How English sounds to non-English speakers (video)

Have you noticed how many foreigners there are in Europe? And most of them speak a foreign language. You would think they would want to speak American.

I became entranced by the one with 10 Germans saying the word squirrel.

I noticed on my recent trip to Poland and Prague that many people answered their phones with "hello", and then switched to their native language for the conversation. They also seem fond of "bye-bye".

Or you can see the same here in a famous 1970s' hit song by the great Adriano Celentano

Warning: the rhythm is addictive.

Interesting video.
And a couple of videos under the squirrel one....Hugh Laurie and others discussing British v.s. American accents:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjlTVLxDM8g
and Hugh and Ellen do British and American slang:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYmrg3owTRE

And here is Sandra Bullock speaking German at the Bambi Awards (thanks to Ms. Jo for the correction-I originally said Oscars!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzbrztZFCFA
Note in the comments below, one poster says,
"I have no idea why I am here. It is three in the morning and I am eating ice cream cake. I've been on youtube since lunchtime."

There, it's back, Eileen! :)

Roberto, I have contacted the webmaster to begin proceedings to have you permanently barred from this forum ;-) IF I can forget that song, I'll tell the webmaster 'never mind'.

Worse is that dancing - I want to know who THE choreographer was who came up with that '60's dance accompaniment. ALL TV singing acts of the '60's and early '70's had the same troupe with those same dance moves; it was painful watching The Omnipresent Go-Go Dancers gyrating behind a clearly-uncomfortable Bing Crosby crooning some old standard. Cringeworthy.

I lurved the (recently removed; why?) post quoting a YouTube commenter: "I have no idea why I am here. It is three in the morning and I am eating ice cream cake. I've been on YouTube since lunchtime." LOL!!! Been there...

Roberto, that video and song is already fading from my consciousness, so I'll call off the webmaster ;-)

Sandra Bullock! I want to take her along with me as a translator.

Her German is much better than mine, but I get along without a translator. I just want to take her with me.

Hello Roberto at Fremont : I clicked on your link to the internet website for the performance by Adriano Celentano. I did not ever hear or see that before. I am glad I did not ever hear or see that before. I regret that I listened to that noise and saw that trash now.

Wanting ice cream cake now.

The youtube video of Sandra is at the Bambi Awards in Berlin, not the Oscars. That is why she is holding a little golden deer in her hands, rather than a little golden man.

She does speak German like a native and she doesn't have an American accent when she speaks. Her wiki article says it is a frankisch accent.

I love the squirrel video and it really is true. None of my German friends can say it. Then again, few of my English speaking friends can say Knödel.

For such a funny furry animal, the squirrel does seem to collect difficult to pronounce names for non native speakers. The French for squirrel, 'Écureuil', throws a lot of English speakers when encountered.

Emma, did you see the Storage Wars UK trailer where the American host sent up the way Americans are viewed as having problems with pronouncing Worcester etc?

'We'll be travelling from London to Lichester' cut 'From London to Lisester' cut 'From London to Leeds!'

We had some couchsurfers a few weeks ago and the girl was from Milano (her boyfriend was originally from Ottawa...and they met in Lauterbrunnen!)...it was actually very cute how she said 'squirrel' as we were observing one raiding my bird feeder. I had seen the squirrel video before, so it was interesting to hear the pronunciation by a European!

Don't get me started on 'aluminium/aluminum.' We stay with some folks in England (and she was born in Canada many moons ago)...and it took me a minute to work out the 5 syllable pronunciation (al-u-min-i-um) of what we in Canada (well, me anyways) use 4 syllables to say (a-lu-min-um) ...

And no matter how our couchsurfing host from our first visit to Genoa tried to teach us to pronounce 'Grazie' - we just couldn't get it right...

How about the 'hardest' French word for English speakers...serrurerie (kinda like saying squirrel)

I thought I actually did a good job pronouncing it...without the 'rolling rrrr's'

http://www.thelocal.fr/20150513/video-the-hardest-word-to-say-in-the-french-language

A couple of native German speakers told me that when native English speakers speak English, it sounds to Germans like we are talking with a piece of potato in our mouths. I can kind of see that.

I would wager most native English speakers would have trouble with the German word for squirrel: Eichhörnchen. It goes both ways! :)

And I as well am now craving ice cream cake. Thanks a lot, Rebecca!!!

In addition to Sandra Bullock, it's remarkable how many celebrities are bi-lingual or polyglot. One of the most impressive is Viggo Mortensen who is fluent in about four languages and has conversational ability in another three. Another amazing example is Mariska Hargitay who is fluent in five languages (English, Hungarian, French, Spanish and Italian).

Here are a few more.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v0GzAN0zF4

Interesting, Sarah. I spent some time with a Danish couple and could never manage to pick up a word, or come close to even pronouncing it. When I met their parents from Copenhagen I remarked how hard I had found the language. She said, "Everyone says that the Danish speak as if they have a mouthful of mashed potatoes."

In some ways it's thrilling to be able to make out bits and pieces of a conversation, newspaper headline, billboard - but so incredibly frustrating to only understand some of it :-( Years ago I was taking German 101 before a European trip. There was a large bronze marker in front of some historical site. I was able to read the entire thing (Go Me!) except for one lone, little word. That one noun or verb was the key to understanding the entire multi-sentence explanation on that marker. People died; I knew who died and who killed them and where they were killed, but not why. Grrrrrrr....

I freely admit to being extremely jealous of people who can speak a second...or third...or fourth...language. I can study all I want, but without that immersion into the language it's difficult to understand and be understood. I watch my little French TV5 and can make out some of it...but usually I can't understand ANY of it! I want to scream and throw something at the TV ;-)

Jo, I was going to corner you when you visited our Sacramento Travel Group a while back and get you to teach me the German 'R'. If I could get that down, I would be about 75% of the way there...

I'm currently accepting donations so I can buy the Italian RAI channel to add to my TV channels ;-)

Eileen,

I've got two Italian TV channels and that certainly helps, but in terms of learning the language that's only part of the answer.

Ken, Eileen, Youtube is your friend there!

And Disney etc. One thing a friend taught me years ago, is to learn another language or at least get to grips with it go for the stuff aimed at children. The Disney etc songs are often on Youtube. Because the words have to fit the beat of the music it slows them down, in English as well as the others, and as you listen to them you pick up the translation ticks to make them local.

Example in English the Bells of Notre Dame from the Hunchback of Notre Dame has

Now you would add this child's blood to your guilt
On the steps of Notre Dame

The French French has

Vous voulez rougir du sang d'un enfant
Le parvis de Notre Dame

Which is a much darker lyric. It give you an ear into the language and how the language flows.

Back to squirrels, I think they are sent to tongue tie us. Though in Great Britain we have problems with some American immigrants of the squirrel persuasion...

MC,

I've looked at YouTube but unfortunately that's also only part of the answer. A language lesson that requires I sit in front of a computer screen doesn't work well for me. I prefer something like the Pimsleur courses, which involves listening and repetition, especially as I can listen to the lessons at the gym or wherever. The best method would be to attend a full time Italian language course (preferably in Italy), but unfortunately I don't have the time or money for that. In the meantime, I try to get as much practice with local Italian speakers here. A young lady that just arrived from Puglia is now working at the Italian Deli, and she was correcting some of my grammar yesterday. The owners of the Deli (Calabrese) are great too.

Ken, maybe we can FaceTime or Skype; just prop your phone or tablet in front of your TV ;-)

I watched a few 'celebrities speaking foreign languages' videos. Jodie Foster impressed me with how she sounds like a French speaker, then like an Italian speaker. If I ever come across Bradley Cooper speaking on a French talk show, I won't recognize him; I'll assume he's French - he sounds and looks French. And Colin Firth can help me with my Italian Any Time ;-) Think I'll send him an email right now...

As much as I love Lena Olin I never heard her speak Swedish until the TV show "Welcome to Sweden". And I've finally gotten accustomed to hearing Kristin Scott Thomas speaking French in movies. In fact, I think I've seen her in more French movies than English/American ones.

If only I could get French speakers accustomed to my French, and me accustomed to theirs (sigh) :-)

Guess I need to spend some time in Europe - Jo, you're my first stop ;-)

I too am envious of people who speak multiple languages. I had a professor in college who was fluent in English, Hebrew, Italian, and French. A few years ago I met the friend of a friend who lives in Luxembourg and speaks Luxembourgish, German, French, and English.

I do well in language classes where there's a lot of interaction with the instructor and other students. My college is a small state school but I was able to study Italian and French with native-speaking teachers. I never could and still can't roll my Rs, though, not in French, Italian, or German!

Did anyone listen to the Diane Rehm show on Wednesday last week? Diane interviewed Dr. Ruth Westheimer, who has a marvelous accent and speaks at least 3 languages: German, Hebrew, and English. No one rolls their Rs like her!

And to piggyback on the poster who suggested listening to children's songs - when I was in Germany and France I found it very helpful to listen to little kids talk. They speak slowly and use small words; I can usually follow almost everything they say.

MC brings up a great point - listening to music is a fabulous way of learning a language! Many words are pronounced differently when sung, singers from different regions of a country pronounce consonants and vowels differently (Frank Sinatra vs George Strait), and you can learn all kinds of commonly-used idioms. Yes, some of them are of the 'ooh, baby baby' variety, but still useful.

Ken, of course Youtube will only ever be part of the answer! But it gives a chance of hearing the language spoken or sung in a way aimed at native speakers.

Another thing is if you are willing to do/suffer is if you have a DVD or Blu Ray with the dub track in the language you want to learn. If you can get over the dubbing, which sometimes is difficult, you can listen to how the language flows and have an opt out to the original. A domestic short cut to the French cinema listings of VF and VOSF.

Dr. Ruth is from Frankfurt. She grew up near the main train station. Her parents sent her to Switzerland around 1938 on one of the Children Transports, and she never saw them again. She immigrated to Israel after the war, then later the US. Thus, she speaks all 3 languages like a expert. Love her.