Is it possible for one race to sound like another vocally?

Question

Could you be trained to sound like another race? people of the same race seem to sound the same vocally even if there are some different accents. is it how they are like biologically? something to do with their vocal chords or something? i an always tell races apart from their speech even if they try hard to imitate.

So i'm wondering if Asians or Blacks can sound like a white person without a hint of their ethnic backgrounds even if they are raised here. i'm not talking about speaking proper or anything racist. i just mean can they physically sound the same if they are trained to do it?

see even if some people are born here and speak english something about their voice doesn't sound like white english speakers. why do races sound different even if they are trained in the same language? this could go the other way around too. COuld white people speak chinese just like chinese people and you won't be able to tell the difference?

Answer 1

Clearly you've never listened to Colin Powell.  He's black- sounds white.

Speech is a function of cultural teachings & upbringings.  A person adopted & brought up by a different culture, or even in a different area will adopt their way of speaking.

And fyi- there are caucasians living in China, that were born there, and you can't tell the difference in how they speak.

Answer 2

At the end of your question you' re confusing race with nationality.

Now Back to your first question. I called and asked about an apt. in Detroit the man said sure come on down. When I got there I saw the surprised look on his face. He thought I was white. You see I am from WV and I Had an accent that he had only heard white people speaking.

all language and accents are learned "trained'.

there is no biological basis for 'race'. race is really a large tribe. A group of people moved off far away from others and  there was a large enough gene pool to have a healthy community so the tribe turned into many tribes which turned into a race after tens of thousands of years.

That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.

Answer 3

Well, "2nd",

If you mean can we sound like neanderthal...We don't know what they sounded like so, no one can answer.

If you are under the misguided impression that there is more than one human race on the planet for the last 35,000 years look into:

The mapping of the human genome!

Then, you won't ask questions like this one!

Answer 4

If I child in a society, China like example, from small and soon travel to the United States, sides to " blanco" to speak like chino.caminar like Chinese, thinking like Chinese.

Nad has to do " raza".

Answer 5

I think the races do naturally sound different, but there is plenty of variation in any given race, with some overlap.  I'm sure there are some people whom you can't tell.

Answer 6

In Holland, where I'm from, we have immigrants from other countries in East Africa. Alot of the immigrants are Somali. And it's always the same, the parents come to Holland with a Somali accent but the children learn to speak perfect Dutch, local dialect Volendam, German, French; whatever is taught in school flawlessly. You cannot tell a Somali or Ethiopian child, in speech from plain Dutch.

It's the same way in the UK, France, and most European countries. There are homogenous speech patterns designated to various classes. Poor and uneducated people from Europe have bad language skills. It is not colour based.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?...

Answer 7

Back in the TV stone age the sitcom "All in the family" had the bigot "Archie Bunker" sharing a hospital room with a Black man.the was a curtain between them and the Black man sounded very much the cultured Englishman. A great friendship developed. The punch line was when the curtain was pulled back.

Language is learned early and some our childhood accents remain with us. (My pronunciation of Korea is hilarious to Koreans)

Yes, you can train yourself to speak any dialect of English. It takes time and must be ingrained before people think you're a "native" speaker.