How does english sound

Ashley   Thursday, July 03, 2003, 21:40 GMT
How did english sound to some of you people before you understood it? I would like to know, I don't know why, but I do. Well, I hear spanish on the spanish channel it seems so fast, did english sound that way to you too? or is english a slow spoken language or what? Please reply back.
Thanks,
Ashley
Kabam   Thursday, July 03, 2003, 22:02 GMT
English definetly sounded too fast but in the mean time beautifully expressive to my ears when I wasn't able to understand it yet. There was a period of time when I found it too nasal too. That was before I was really able to understand it.
David Bosch   Thursday, July 03, 2003, 22:08 GMT
I had founded the American easier to understand first, however, it was too nasal. When I first listened to British (London) on the TV, I thought it was French, I don't know why but it sounded weird.

Later, I founded easier to listen to British because it is spoken a bit slower than American.
e.l.   Thursday, July 03, 2003, 22:46 GMT
Look also to the topic:
A question for .......speakers.
Dorian   Thursday, July 03, 2003, 23:16 GMT
No English is not a slow spoken language. It's sounds fast to my ears. For me, American sounds more nasal and earsier to understand at the same time.
Javier   Friday, July 04, 2003, 11:00 GMT
In my opinion, there are English native speakers who speak very quickly, like Hugh Grant, and there are others who speak speak slowly and therefore I can understand them. It does not depend on if the speaker is British, American, Australian or whatever.

Cheers
dave   Friday, July 04, 2003, 11:09 GMT
David Beckham - slow speaker by all means.
Hey David   Friday, July 04, 2003, 11:31 GMT
I was just wondering, do you think English may have sounded like French to you because its kind of like German, with french words?
This would kind of be a contrast to romance speakers, who seem to find English a little rough, which I guess germanic languages are when compared to say Italian.

Just thinking back, the first time I heard an American accent in real life (not on tv, where for some reason I could never hear accents as a kid) I couldn't believe just how weird it sounded. In contrast to New Zealand English it does sound very different -slow, drawly and full of r's.
scottish   Saturday, July 05, 2003, 18:11 GMT
how about you take a look at the scottish accent,,,, that will REALLY confuse you!
Ryan   Saturday, July 05, 2003, 18:55 GMT
I knew some guys from Syria who could understand me just fine, but not understand Black English (AAVE) at all. I can understand Black English well, probably because I've spent a lot of my life hearing it. In the USA, they had to take out a lot of the Scots speak in the movie "Trainspotting," because Americans could not understand it, even though people in England had much less of a problem.

Understanding languages has little to do with the speed of the language and more to do with exposure to the rhythm and pronunciation. I remember as a little kid I could barely understand Doctor Who episodes the first time I heard them even though the characters were speaking the same English words that I was. Now, I have no problem with standard English accents just out of being exposed to them through time.

Ryan
David Bosch   Saturday, July 05, 2003, 19:45 GMT
I thought it was French because of the accent, not vocabulary, besides I was just 6 years old and you know some British accents such as Cockney or Scottish are very difficult to understand.
Lonlely   Sunday, July 06, 2003, 05:02 GMT
Please don't leave antimoon ! I'm all alone !
Ashley   Sunday, July 06, 2003, 22:12 GMT
Merci peuple
Je fais l'appericate il:)
Rock   Monday, July 07, 2003, 13:44 GMT
Ashley
Do you mean : "J'apprecie beaucoup ça" or something like that ?
Boy   Friday, July 11, 2003, 15:17 GMT
It sounds fast to my ears. Native-speakers take alot of English words in order to express one long idea but this is not the case with my native language. When I understand someone who is speaking English, it sounds like he is talking with me in my own language. That's why I understand one thing very clearly, every language works in the same pattern.