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The dialogue in this short film may sound like English, but it is mostly fake. Commenters who’ve taken English as a second language say this is what our language sounds like to those who don’t yet understand it. It may sound to you like someone who is mocking English. I can tell you from experience that this is the kind of thing a native English speaker hears when her sense of hearing is going downhill. NSFW language -I think. -via The Daily What
Previously: Italian musician Adriano Celentano sings nonsense with an American accent.
Psychologist Patti Adank of the University of Manchester wondered if using an accent, even if it was affected, would make that accent more comprehensible. It did:
To find out how we can make sense of unfamiliar inflections, psychologists spoke to volunteers in an accent they’d invented. Some subjects were told to imitate the odd sounds. Others were told to simply listen, or to repeat the sentence in their normal voice. Turns out the mimics did better at deciphering the unusual exchange. The scientists say that simply moving your mouth like other folks do allows you to intuit their potentially eccentric speech patterns, and get what they say.
Link | Photo by Flickr user Hans Van Rijnberk used under Creative Commons license
The Speech Accent Archive is a project by George Mason University linguistics professor Steven H. Weinberger. It records people from different parts of the world reading this paragraph in the English language:
Please call Stella. Ask her to bring these things with her from the store: Six spoons of fresh snow peas, five thick slabs of blue cheese, and maybe a snack for her brother Bob. We also need a small plastic snake and a big toy frog for the kids. She can scoop these things into three red bags, and we will go meet her Wednesday at the train station.
Billy Mays may be gone, but the spirit of salesmanship lives on. For instance, just take a look at Glen "Amazin Blaze" David Thornton of Heatin’ ana Beatin’ Welding Service.
By the end of this short video clip, I was so ready to fork over my wallet to buy whatever it is he’s sellin’: Link [embedded MySpace video]
Previously on Neatorama: 5 Strangest Products Pitched by Billy Mays
This is described as a “complete thermite weld.” It’s much more complicated than you might have anticipated. You will know within the first minute or so whether or not you are fascinated by the technology, the tools, or even the workmen’s accents. There are also some cool fireproof “Donald Duck boots” near the end. For those with an interest, Part 1 of the video is here.
Ever wonder how the rest of the world view Americans and our accent? Here’s an English girl named Joanna Grace recording a short video clip of herself talking as an American.
If you find that intriguing, Urlesque has nine more such clips of non-Americans speaking "American," including various accents like the southern drawl and valley girl.
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by naturalghost.
Update 3/3/09 by Alex: If you like that, check out Amy Walker talking in 21 accents of English.
