What / how do other languages sound to you?
November 17, 2010 2:34 PM Subscribe
What / how do other languages sound to you?
There is no "best" answer to this question. (In spite of MetaFilter's insistence that there is a "perfect" answer.)
I speak several languages, but all are European. I went to Disney in Florida, and I heard a bunch of different languages. I am rude, and I asked them, "what language were you speaking? It sounded like . . ."
Japanese sounded impatient. Cinese sounded angry. Portugese sounded like trumpets. Vietnamese sounded like poetry. Spanish (at least as spoken by someone from Mexico) went too fast, and sounded like a river. Farsi sounded like an alligator protecting her young. Punjabi was musical -- but not the way of Bollywood; although it WAS a language to dance to.
And then . . . I asked each of the folk if they would speak more in their language. All refused. All were embarrassed that I would ask them to talk to me.
Then later (on the return airplane trip), I wondered, what would I say? How would I sound? Yes, I could tell them a story or two. But --
---
So I ask this of the Meta community: What do other languages sound like, to you? Especially I ask the folk who do not have English as a first language; how do I (an American), sound to you?
There is no "best" answer to this question. (In spite of MetaFilter's insistence that there is a "perfect" answer.)
I speak several languages, but all are European. I went to Disney in Florida, and I heard a bunch of different languages. I am rude, and I asked them, "what language were you speaking? It sounded like . . ."
Japanese sounded impatient. Cinese sounded angry. Portugese sounded like trumpets. Vietnamese sounded like poetry. Spanish (at least as spoken by someone from Mexico) went too fast, and sounded like a river. Farsi sounded like an alligator protecting her young. Punjabi was musical -- but not the way of Bollywood; although it WAS a language to dance to.
And then . . . I asked each of the folk if they would speak more in their language. All refused. All were embarrassed that I would ask them to talk to me.
Then later (on the return airplane trip), I wondered, what would I say? How would I sound? Yes, I could tell them a story or two. But --
---
So I ask this of the Meta community: What do other languages sound like, to you? Especially I ask the folk who do not have English as a first language; how do I (an American), sound to you?
This post was deleted for the following reason: I love language stuff too, but this is Chatfilter. -- cortex
Danish sounds like horseshoes on cobblestones.
posted by easy, lucky, free at 2:50 PM on November 17, 2010
posted by easy, lucky, free at 2:50 PM on November 17, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by thylacine at 2:45 PM on November 17, 2010