Video showing what speaking English sounds like to non-speakers is messing with people’s heads

English is the most widely spoken language in the world, being spoken by approximately 1.5 billion around the world.

While it is one of the most widely-spoken languages, it does not have the most or even the second most native speakers, with these going to Mandarin Chinese and Spanish.

The size of English as a language comes from the fact that the majority of English speakers speak it as a second language, in large part due to its links to a lot of complicated and often unpleasant history.

To an english speaker there is a familiarity in the, but have you wondered what English sounds like to someone to doesn't speak it.

You may have been in a position on holiday where you can hear people talking in another language, feeling the cadence and rhythm of the language as they converse, discuss, and laugh, but without having a clue what the people are actually saying to each other.

Odd words might even pop out to you, completely out of context, particularly in some languages which substitute English words for new technology, like 'smartphone' or 'Wi-Fi', or even words which have come from that language into English.

So what would it be like to be someone in your position, but with English?

Nothing Ahead/Pexels

A video on TikTok tries to communicate this, and to put it bluntly, it sounds like pure nonsense.

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.

TikTok/@languagesimp

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.