Understanding languages
@PointlessQuestions (15397)
United States
November 25, 2011 4:08pm CST
I speak English as my only language. Any other language sounds pretty much like gibberish. I can understand a smidgen of Spanish, merely because I am exposed so much to it from a bilingual minister friend. She is Puerto Rican and came here when she was 6 years old. She grew up speaking Spanish and English. There are times when she gets on a roll and I hear her rattling off in Spanish that it all sounds like gibberish to me.
I'm wondering if English sounds like gibberish to non-English speaking people. If you didn't understand English would it sound like Gibberish to you. I know a smidgen of German also.. but only a few words and phrases.. I can lots of times figure out what is being said in German when the words are similar to English.. like Antwort is Answer.. and then there are words I have memorized because the words don't resemble each other.. like love is liebe in German... but when I hear German spoken at a regular pace, it mostly sounds like gibberish because my brain can't recognize the actual words.
What are your thoughts of the different languages? They say that English is the hardest language to learn, but for me it is easy .. but French and Spanish are hard for me because of the feminine and masculine words..
Your thoughts, myotters?
5 people like this
13 responses
@mr_pearl (5018)
• India
25 Nov 11
Hello there... No, English isn't the hardest one... The challenging languages are Sanskrit and Urdu! They have a lot of tounge twisting words in them and that makes them tough...
I know 3 languages very well... My mother tounge- Marathi, my National language- Hindi and English... I am not very good with written Hindi. But I can speak all of these very well... :) The other Indian languages sound gibberish to me, coz I don't know them... There are a few which are sweet to hear, they say.. I never experienced that...
I had a love for English, since I was kid... And that encouraged me to learn that language better...
Take care... thank you!
@PointlessQuestions (15397)
• United States
25 Nov 11
Hi Mr-Pearl,
Wow! You know and understand 3 languages! I wish I could say that. I'm listening to my Spanish CD right now as I am mylotting. It is still quite complicated for me even though I hear the words.
1 person likes this
@mr_pearl (5018)
• India
25 Nov 11
Oh yes, I understand 3 of them.. But that is quite a common thing here... In India there are people who know more than 6 languages.. My mother tounge was taught to me since I was kid... National language was part of my curriculum in school... And English had been my passion...
Thanks a lot!!!
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
25 Nov 11
hi pointlessquestions I am an American and just naturally spoke English growing up as its our native tongue. I think ?Chinese and Japanese would b e the hardest to learn followed by by Russian.
I know a little Spanish yet as I too it in school but not a lot as I do not practice it and it was many years ago I too k it in college along with French too.Yes they do sound like gibberish mainly because we have forgotten the main words we used to know.
from Hatley.
from Hatley.2 people like this
@PointlessQuestions (15397)
• United States
26 Nov 11
Oh when I hear Chinese it amazes me that these sounds are actually words. I have a Viet Namese girlfriend and she is bilingual. I hear her speak her language and I don't hear intelligible words. It just sounds like disjointed sounds to me. She thinks English is much harder than her language.
@KrauseHome (36448)
• United States
11 Feb 12
Well, English is my main language spoken here as well. I can speak and understand a little Spanish and also understand a little French, but if they start talking too fast they would loose me. One of the most interesting languages out there are Tagala or people from the different parts of Africa. These are different for sure.
1 person likes this
@PointlessQuestions (15397)
• United States
11 Feb 12
I understand just a smidgen of Spanish and German .. just a few words in German. I have family that speaks some German… they lived in Germany for 6 years and their children were both born in Germany.
Like you… if people talk too fast I can’t figure out what they are saying.
@lilaclady (28207)
• Australia
25 Nov 11
I admire people who can speak many languages, I don't think it is easy, you need a very good memory as far as the gibberish well just a few weeks ago I was watching TV and thought I would love a nice bubble bath so I went to the bathroom, as I was soaking I could hear the tv ant I couldn't quite hear what was being said, so I closed my eyes and just listened and at that time I thought that must be what english sounds like to non-english speaking people and yes I think it does sound like gibberish.
@PointlessQuestions (15397)
• United States
26 Nov 11
I think also that English might sound like gibberish or gobbledygook if they don't recognize the words. I wonder how it is so easy for little babies to grow up understanding their language of their parents. Remember seeing babies talking gibberish until they actually learn the sounds. It's amazing to hear babies learn to talk.
I'm really amazed when I see Hispanic babies understand their mom and dad when they talk to them. It amazes me because I have no clue and little 1 and 2 year olds understand perfectly.
@AmbiePam (85447)
• United States
27 Nov 11
I can understand a little Spanish. Growing up there was a lady in our church who was from Mexico and she taught my sister and I a little bit. Like I can sing Jingle Bells in Spanish thanks to her. My sister knows more Spanish because she took it in college and used to teach high school Spanish about six years ago. What would scare me is having to learn Chinese. I look at what is supposed to be Chinese writing and I'm like, huh?
1 person likes this
@PointlessQuestions (15397)
• United States
27 Nov 11
That's neat that you can sing in Spanish. I learned a French song French as a kid... Alouette. That's the only one I ever learned in any other language than English.
@RitterSport (2451)
• Lippstadt, Germany
13 Dec 11
hi dear Pointless Questions, I started learning English when I was about 11 years old and enjoyed it a lot right from the start. In fact English was one of my top subjects in school along with my native language German.
German is quite difficult, and that applies for Germans too who are talking the local dialect at home and then they have to switch to the dialect free version you learn in school....... my husband still has issues with that up to this day and he is 50....... We didnt speak the local dialect in my maternal family where I grew up so it was no problem for me at school at all.
I love English to this day, and practising English with writing and commenting is one of the main reasons for my joining mylot as English is the official language here.
1 person likes this
@PointlessQuestions (15397)
• United States
13 Dec 11
Hi RitterSport,
I just know a few phrases and words in German, like Sister I can say in German, but to Write it I have to use the translater because of the funny letter in that word I con't have on my keyboard... I guess I could find it in my symbols, but have never looked for it. I can say 'answer' in German... and a few other words. I did know quite a few phrases, but I forgot them from not practicing them.
Wow! I didn't know there was a difference in dialects in German... it must be like a different language almost.
@RitterSport (2451)
• Lippstadt, Germany
13 Dec 11
LOL dear PQ it is a different language with the dialects. If someone from the seaside up north meets someone from down south you bet they wont understand each others dialects..... I once was in Munich in Bavaria in the South and didnt understand much though its only 3,5 train hours from my old hometown.
1 person likes this
@PointlessQuestions (15397)
• United States
11 Feb 12
Wow! That is really something! Here in the south, we speak differently than in the north... mainly the accent.. but there are different words too... or different ways of saying things. Here the trunk of the car is the boot. And if you are talking about doing something next week.. like next Monday... they say Monday week.
There is no problem in understanding English here.. except maybe the Cajun talk in Louisiana.
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
27 Nov 11
from psychology
of course english would sound like gibberish to a person who does not know the language.
English is not the hardest language to learn so I don't know who they are, chinese is much harder, then there is icelandic language which is supposed to be the hardest language to learn from research. Try arabic and hebrew that are really hard too, they don;t even use the same alphabet.
Anything with a different alphabet is extremely hard for anybody to learn.
1 person likes this
@PointlessQuestions (15397)
• United States
27 Nov 11
Yeah.. even when the same alphabet is used.. like in Spanish.. some words with a 'cer' in them sounds more like 'ther' instead of the 'c' sound. Kind of like the 'ph' sound in English sounds like 'f'.. When you don't know these things you can't understand or pronounce it.
Yes, I saw a show on Discovery once where a genius was learning Icelandic language and he learned it in about 1 week and did an interview in Icelandic language. It would be impossible for anyone else to learn that fast, most likely.
@maximax8 (31053)
• United Kingdom
29 Nov 11
English is my native tongue. Today I spent time with my German friend that lives in my home country. She speaks English fluently but for me the German accent and longer words are hard to manage. Dutch sounds similar to German to me. I love the sound of the romance languages: French, Spanish, Italian and Romanian. I learned French for 5 years when I was at secondary school. I am currently learning Spanish ready for my trip to South America in March. I found Danish a very funny language to listen to. I find most other languages gibberish to listen to. When I was in Australian a man said to a European "Good day mate. How are you going". The accent was very hard for the European to understand.
@PointlessQuestions (15397)
• United States
29 Nov 11
I can understand an Aussie really well. I've had friends with Australian accents. I wish I could learn easier. I'm practicing Spanish a few days a week. But I forget the words the next day.
@SpikeTheLobster (6403)
•
26 Nov 11
English isn't the hardest to learn the basics, but it's probably the hardest to learn all the variations and local dialects - there are SO many. Sometimes I find myself listening to people (in English, from another part of the country) as if they were foreign because I can't understand their accent or the words they use! And I'm a native speaker! 
I speak French as well as English and I must say it's a bit tougher because of the masculine/feminine thing (at least there's no "neuter") but it's also a VERY logical language and sounds gorgeous (maybe not when *I* speak it, though!).
The funny thing is that I sometimes find myself listening in French - I expect the other person to speak it - and when they speak English instead I don't understand a single word. So I think you're right: to a non-English speaker, English would sound like any foreign language.
I speak French as well as English and I must say it's a bit tougher because of the masculine/feminine thing (at least there's no "neuter") but it's also a VERY logical language and sounds gorgeous (maybe not when *I* speak it, though!).
The funny thing is that I sometimes find myself listening in French - I expect the other person to speak it - and when they speak English instead I don't understand a single word. So I think you're right: to a non-English speaker, English would sound like any foreign language.1 person likes this
@PointlessQuestions (15397)
• United States
26 Nov 11
Oh yes.. I have heard some people from different parts of the world speak English and I hardly understand them. Some words a person used once for 'bother' was 'molest'.. so of course when he said, 'stop molesting me'... I was taken aback because he wasn't being bothered at all in the manner I expected... it was after that I realized the word meant something entirely different to him.
@PointlessQuestions (15397)
• United States
26 Nov 11
For me, I almost think German would be easier for me to learn than Spanish. I know several words and phrases in Spanish.. and I also know a few in German. I wish I could go to a class and learn a language. I have a friend who was once going to hold a class to teach Spanish, but that fell through. I don't have a car anymore to go to her house.. but if she would have taught that class I would have certainly driven to her house and even paid her to teach me.
@calpro (930)
• India
26 Nov 11
Hi pointlessquestions,
You are a native English speaker so you feel other languages something different, but for people who have a different mother tongue, English might be difficult for them. As i have read somewhere children up to the age of five will have very good grasping of languages.
It is always better to learn as many languages as we can. Learning more languages will also activate the neurons of brain and will have a better compartmentalization in brain.
I myself speak three languages and feel like learning at least few more foreign languages before my exit from this world.
Happy Living
calpro
@PointlessQuestions (15397)
• United States
26 Nov 11
Lucky you, Calpro. I wish I could learn another language, but my memory is no good. I get exhausted easily when I am trying to learn anything, and end up having to stop and rest.
@bluespygirl (2112)
• Philippines
26 Nov 11
Hi Pointless Questions! I had come across an article that if you want to challenge yourself, why not learn new language. :) I studied in a chinese school way back in highschool. I am one of the few who studied there with a different nationlity. I never learned though the language because I didn't enrolled in the chinese class. I guess I was not interested in lening a new one.
But if I were to choose one language to learn and study, I guess it will be Spanish. Spanish because I believe that in our dialect, many words are alike.
1 person likes this
@PointlessQuestions (15397)
• United States
26 Nov 11
I can imagine it would be more interesting I'd there were similarities in a language you want to learn. I wish I could learn but my memory is so bad.
@mahusayako (18)
• Philippines
26 Nov 11
We do have different languages and dialects in my place..but English is the second langauge in my place maybe beause were been under US before and also English is part of the curiculum in our school since elem to college or even you will get your masters you will have it.the most hardset language I heard of is japanese because they mostly has R on their words.some people onmy country knows how to speak spanish,japanese and english.I myself knows how to speak spanish and english.spanish is just easy for me becuase it has similarity in our own language which is Filipino.maybe because were been colonized by this 3 countries Spain,Japan and US and that's the reason why some people here knows how to speak those languages but if you will go to a different places here they were using dialects if you cant understand them better speak English then they will understand you and reply you in english.
1 person likes this
@PointlessQuestions (15397)
• United States
26 Nov 11
I guess it would be easy to speak Spanish, since Filipino language is so similar. I thought the Filipino language WAS Spanish. We had lots of Filipina nurses where I worked.. and they all spoke Spanish to each other when they were speaking among themselves. They spoke English when speaking to us English speaking workers.
