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Author Topic: What do you think of the English language?  (Read 22727 times)

kaijyuu

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Re: What do you think of the English language?
« Reply #150 on: June 12, 2012, 01:03:52 pm »

Are we certain that guy doesn't have some sort of speech impairment? Because that does not sound comfortable to speak in everyday situations. It's like he's going to throw up every time he opens his mouth.
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Aqizzar

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Re: What do you think of the English language?
« Reply #151 on: June 12, 2012, 01:06:41 pm »

It's a comedy program, making fun of our hicks. The accent is spot on, though.

Anyway, he's talking about a "cultural tradition" of playing a certain card game (I have no clue how it's played, despite him explaining it).

I know inflection isn't really an accent, and it's a different (Slavic) language, but that guy really reminds me of this guy.  Am I tonedeaf, or onto something?
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DJ

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Re: What do you think of the English language?
« Reply #152 on: June 12, 2012, 01:15:42 pm »

He does have a bit too much of teenage voice breaking going on, but then again there are plenty of our hicks who actually do talk like that.

For a non-parody sample, here's Ljubo Cesic Rojs, who is actually a member of the Croatian parliament, but he is from Herzegovina (the guy from before was from northern Bosnia, so it's a different kind of hick accent). He's talking about gay marriage here, BTW.

And yeah, Aqizzar, that does sound quite similar to our hicks. I guess Slavic languages just go for that kind of intonation in hick dialects.
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Aqizzar

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Re: What do you think of the English language?
« Reply #153 on: June 12, 2012, 01:19:59 pm »

For a non-parody sample, here's Ljubo Cesic Rojs, who is actually a member of the Croatian parliament, but he is from Herzegovina (the guy from before was from northern Bosnia, so it's a different kind of hick accent). He's talking about gay marriage here, BTW.

I wish I knew what he was saying.  Apparently it's a laugh riot.

And yeah, Aqizzar, that does sound quite similar to our hicks. I guess Slavic languages just go for that kind of intonation in hick dialects.

I've always said I have an ear for provincialism.  I can spot a hayseed from a mile away.

I just now realized how hilarious it is that the typical American southern accent completely mangles the word "rural".  When I try to say it, it's almost pure vowels.
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Re: What do you think of the English language?
« Reply #154 on: June 12, 2012, 01:29:40 pm »

Highlights include
"You should be a man and admit - Yes, I'm a faggot! - yes, you should be have strength and say - Yes, if I'm a faggot then yes I'm a faggot."
"Why don't they show tapes where a man is on a man, and yes, dear gentlemen, I have had opportunity to see such tapes (other representatives sigh collectively), yes, yes and when he pops out his eyes, like a boiled rabbit, that is so ugly to see."

And yes, he does actually mangle grammar and sentence structure like that. Well, even more, but it's kinda hard to translate.
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Alastar

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Re: What do you think of the English language?
« Reply #155 on: June 12, 2012, 01:39:27 pm »

I like English for its crisp structure and flexibility for quirky modifications. Pronunciation and orthography are a mess, but you can't have everything.

German contains too much filler and while some are cute, it has too many atrocious dialects. Good in waffly wanky wantonly wasteful works, for straighforward use I prefer English.
French is the only language I found downright unpleasant to learn. Too soft, imprecise, illogical and roundabout... something for diplomats and other degenerates.
Latin is awesome. At least as rich as German (grammar is surprisingly similar) but more flexible and economical.
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Askot Bokbondeler

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Re: What do you think of the English language?
« Reply #156 on: June 12, 2012, 01:41:03 pm »

RedKing

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Re: What do you think of the English language?
« Reply #157 on: June 12, 2012, 01:55:37 pm »

I just wish I could say "wall" without sounding like Foghorn Leghorn.  Clearly packing it into one syllable would be nice.
If you randomly throw "I say, I say" into your speech patterns, you win all the things.

I have a great-uncle by marriage from Jewett, TX (down near College Station), and holy crap on a stick...the man is nearly incomprehensible. A real-life Boomhauer, only much, much slower.

I just now realized how hilarious it is that the typical American southern accent completely mangles the word "rural".  When I try to say it, it's almost pure vowels.
Hmm...to me, it sounds like a dog growling. "Rrrurrrrl". Or if I clean it up a bit an enunciate, it rhymes with "earl".

One of the tests I know of is getting someone to say "white". If it sounds like "wat"....you might be a redneck.
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MetalSlimeHunt

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Re: What do you think of the English language?
« Reply #158 on: June 12, 2012, 01:56:52 pm »

For a non-parody sample, here's Ljubo Cesic Rojs, who is actually a member of the Croatian parliament, but he is from Herzegovina (the guy from before was from northern Bosnia, so it's a different kind of hick accent). He's talking about gay marriage here, BTW.
The guy down and left from him kind of looks like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
I just now realized how hilarious it is that the typical American southern accent completely mangles the word "rural".  When I try to say it, it's almost pure vowels.
To wit.
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DJ

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Re: What do you think of the English language?
« Reply #159 on: June 12, 2012, 02:10:39 pm »

OK, remember how people wondered what English sounds like to foreigners? Well, I'm kinda curious about the same thing, but for Croatian. So, I recorded myself reciting a poem here. I specifically picked this one to show off the onomatopoeic capacities of the language (it's about a cricket). Do note that I have a slight speech impediment, though, as my Rs are way too soft - they're supposed to be rolled.
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MetalSlimeHunt

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Re: What do you think of the English language?
« Reply #160 on: June 12, 2012, 02:26:33 pm »

I know for a fact that I've never heard that or any other Croatian poems before, which does nothing to lessen the feeling that I've heard that before.
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DJ

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Re: What do you think of the English language?
« Reply #161 on: June 12, 2012, 02:27:34 pm »

I have a fairly common voice I guess.
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Mr. Palau

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Re: What do you think of the English language?
« Reply #162 on: June 12, 2012, 03:01:24 pm »

I know for a fact that I've never heard that or any other Croatian poems before, which does nothing to lessen the feeling that I've heard that before.
It sounds just like every other slavic language I have ever heard. I think that slavic languages sound so diffrent, from english that is, that it is hard to differentiate between them.
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Hubris Incalculable

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Re: What do you think of the English language?
« Reply #163 on: June 12, 2012, 03:32:05 pm »

I wonder what the accent of an L1* English speaker sounds like in his (fluently spoken) L2** (which need not be any particular language).

*first language
**second language
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RedKing

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Re: What do you think of the English language?
« Reply #164 on: June 12, 2012, 03:53:50 pm »

I wonder what the accent of an L1* English speaker sounds like in his (fluently spoken) L2** (which need not be any particular language).

*first language
**second language
It often depends more on the teacher and/or location of study than on the speaker's first language. My Russian teacher was actually Polish. My German teachers were mostly American, except for the last one who was Austrian. My Japanese teacher was from Hokkaido, and my Mandarin teacher was from up around Harbin (far north east) but my real-world exposure was mostly in the Shanghai-Hangzhou region.
So my Russian had a Polish accent, my German has mostly an American accent, my Japanese had a rural northern accent, and my Mandarin is ALL messed up because I use bits that are Beijing dialect, bits that are Shanghai dialect and bits that are Dongbei accent.
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