Video showing what speaking English sounds like to foreigners is messing with people’s heads
Video showing what speaking English sounds like to foreigners is messing with people’s heads
If you've spoken English for your whole life, then chances are you won't think it sounds particularly weird.
Sure, you might get a bit of an unusual accent every now and again, but on the whole you're able to recognise the familiar words and make meaning out of them.
It's what we do every day - but have you ever thought about how the English language sounds to people who don't speak it? To put it bluntly, it sounds like pure nonsense.
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This fact has been highlighted by TikToker the Language Simp, aka @languagesimp, who shared a video demonstrating how Brits sound to people who don't speak the language.
As it turns out, we sound a little bit like a Sim. Who’d have thought?
Now, whether you speak English or not, this video will sound like gibberish - and that's because it is.
If someone came up to you and repeated what the TikToker said, you'd probably be convinced they were speaking a different language. You might be able to grasp a few words like 'water', but on the whole you'd be clueless.
This is why it's the perfect example of how English sounds to non-English speakers.
In his clip, the TikToker - who can speak several (real) languages himself - comes out with words that kind of sound like English, but aren't, resulting in a strange effect for those of us who actually do speak the language.
After watching the video, one person commented: “I felt like I should understand what he was saying."
Another agreed, commenting: "I feel like I understand what he's saying, but I also don't."
Baffled by the noise emerging from the TikToker's mouth, a third viewer added: “You are telling me people hear me talking like a Sim?”
Even those who are used to the language will probably admit that English can be a complicated one to grasp, with words that are spelled the same but don't rhyme, and a whole bunch of silent letters.
But if odd linguistic information is your thing, then you may also be interested to know the English language could soon become even more confusing as a 2022 study found the majority of Brits could end up talking like a 'roadman' within the next 100 years.
Words such as 'peng', 'wagwan' and 'bare' are part of a dialect known as 'Multicultural London English' (MLE) that could become the dominant dialect in the UK over the next century.
With those words potentially coming in thick and fast, non-English speakers probably aren't going to stop thinking we sound weird any time soon.
Emily Brown