How does English sound to non-English speakers? First, let’s back track:
I worked at learning three languages during my life. The first, was as a schoolkid at Davis Street School in New Haven, CT in the late 1950s. But failed miserably at fourth grade French. The second, was trying to learn Spanish in high school and college. I did OK but mostly retained parts of dialogues and could only say things like “Meatballs again, what did I tell you?….Caramba, I forgot my notebook….I like it less when it has rice.”
Then I went over to India and tried to learn Hindi while doing an independent study project in New Delhi as a senior at Colgate University (I interned on The Hindustan Times in New Delhi). My Hindi wasn’t great or even fluent but I managed to get a C. I returned to India after getting my masters at the Medill School of Journalism — still no luck with Hindi. Then as a freelance reporter/analyst I moved to Spain where YES I DID learn Spanish, spent nearly four years, and did all my interviews (including with Felipe Gonzales who years later would become Prime Minister) in Spanish. And when The San Diego Union hired me, my Spanish was a definite plus.
But over the years there has been one constant.
People who I met traveling (India, Spain, Bangladesh, Mexico, Cypress, Italy) have told me that compared to many other languages it is hard to learn English.
Which takes us to this GREAT video. It’s ‘Skwerl’. A short film in fake English. Made for Kino Sydney #47 by Brian and Karl.
It shows you how English sounds to non-English speakers (so, no, you don’t have to clean the wax out of your ears…it is supposed to sound this way).
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.