# What does English sound like to foreigners? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 28, 2011, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-english-sound-like-to-foreigners/601052 "2011-10-28T07:36:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-english-sound-like-to-foreigners/601052/61 "2018-02-03T02:05:37Z")
I think English vowels must sound funny because there are so many that occur in very few languages. The words LACK, LUCK, LICK, LOOK all contain vowels that non-English speakers might not have in their language. About half of all English spoken consonants contain a Schwa, which is absent in nearly all other languages, so that must sound very funny. It is hard to convince foreigners that the first syllable is pronounced the same in Fanatic, Financial, Phonetic and Funicular. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-english-sound-like-to-foreigners/601052/62 "2018-02-03T02:43:23Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > It is hard to convince foreigners that the first syllable is pronounced the same in Fanatic, Financial, Phonetic and Funicular. It is hard to convince me of that, too. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-english-sound-like-to-foreigners/601052/63 "2018-02-03T04:15:28Z")
> [@gwendee](#): > > When I was studying in Argentina my host family told me that to imitate English they added -tion to everything. > [@Chronos](#): > > Which actually isn’t all that far off. A friend of mine from Ecuador sometimes stumbled over English words, and when he did, I would ask him what the Spanish word was. More often than not, chopping off the -io and replacing it with -tion resulted in the correct word. What? I thought almost every -tion word is the same in Spanish, but replaced with the similar sounding -cion (informacion, ionizacion, masturbacion etc) So the frequency is about the same as English, and the -io rule doesn’t make a lot of sense. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-english-sound-like-to-foreigners/601052/64 "2018-02-03T04:20:13Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > It is hard to convince me of that, too. When people hear what English sounds like, they are usually hearing conversational speakers, not pedantic oraters. In informal contexts, the words are usually pronounced f’natic, f’nancial, ph’netric and f’nicular. In most languages, even unaccented syllables are enunciated with the recognizable vowel phoneme. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-english-sound-like-to-foreigners/601052/65 "2018-02-03T08:15:23Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > It is hard to convince foreigners that the first syllable is pronounced the same in Fanatic, Financial, Phonetic and Funicular. Is there a prize if you can fit them all into the same sentence? ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-english-sound-like-to-foreigners/601052/66 "2018-02-03T08:37:25Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > When people hear what English sounds like, they are usually hearing conversational speakers, not pedantic oraters. In informal contexts, the words are usually pronounced f’natic, f’nancial, ph’netric and f’nicular. Firstly we must be thinking of a specific region or something as I dispute that most english speakers pronounce those words like that. Secondly even so far as we do cut some vowels I dispute it’s something particular to English. It’s true if you put Spanish next to English that’s one difference, but languages in general often do this. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-english-sound-like-to-foreigners/601052/67 "2018-02-03T15:06:07Z")
Here’s an idea for another thread if someone wants to start it: What Do “What English Sounds Like To Non-English Speakers” Videos Sound Like To English Speakers? Answer: it sounds like they’re singing. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-english-sound-like-to-foreigners/601052/68 "2018-02-03T15:28:21Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > When people hear what English sounds like, they are usually hearing conversational speakers, not pedantic oraters. In informal contexts, the words are usually pronounced f’natic, f’nancial, ph’netric and f’nicular. > > In most languages, even unaccented syllables are enunciated with the recognizable vowel phoneme. No. What you are thinking of is the [schwa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwa). It’s not the absence of a sound, but a flat, “mid central” vowel sound. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-english-sound-like-to-foreigners/601052/69 "2018-02-03T18:16:26Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > No. What you are thinking of is the [schwa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwa). It’s not the absence of a sound, but a flat, “mid central” vowel sound. I’m sure that’s exactly what he was thinking and talking about. I figured he was just trying to avoid using too much technical jargon. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-english-sound-like-to-foreigners/601052/70 "2018-02-03T18:39:20Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > > [@jtur88](#): > > > > When people hear what English sounds like, they are usually hearing conversational speakers, not pedantic oraters. In informal contexts, the words are usually pronounced f’natic, f’nancial, ph’netric and f’nicular. > > Firstly we must be thinking of a specific region or something as I dispute that most english speakers pronounce those words like that. Yeah, I think the claim was too strong. It may be true for most speakers of American dialects, but I doubt it’s true of most English speakers generally. The RP pronunciations given by the _Oxford English Dictionary_, for example, use different sounds for the first vowel of all four words: /f **ə** ˈnætɪk/, /f **ɪ** ˈnænʃəl/, /f **əʊ** ˈnɛtɪk/, /f **juː** ˈnɪkjʊlə(r)/. ---
**Author:** ![Mavic\_Chen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e56c9b/32.png) [@Mavic\_Chen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mavic_Chen)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-english-sound-like-to-foreigners/601052/71 "2018-02-05T12:25:55Z")
Another prize should go to the zombie thread with the most BANNED old users… ---
**Author:** ![Eclipse\_Chaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Eclipse\_Chaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eclipse_Chaser)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-english-sound-like-to-foreigners/601052/72 "2018-02-06T13:41:08Z")
In my part of London we have a lot of Russian speakers. When I overhear them in the street or on the tube it seems to have a lot of “sh” and “ch” sounds. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-english-sound-like-to-foreigners/601052/73 "2018-02-08T03:34:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves > Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: > All mimsy were the borogoves, > And the mome raths outgrabe. \* Actually Russian sounds like English played backwards on a recording. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-english-sound-like-to-foreigners/601052.md?page=3)