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October 17, 2005
Foreign Languages
Why is it that every other language sounds so smooth, so beautiful and just so nice?
I've always wished I could hear english this way. With new ears, paying close attention to every sound, every breath that is made. Is english just as beautiful or is it just as generic as it sounds to me?
(click the dudes to hear english)
Posted by cory at October 17, 2005 9:57 PM
Comments
i always try to look at written words to figure out what they look like, and it frustrates me that i can't without reading them.
i wish i could remember what english sounded like to me before i knew it. i get an idea whenever someone plays a metallica or ac dc song. my brother was really into them when i was too young to know english. he made me listen to them so much that i finally had it all memorized, but purely based on what it sounded like. listening to metallica now is a revelation, because suddenly it all makes sense, although i remember so clearly what it used to sound like to me. i try to stay away from all 90s metal music now, to preserve the sensation.
Posted by: nina at October 18, 2005 1:21 PM
I often wonder what life would have been like if I would have stayed in Korea. Would I have become fluent in English anyway? It's strange how Korean looks and sounds so beautiful to me... But I'm sure it would seem "generic" if I would have stayed there.
Also, I remember singing songs with words I didn't know yet, so I would just sing them how it sounded to me (which was jibberish). Oh, good times...
Sidenote: German doesn't really sound smooth and beautiful.
Posted by: Karen at October 18, 2005 5:08 PM
When I was in Hungary, everyone was obsessed with how English sounded. We sang the Hungarian national anthem, then the American one, and all these kids kept telling us how much more beautiful ours was. It made me so mad, cause their national anthem sounded so much more noble and strong, like they were rich with all of this heritage. America is such a baby!
Posted by: Seth at October 18, 2005 5:27 PM
funny: german does sound smooth and beautiful if you are german. american english sounds sort of like a condition of the back throat. the only really smooth sounding language i can think of is arabic. quietly spoken by a woman to her child.
Posted by: nina at October 19, 2005 8:33 AM
Indian(wait..is that what it's called?) is super soft and gentle too. One of my roommates is Indian and it's so fun to listen to him talk to his parents. His voice gets so gentle, but then he says english words and it's so gruff. I wish i knew what english sounded like without knowing it or hearing it my whole life.
Posted by: Cory Weaver at October 19, 2005 8:57 AM
as in native american or india indian? i think there are about 500 languages in india, and a lot of different native ones too. i have noticed this switch sometimes with people who are really good at english and also speak their native tongue. you are always kind of shocked when they go back to english, it sounds so brutal. or brutally familiar maybe.
Posted by: nina at October 21, 2005 5:54 AM
India Indian. I have no clue which language he speaks.
Posted by: Cory Weaver at October 21, 2005 7:22 AM