How do non-english speakers mimic english?

Question

This was inspired, surprisingly enough, by a comment on a Youtube video, haha. The video was of a Whose Line is it Anyway skit called Foreign Film Dub, where two of the actors pretend to speak in another language (in this case, German), while the other two provide the translation.

Anyway, when imitating German, for example, there are certain features that most people tend to use, such as harsh sounds and certain syllables that they relate to German.

My question is, how do people who don't speak english imitate english? Anybody have any experience with this?

Answer 1

In France, when we imitate Americans, we pretend to chew a chewing gum and speak with a very nasal accent with a lot of "w" sounds (because that's what is closest to your "r" to us) and many "tion". Also, as no syllables are stressed in French, we tend to exagerate it when we imitate English. Won a Shion a Wy a Woo nu Shion. And it seems to us that you say the f word all the time!  

Answer 2

You know how native speakers of English caricature someone from Basildon or London, lengthening and dipthonghising the vowels ... Italians do it like that. But strangely enough, they also caricature us by saying "Yesssss", in a way that very few English people do. Most of us say "Yeah", but for some reason, Italians seem to think we all say "Yesssss".

Sometimes, I might say 'Oh, Yuss!"

_______

They also exaggerate the 'h' sound and put it in where it doesn't belong ... I suppose because it's very characteristic of English and doesn't exist in Italian. It's like the opposite of what we do when we caricature French people by dropping the 'h' in 'Allo allo'.

Answer 3

yes i am mexican and of course my family tries to say words in english and i think its funny cuz if i say something slightly wrong in spanish they are all over me. but for example my mom will say at jack in the box yumbo yack for jumbo jack its super funny or she will say you can get for me one sheezeburger no esheeze meaning she wants a cheeseburger no cheese and i say hello than just order a hamburger!! its so funny to hear my family talk theres a million things they try to say and its all wrong! yellow is jello or when we went to a nursury my mom asked the man where i can find a yackaranda she wanted a jacaranda so alot of J words are said with Y and stuff like that and the sentence structure is backwards cuz thats how spanish is like the white house in spanish is said the house white so when we try to talk english we word for word translate it and then it becomes incorrect

Answer 4

I like your question.

For what I remember when I was young and I lived in Costa Ric, in Spanish, we mimic English by adding the "_tion" ending to any word, by not conjugating the verbs correctly (cause many non Spanish speakers have difficulty conjugating verbs)  and by changing the sound of our r to a softer one...

Answer 5

There are English speakers in different countries.  Even in English speaking countries there may be regional accents.  For example in the U.S. there are Boston accents, NYC accents, the dreaded southern accent, Appalachian accents, the Gullah accent, etc.  The U.K. has different accents.  There is Canada, Australia, New Zeland, Guyana, Belize and African countries where English is spoken.  Then there are West Indian and East Indian accents.

You would have to pick a country and try to imitate a certain group.  Listen to the words they use, nuances and mannerisms.

Answer 6

It depends whether we imitate British or American English =)

German is my first language. It's not that I am one of those who make fun of English speakers! O.o But ... when I imitade an American English speaker, I say the English 'r' all the time ... so that everything seems to be based on it, you know? =) And I speak slowly, saying the 'a' in an very stupid and loud way!

When I imitade British English I change from really quiet to loud, like the English people seem to do =).

Anyway, usually after a few sentences my friends and I have to stop

because we have to laugh! =))

°°°

Yesss, of course! =))