here.

What I also discovered is that the Scots have a huge drink problem. They drink until they are incapacitated and there is a huge crime problem as well. The approach to it up here is pretty barbaric. Absolutely no sympathy. Big murder rate in Glasgow, lost of stabbings, all alcohol fuelled. The big drink here is Vodka which I had always associated with Russians. In my research I realized that Russians are actually a northern Germanic tribe as well, originating from Sweden, ie., Vikings.

Anyway, Scottish people also have a predisposition towards multiple sclerosis which is a neurological condition and, here it comes, the treatment for MS is...Baclofen.

All of this led me to start thinking that there must be a genetic predisposition towards some sort of neurological disorder among northern Europeans because of their common genetic origin which results in alcoholism.

I started developing a theory...then I found that song and I listened to over and over until I forgot all about Vikings and Vodka....

[TracyA]

OT - Is This What English Sounds Like?

Otter;1080809 wrote: I have read the words. They are proper English words but they are just gibberish.
I don't understand. What does "prisecolinensinenciousol" mean?

I came across it when I was looking into old English dialects of Scotland and how close they sound to some German and Dutch dialects.
This fascinates me. I took a course in the history of English and loved it. When you say old English, do you mean the language, Old English? I heard Beowulf recited in, as near as anyone can tell, it's original language. It was no language that I recognized:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y13cES7MMd8[/video]]YouTube - Beowulf - "Opening Lines"

It definitely does not sound like prisecolinensinenciousol, but it doesn't sound like anything else either. But, English, being germanic, has much more in common with other germanic languages than with the Latin languages. In an attempt to corral it, somebody tried to apply the rules of Latin to English, and we ended up with really stupid rules of grammar, like the prohibition against split-infinitives. There is nothing wrong with the sentence: "To boldly go where no man has gone before

." Likewise ending a sentence in a preposition - there is not reason not to. :H But I gather that with Latin and latin-based languages, sentences constructed that way turn to gibberish.

Latin, "romance", languages such as Italian, Spanish are so structured that it is difficult to write lyrics. Listen to Italian popular music and it sounds like someone is trying to shove to many words into each lyric, and every line ends with a word rhyming with linguini or bungaro. English is such a mixed, mongrel language with so many words that can be used to say the same thing that it is much easier to write lyrics. The result to a speaker of a "romance" language such as Italian is bizarre because it does not have the structure of their language.

It does have a structure though. But it doesn't have a long-ago hammered out structure the way that French does, and now it is a mongrel (several languages involved). But surely most languages, in this global age, are mongrels. And it's true that a lot of words can mean a lot of different things, and different words can mean different things to different people, depending on their background, even in countries where English is the dominant language. When I was in Ireland, it was amusing how many communication problems we experienced. Just trying to fill up the car was an experience. I walk up to the cashier with my bag of chips and said, "And I have gas." She said, "Whaaaaaaaat?" with a really shocked look on her face. I repeated, "I have gas," and pointed to the pumps. She said, "You mean petrol?"

It just sounds to them like words thrown in to make a lyric but without any meaning. Also, it must be very hard for, say, an Italian to follow the lyrics of most English rock songs because there are so many slang words etc thrown in so that, even if they speak English, they cannot understand the songs.

Okay. I must admit, I don't understand much of rap.

I was interested in dialects because, having moved to Scotland, I could not understand what the people here were saying. I started looking into where the accent came from. I thought at first it was just a regional accent of people who had spoken Gaelic but had learned to speak English. I found out that the Scottish are not actually Celts at all, but a Germanic tribe and that the English they speak is closer to old English before the Norman invasion of Britain.

So, a thick Scottish accent is more similar to a reciting of the original Beowulf than . . . What about Danish or German? What about someone whose first language is Gaelic? I had attributed the Irish accent to Gaelic background but, to my ear, a Scottish and Irish accent sound somewhat similar.

I met an Irish man whose first language was Irish Gaelic, and he had learned English. But he understood little of what I said, and I didn't understand a single world that came out of his mouth. More and more though, people from both countries sound more and more English (like London born), as opposed to Scottish or Irish, or so it seemed to me.

Another interesting thing: It's less so as mass media becomes the way people learn language, but in the US south (think Georgia) many of the settlers were from Scotland. Their particular version of English is quite different from what people normally associate with American English, but at times I swear I can hear a similarity between a southern accent and a Scottish one. The Scottish war cry and the rebel yell are thought by some to be the same thing.

I feel a Baclofen connection coming on here.
In this forum, it's the same as asking "how-do-ya-do": What dose are you on?

What I also discovered is that the Scots have a huge drink problem. They drink until they are incapacitated and there is a huge crime problem as well. The approach to it up here is pretty barbaric. Absolutely no sympathy. Big murder rate in Glasgow, lost of stabbings, all alcohol fuelled.
I had heard that. A friend of mine lives in Edinburgh. She said that you don't go out partying on Saturday night unless you have your wits about you.

Anyway, Scottish people also have a predisposition towards multiple sclerosis which is a neurological condition
My brother had MS.

and, here it comes, the treatment for MS is...Baclofen.

Careful - bac isn't really a treatment for MS. It can help relieve some of the symptoms. It can't treat the autoimmune deficiencies that cause MS, which are expressed as dysfunction in the central nervous system, hence the bac . . . interesting though.

All of this led me to start thinking that there must be a genetic predisposition towards some sort of neurological disorder among northern Europeans because of their common genetic origin which results in alcoholism.

Following. But consider other things too. In other parts of the world (East Asia, Japan, for example), a lot of people just do not have a tolerance for alcohol. They physically cannot metabolize it. In Native Americans, I don't know if they had a genetic predisposition towards alcoholism, since they didn't have the purified forms of it and didn't use it "recreationally." But being introduced to the hooch that the settlers brought probably did as much damage as the diseases the settlers brought (all aside from the wholesale killing). Native Americans, as near as anyone can tell, have their roots in east Asia and their ancestors crossed the Bering Land Bridge to Alaska. But Japan is east Asia too, so . . . it's interesting, but I can't tell where you are going.

I started developing a theory...then I found that song and I listened to over and over until I forgot all about Vikings and Vodka....

Which song? "Stand By Me?" I got lost somewhere (possibly very early on). Please explain. It's quite intriguing.

[bleep]

OT - Is This What English Sounds Like?

Wow, all that because some guy called Otter "bonny wee fella" or something like that!

[Bruunhilde]

OT - Is This What English Sounds Like?

Otter;1080625 wrote: That is Adriano Celentano. The song is a spoof. He has had a show on Italian TV for years.

Here is his version of Stand by Me in Italian sung to the Pope.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neid3-6gHCE[/video]]YouTube - Adriano Celentano Preghero live

Italians think he is the sexiest man on earth!!

He has been around since the fifties. Italy's Elvis.

Yah he's sexy if you cut off his head.

[Bruunhilde]

OT - Is This What English Sounds Like?

I can't believe I'm posting this on MWO in meds, blame it on TracyA. :H

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UgpfSp2t6k&NR=1[/video]]YouTube - 21 Accents most of which ring true to me. Really enjoyed it but some of them were off, esp the LA one, which I would know! Texas seemed like it was modeled after Reba only. Overall great fun to see and good advertising of herself for her career. Gud'un.

Thought everyone would enjoy this.

And especially for bleep and his diet, thought you'd enjoy this mostly for the commentary after the video by teen Mr Rogers (semi-British version). "Oh hello, didn't see you were there..." wearing aviators and such very soft skin so that a t-shirt burns his skin. Very cute.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3t7qIEuwCI&NR=1[/video]]YouTube - How to Become American in 30 Seconds

[bleep]

OT - Is This What English Sounds Like?

Wow, Amy Walker is pretty good!

[TracyA]

OT - Is This What English Sounds Like?

She is pretty good! I just recently learned that Hugh Laurie, who played Dr. Gregory House,



. . . had an English accent in real life. Other people probably knew that, but it came as a surprise to me.

[Murphyx]

OT - Is This What English Sounds Like?

Yes, the American accent is pretty good. Hugh Laurie used to be known here for playing rather posh dimwits as part of a comedy double act with Stephen Fry.

[Otter]

OT - Is This What English Sounds Like?

I went to law school with David Shore. He was a year behind me. I am sure House is based on a guy I shared a house with in second year. Complete jerk with no sense of humour but everyone seemed to like him and he was on the student's council. I could never understand it. I have never met anyone like him since. He is now a QC in Edmonton.

Hugh Laurie studied at Oxford or Cambridge and has been on TV in England for many years and has a very strong English accent. The American accent is entirely put on.

Anyway. Getting back to that song. The song that distracted me was the Italian Stand By Me. I just found it fascinating. Cellantano was a bit sexier in the 1950's than he is now at 82.

All the languages of Germany, Holland, Sweden, Iceland, Scotland, Denmark, are all Germanic. Scots were an Irish tribe who were Celts and invaded Scotland but the people who lived here were a Germanic tribe. The west of Scotland is more Gaelic while the lowlands are a Germanic tribe.

I do mean Old English. There was something way back in the middle ages called the great vowel shift when people started pronouncing their vowels further down their throats, probably as a result of influx of French speaking Normans. The north of England and Scotland were less affected by this so Scots pronounce their vowels in their mouths rather than in their throats. That may seem bizarre but it accounts for the Scottish accent and makes them sound at a distance as though they are speaking German. In fact, Highland Scots can be understood by Germans and Friesans, who live in northern Holland can understand people in the north of England because they speak a language very close to Old English. Many Scots words like Kirk for Church and ken, for know, are the same as the German words.

I am not sure why you would say Baclofen is not a treatment for MS. The baclofen pump is for MS and it is used widely for MS. The point I was making is that Baclofen is a treatment for neurological disorders which suggested to me that if it works for alcoholism then it too must be a neurological disorder, which accords with what Ameisen is saying, that anxiety has an organic, neurological origin. There are others, such as Joan Larson, who have picked up on this northern European genetic basis for alcoholism.

[Bruunhilde]

OT - Is This What English Sounds Like?

If Cellantano is in his 80's he's rockin' it. Zowee.