What language does English sound like to foreigners?

What language does English sound like to foreigners?

English gets the bulk of its vocabulary from French and other Romance languages, it is true. But the most common words are all Germanic, and English phonology is Germanic. English is closely related to Dutch, and even more closely to Frisian. If you want to get a feel for how English sounds, listen to Dutch or Frisian.

Does English sound Germanic to non English speakers?

Being a native English speaker, it is absolutely impossible for me to separate sound from meaning, so I can’t judge the language objectively. It’s something that has always interested me, though.

Does English sound unique?

The truly unique feature of English pronunciation is not inherent in its actual sounds but in its wide distribution around the word. It is spoken with a variety of accents from every part of the world, both as a first language and as a second.

Do non English speakers have accents?

It’s how you sound when you speak. Everyone has one, whether you think you do or you don’t. Those who speak English as a second language have what many regard as “foreign” accents, but even native speakers have some sort of accent, however subtle. Each language around the world focuses on differing sounds.

Does English Sound harsh?

Considering a general english or american accent (just because they are the best known) it doesn’t sound harsh as other germanic languages. It’s not musical but rhythmic. Some consonants (“D, T, P”) are harsher than the ones of the romance languages, apart from the “R” and the “TH” sound that are very soft.

Does English sound German to foreigners?

It’s a global language spoken with many varied accents. ‘ However, both agree English does not sound similar to any other language – despite it belonging to the same family as German, Dutch and Afrikaans.

What languages have no accents?

English is one of the only languages in the word to not have any accents. French has them, so does Spanish, German, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Polish, Greek, Hindi, Arabic, Vietnamese and Thai, just to name a few.

What are some unusual phonetic traits of the English language?

Speaking as a linguist, some of the unusual phonetic traits of English are: a lot of diphthongs (like “ey” and “ow”) and fricatives (like s z f v), long sequences of consonants (like in “strengths”), and a lot of reduction (the tendency for sounds to be simplified when unstressed).

Do English speakers know what Spanish or Russian might sound like?

So, the video–many English speakers know what Spanish or Russian might sound like, or even unique dialects and accents of English (e.g.,m Scottish, British, the aforementioned Southern US, etc.). What does English sound like to a non-native/non-English speaker?

What would a mono-lingual native-English speaker do?

This is what a mono-lingual, native-English speaker would do listening to the staccato and intense German language, for example.

What languages are similar to the English language?

Languages like German, French and Spanish are close enough that they share many of the traits. The diphthongs and funny R are specific to English even compared to its close relatives, and the reduction is extreme even by European standards, but the rest is shared in much of Europe.