Submitted 3 weeks ago by nipawomset@lemmy.world to [deleted]
I thought I might share a small phonetic game/challenge with you. All 3 individuals in the attached clips were born and raised in the same country and speak the same native language. Can you tell, based on the peculiarities of their English pronunciation, what language it is?
Listening to 1 and 2 I was wondering whether there was some clever twist I wasn’t seeing because they both seemed fairly easy to identify. Then 3 hit me with surprise rhoticity and now I’m confused.
„Then 3 hit me with surprise rhoticity and now I’m confused.” Hopefully at that point the challenge became entertaining 🙂
The correct answer is:
Polish. Thanks for your guesses and congratulations to all those who were close or even hit the nail on the head, even if somewhat hesitantingly.
I'd pick Czech overall, for no real reason - they just remind me a bit of one Czech person i know who has spent a long time here. Not strong evidence.
Otherwise I might have gone for Poland or Baltics somewhere, Swedish/Finnish/Estonian did cross my mind as possible.
I just don't know enough people from enough countries - especially smaller ones to have 'd imagine pany confidence.
I think you'd have to be quite familiar with the native language to really be sure.
The answer to your question is no, I cannot.
The accent I hear appears to be based on where they learned English instead of where they are from.
I suppose that’s a pretty solid indication that they learned it well 🙂
what language it is?
I didn’t catch this before I posted my answer. Are you telling me that English is not their native language?
Now I’m surprised and curious.
That’s right, none of them is a native speaker of English - their English is learned via the standard combination of school, extracurricular courses, media exposure, and other typical means available in largely monolingual countries, and subsequently polished up abroad (at least two of them moved to Anglophone countries for university). Thus, I figured that the undercurrent of their native pronunciation should be sufficiently conspicuous to allow for making some educated guesses about their origin 🙂
Halfway between posh English and Irish? I’m guessing Manx.
A fair guess, but no :)
The first speaker had a couple of vowels that gave away he isn't a native speaker, but he's walking the line between uncanny and mastery, so it was hard to pick out enough to guess what his native language might be.
The second I'm not allowed to watch without a Vimeo account, probably because I'm in Britain. I won't be setting one up today.
For the third there was a lot more unusual vowel articulation, especially 'a', that made me think Slavic, but I couldn't be any more specific than that.
Slavic is a good guess
🙂
The first two are British. I know regional dialects vary, but I can’t identify one from the other.
The third one sounds like an American, but has a very “professional” dialect. Some people will talk like this for recordings, but since you said she’s from the same country as the other ones, I’m guessing she learned her American accent from media, and not from regular conversations.
No way are they English.
The first two may have spent several years in south east England or spent a long time there - but they're not native speakers. I wonder at what age they stopped being "raised" though as I'd think at least a few formative years spent there to pick up that much of an accent.
The both initially moved to England for university - him at 19 and her at 21.
Either Estonian or Finnish, based on the soft, shortened ‘s’ and the distinctive short o (‘so’).
An interesting and well-argued guess, but I’m afraid it’s nonetheless somewhat off the mark.
1 sounds like NZ to me
2 sounds like non-english, trying to come off as English
3 sounds slightly Scottish
So my answer is one of these:
It’s neither South Africa nor the UK, though I’m surprised how often the native speakers of this particular language are mistaken for South Africans, given that I can think of hardly any salient connections between the two🙂
Arcanepotato@crazypeople.online 3 weeks ago
Absolute wild guess that it’s Wales. Mostly based on how there is an expectation it’s not well known as a country and vibes on physical appearance.
My favorite whelsh pronunciation:
Image
nipawomset@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
That’s an interesting and unexpected guess. It would seem to me that no. 3 in particular doesn’t sound even remotely Welsh, but perhaps absolutely wild guesses (to use your phrase) dispense with such stereotypical assumptions🙂