A movie made a few years back shows how English might sound like to the ears of someone with no knowledge of the language.
You can take a look at the short film here:
It’s called ‘Skwerl’ and it features two actors portraying a couple that is about to sit down for a lovely meal to mark a special occasion.
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However, things start to go a bit sour and the pair end up arguing with each other.
As short films go, it would seem like a fairly standard one, but it’s more to do with the words that are coming out of the two protagonists’ mouths that has made this film interesting.
You see, the couple might sound as if they’re talking English, but it’s quite hard to pick up what they’re saying, and even if you could, it’s largely gibberish.
Sure, there are some bits that you might get – one ‘you f***ing asshole’ stands out a mile – but the rest of it is pretty well incomprehensible, and that’s how it is supposed to be.
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The film was created by creative duo Brian Fairbairn and Karl Eccleston, who created it for a short film event in Sydney, Australia around 11 years ago, billing the piece as 'A Short film in Fake English'.
On their YouTube channel, the film is titled ‘How English sounds to non-English speakers’.
It’s described as being in ‘fake English’ – meaning that the dialogue is made up of real English words, words that sound a bit like English, and complete gobbledygook.
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Here’s a sample line of dialogue: “No the purstation is a trap.
“I mean, why the crest soldier for the magbaleen nation? It's further grad to my chosik!
“Chosik for the magalon.”
The entire script – if you’re interested – has been shared online by the men behind the movie.
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The idea is that if you follow the actors’ body language and non-verbal forms of communication, you’ll still be able to work out pretty much what is going on, even if the words aren’t intelligible English.
Clever, really.
So clever, it even made it onto an episode of QI once upon a time.
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Anyway, this isn’t the only attempt to show what English sounds to those who don’t speak it, with Italian singer Adriano Celentano releasing a song back in 1972 called ‘Prisencolinensinainciusol’.
It’s not the catchiest title ever devised, but it’s an interesting idea nonetheless.
The song is also totally in gibberish, but it’s meant to sound like someone singing in English with an American accent.
It was even released in the UK, although no-one over here knew what anything said in it meant either.
Celentano’s song was a bit of a hit, peaking as high as number two in one Belgian chart, as well as making the top 10 in four countries, including his native Italy.
Topics: Weird, TV and Film
Tom Wood