Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I think that applies to the Mainland Southeast Asian languages like Thai, Khmer, Vietnamese, etc. But the Austronesian language (in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines) don't have the features you're describing.
Even Thai, which IMO sounds the least "alien" of the Mainland SE Asian languages, still has the features you're describing. I think the main thing that makes it sound foreign is that it's mono-syllabic, like Khmer, Vietnamese, Chinese, and many languages in Asia
They sound less foreign for a Western. Although, I can see how Filipino would still sound alien/harsh to a Westerner. But Malay sounds Western for some reason. Maybe Arabic and Indian influence.
No one really speaks the way Tagalog is spoken in news. In real life.
They all sound terrible if you dont understand it, especially if your around those native speakers all the time, it's like listening to a broken record.
some almost sound annoying like the sound of a group of ducks quaking and screaming
I guess Japanese sounds more pleasant to the ears, since they dont yell out and scream so loudly in normal conversations.
Whatver anyone says, none of them sound remotely close to English. The difference is like meat and veggies. Only thing is can remotely say close would the Indo Germanic languages still have some similar traits.
I share your aversion for strongly tonal languages, where 'ma' can mean half a dozen different things depending on intonation and context, but have to admit that Japanese is the only Asian language I have studied. Maybe if I studied other languages they would not appear so difficult.
Off topic, but I would nominate Norwegian as the language most similar to English. If you understand Scots you have a big leg up on vocabulary and the syntax is identical to English. Some simple sentences in Norsk just sound like accented English.
You are probably not averse to Norwegian even though it is tonal too.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
