Friday, April 10, 2009

Fake Languages

Here's an interesting one:

This guy lays down the challenge: what does fake English sound like? You know when you used to say "Ching chang chong" in grade school, because you didn't know any better, and thought you were speaking Chinese? Well what do Chinese kids say when they think they're speaking English?

This guy speaks a bunch of gibberish that sounds surprisingly like Chinese and several European languages, and asks Youtubers to respond with the sounds of English, from people who can't speak English.


Some interesting responses:
One girl:


One Japanese Kid (my favorite)


Another one:


Another good one.


meanwhile, here is one Korean popstar's hybrid language, called "Hanglish" in the video title. Sounds to me like there's some latino L.A. style slang in there, too. (Warning: some of his non-language really sounds like some real English swears; note also that he's using one of those V-line face massagers during the video intro). Mr. Tyfoon.


Finally, this is what Korean sounds like to a couple of American kids. They're impersonating ajosshis (Korean old men), speaking English with Korean accents, but when they get excited, they swear in non-Korean gibberish. The Korean History Channel. (Language warning)

11 comments:

The Expat said...

The original is the only good one and he really is quite good. I think his French might be the best though.

ok korea said...

wicked post.

Fatsy Le Shaft said...

Pretty funny, man. But they actually are using some real Korean when they're swearing. The other stuff is just gibberish, though. Nice post.

Melissa said...

This is great! Really!

I might use this in class, ok?

Word verification: casts ^^

JIW said...

I speak fake Korean all the time~!

issuyohabnida

Stafford said...

Interesting....I think fake English is difficult - even if you speak it as a 2nd language, all of the examples have some real words or parts thereof mingled in where as the attempts at Chinese, Russian, German, French and Spanish are pure gibberish.
I don't know what this means except that maybe the *ahem* ubiquity of English means it's hard to truely fake it.
Reminds me though, of that Steve Martin sketch:
"...whenever you're around your kids, talk wrong. Then on their
first day of kindergarten, when they need to go to the bathroom, they'll
raise their hand: 'Teacher, may I go mambo in the banana patch?' Teacher
will be thinking, 'Get this kid a special test.'..."
Heeheee

melancholy donut said...

my korean husband usually imitates americans like his "rar raaahr ar rarrr rawhr warar raah rawhr"

its is definitely not as elaborate as the first youtubers examples (which are HILARIOUS).

the last ones w the two ajeossideul: one of them is korean and was speaking some korean. theyve done quite a number of other really funny sketches poking fun at vietnamese (one of them is viet) and socal people.

O said...

This is so funny - thanks for making me laugh!

Just looking through your blog - I wouldn't lose too much sleep over the article about english tutors - Jessica Kim is most likely in the US because she didn't make it as an English teacher back home. Learning English is an obsession in every aspiring non-English country (thank goodness the Australians speak English otherwise all the backpackers with 'white looks' would go there and there would be no teachers in Korea!

Anonymous said...

i still get ching chong ching chong from a grown man sometimes. the funny thing is, they expect me to laugh with them.

Anonymous said...

i wonder if guys will find it equally funny if several korean americans make fun of vietnam and vietnamese...

Roboseyo said...

Kimchi2000: when adults say Ching Chang Chong, that's just ignorant and thoughtless.

However, if a few Koreans make fun of Vietnamese, just like if a few Vietnamese make fun of Koreans, whether I laugh or not depends on whether it's funny. These two guys have made fun of a whole bunch of other people-groups they have encountered where they live (which I think is L.A.) and they're just as "funny because it's true" harsh when they make fun of other cultures (including their own) you can check them out: http://www.youtube.com/user/JustKiddingFilms in fact, compared to how much they make fun of Vietnamese, their Korean mockery kind of pales.