How does English sound to non-native English speakers?

[celebritea]

This may sound silly, but how does English "sound" to you?  For example, Spanish and other romantic language sound flowly, smooth, and extremely fast to me, as a native English speaker. English is my native tongue, so I don't have any perspective on what it sounds like to someone who's isn't.  But this is something I've always been curious about. My father told me he heard a native-Spanish speaker say it sound "rough and choppy" similar to German, but I've never discussed this first hand, with a non-native English speaker.

So, NON-native English speakers, how would you describe the sound of this language? Also, please state you native language.

[AureliaeLacrimae]

Not sure whether this answers your question, but to me, English sounds resonant. Various accents, though, can change this. I don’t like generalising, but it seems I’ll have to. My native language is Croatian, which is a Slavic language. The pronunciation of Slavic languages is very straightforward and quick, at times, the words feel chopped (that’s what people usually say when they listen to me speak my native language, but I wouldn’t know for sure).

I dislike American accents in general as the words in their pronunciation are lengthened - sometimes that can give you a feeling of endlessness and the phoneme ‘r’ isn’t really nice to hear. RP has ‘r’ pronounced only when it’s immediately followed by a vowel sound, which isn’t in GAm (General American pronunciation). Most of their dialects are rhotic - they emphasise this ‘r’ phoneme which many find annoying. This, though, isn’t the case with all American dialects - New York (which is also non-rhotic, like RP) has a sharper and faster pronunciation from example the lenient drawl of the Texans. I come from a society where being precise is very important. The RP appeals to me more from that reason exactly - the words are sharp, the intonation can vary, and the rhythm is dynamic. Of course, there are many dialects in the UK which are difficult to follow. Take for example the difference in between Northumberland and Kent. Penelope Lively had put this very nicely in one of her novels. She’d called Somerset speech a ruminative buzz and Cockney staccato scatter-shot (not sure how the original sentence of hers sounded). I guess that sums it up nicely.

(I don't mean to offend anyone, so please, don't take this personally - I'm trying to see this in a linguistic point of view)

[elenamarie]

I guess it depends how we get used to the language. I am a Filipina and even here sometimes we have difficulty understanding each other due to different intonations and stress of how we say it. American english in my opinion is fast and slang, sometimes choppy so there are times I find it hard to understand but there are also American speakers who are easy to understand perhaps it depends on how the person speak the words. I find British english easier to understand or it may also be due to the fact that I watch British movies a lot, at first I really need to listen intently or even repeat the scene all over again for me to understand what they're saying, some words I can catch and some I don't but I just got used to it. My bestfriend said she find British accent hard to understand and prefer American english.

[Chris4Davi]

I have always been curious about this too as I am a native English speaker myself. I am of the impression though that it is the easiest language to learn but there is no little sexiness to it. It is just plain old, I especially hate the England English pronunciations. It sounds annoying to me, I prefer the fast and more precise American English.

[Krrizal]

I was born and raised in the Philippines, and when I arrived in America I was surprised at how... slow English sounded. Visayan is my mother tongue, and it is spoken more quickly and rhythmically than the steady, slow tilt of English.

[celebritea]

I have always been curious about this too as I am a native English speaker myself. I am of the impression though that it is the easiest language to learn but there is no little sexiness to it. It is just plain old, I especially hate the England English pronunciations. It sounds annoying to me, I prefer the fast and more precise American English.

That's interesting that you think it is the easiest. What makes you think that? I'd think it'd be one of the most difficult being that our language is so nuanced, confusing, contradictory, and the etymology of the English language I very derivative of others.

[Dora M]

I am an English and German language tutor and live and work in a Spanish speaking country. My students always tell me that English sounds "hard" to them. I make my pupils laugh when I demonstrate how and where to position one's tongue when pronouncing certain words, but it works. As Spanish is a phonetic language, many have problems with the right pronunciation, as they don't have much exposure to native English speakers. 

[AureliaeLacrimae]

I am an English and German language tutor and live and work in a Spanish speaking country. My students always tell me that English sounds "hard" to them. I make my pupils laugh when I demonstrate how and where to position one's tongue when pronouncing certain words, but it works. As Spanish is a phonetic language, many have problems with the right pronunciation, as they don't have much exposure to native English speakers.

This is curious. That's how Spanish sounds to me. I guess that's because of the specific ''r'' phoneme. Sometimes it's too pronounced in Spanish.

It's true that English pronunciation doesn't ''match'' the written word, but once in past it had. I will always remember when our teacher started reading Beowulf. It had a pure Germanic sound that I will never forget. It did remind me a little of German, especially Pearl. I had read some parts aloud and my teacher always told me to try to focus on the German pronunciation more than modern English. It worked. There were several things I had to remember to pronounce differently, but it was mostly German.

Now when I think more about it, maybe it sounds hard to them because of the glottal ''h''? Most of the other sounds are somehow gentler, I believe. I have always found alveolar sounds softer. English ''d'' and ''t'' are so much softer than for example Croatian dental ''d'' and ''t'' which are harsh.

[Baburra]

I've grown up hearing and understanding English even if it's not our native language but from my perspective it sounds like it's very structured and an equal balance of casual and formal. I don't really know how well of an explanation this is but I'm having a bit of trouble since I've never had to describe this before, but it is a very good question.