This TikTok Shows What American English Sounds Like To Non-English Speakers, And My Mind Is Blown
Well, that settles it!
One time, a French kid at summer camp told me that Americans sound like ducks when they speak English.
I took this tragic news in stride and carried on with the rest of my life.
But deep down inside, I couldn't help but wonder if non-English speakers heard loud, obnoxious quacks coming out of our mouths whenever we spoke.
HBO
Years later (aka this morning), I came across a TikTok by 24-year-old Diego Rivas that finally answered my question!
@diego.j.rivas What Americans sounds like to non-English speakers #tiktok #fyp #funny #moreyouknow #ThisIsQuitting #quarantine #bored #viral #comedy #happy #video
♬ original sound - diegorivas345
In the video, Rivas speaks gibberish in an American accent, and he does not sound like a duck — thus proving that Pierre was wrong all along!
Comedy Central
Rivas was born in Venezuela, but has lived in Texas for most of his life. "I speak Spanish, Portuguese, French and, of course, English," he told BuzzFeed. "I love languages in general and I would love to learn German, Arabic, and Vietnamese."
@diegorivas345 / TikTok
Take that, Pierre!
He's done versions of the gibberish video for Japanese, Russian, Zulu, Spanish, and many other languages.
@diego.j.rivas What Spanish sounds like to non-Spanish speakers #spanish #español #venezuela #mexico #colombia #latino #foryou #fyp #ThisIsQuitting #viral #gibberish
♬ original sound - diegorivas345
"I’ve always been pretty good at impressions and for some languages, it comes naturally," Rivas said. "But for others, I would look up YouTube videos of people speaking in different languages and I would try to imitate what they sounded like to me."
@diego.j.rivas What Russian sounds like to non-Russian speakers #russia #gibberish #fyp #languages #foryou #funnny #russian #viral #moreyouknow #comedy #tiktok
♬ original sound - diego.j.rivas
Rivas said he's been receiving a lot of positive feedback on his TikToks. "It’s awesome when people tell me the videos made them smile or laugh," he said. "I never expected these videos to blow up like they did, so I feel very lucky!"
@diego.j.rivas What Dutch sounds like to non-Dutch speakers #gibberish #dutch #netherlands #fyp #foryou #funny #holland #nederland #tiktoknederland
♬ original sound - diego.j.rivas