As a native speaker, I can't really tell what a language sounds like to other people who can't understand it.
When I hear Italian, I think it sounds really exotic and pretty and fast.
When I hear Vietnamese, I think it sounds really clipped and choppy and curvy.
Et cetera..

What does Korean sound like to non-speakers?

Examples:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=tzfDFnC2J40
http://youtube.com/watch?v=gvlrJ1Y4S9I
http://youtube.com/watch?v=CB1fytlnt5g

Those are all famous korean actresses and announcers so they speak fairly clearly, without any regional accents or anything.

PS- I don't really need to hear any racist comments, I just want to know how it sounds.

Thanks!

not to be racist it still sounds to me like a 14 months old trying to get a cookie or playing with his plastic phone ..

not to be racist it still sounds to me like a 14 months old trying to get a cookie or playing with his plastic phone ..

It's not racist- if that's the way it sounds, I want to know!
But lol how does it sound like that?

To me, the "flow" of Korean has always sounded similar to Japanese.

Ha, I made almost the exact same thread like two months ago (except asking non-native speakers of English how they perceived the language before they became fluent).

Korean... just utterly foreign. I don't really know exactly how to describe what it sounds like to me. I will say I am a huge fan of Korean script, very aesthetically pleasing.

Yeah, unfortunately, I really can't say much more about Korean besides that it sounds hopelessly foreign to my ears. Though it sounds pretty sexy coming out of Lee Hyori's mouth.

I'll put it this way: If I had to choose between listening to Korean, Mandarin, or Japanese for half an hour, I'd choose Korean.

Korean to me sounds very vowel based with lots of ah's and eh's , and oh's with some tit'tit sounds thrown in. Its like when you got to the doctor and he tells you to say ah, but you remain talking in that manner. Also words sound like the start with j or g alot.

This is my opinion, but Korean sounds like a lot of whining to me. I actually have a few friends who are native Korean speakers, and I just can't stand to listen to them.

I do love the script though.

To me, the "flow" of Korean has always sounded similar to Japanese.

Yeah, sounds like Japanese.

Yeah, sounds like Japanese.

To me, there has to be a connection between the two; the Sprachbund effect be damned. :)

But lol how does it sound like that?

many sounds seem to be made with the tongue raised in the back of the mouth.

Ha, I made almost the exact same thread like two months ago (except asking non-native speakers of English how they perceived the language before they became fluent).

Korean... just utterly foreign. I don't really know exactly how to describe what it sounds like to me. I will say I am a huge fan of Korean script, very aesthetically pleasing.

Yeah, unfortunately, I really can't say much more about Korean besides that it sounds hopelessly foreign to my ears. Though it sounds pretty sexy coming out of Lee Hyori's mouth.

I'll put it this way: If I had to choose between listening to Korean, Mandarin, or Japanese for half an hour, I'd choose Korean.

I was debating between making this about English or Korean, but chose Korean instead cause I've never asked that question before for it.

I'm glad to hear you would prefer to listen to Korean. I know it can't be considered a "pretty" language, like French or Italian.

To me, Mandarin sounds exotic and lush, but Cantonese sounds evil and cruel as fuck.
Japanese sounds kind of wispy and soft.
And now I know, and kind of see, that Korean is .. stuffy sounding? Clicky?

I can only describe it as "round".

kill the go0ks!

Korean sounds very


oriental?




inb4 racism.

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/1282/herro2rw9lr8.jpg

Chopsticks

http://rachellucas.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/wharrgarbl.jpg

Something like that.

kill the go0ks!
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/1282/herro2rw9lr8.jpg
Chopsticks
http://rachellucas.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/wharrgarbl.jpg

Something like that.

Oh, this was going to be an intelligent conversation until yall showed up. Thnx.

Oh, this was going to be an intelligent conversation until yall showed up. Thnx.

Your question was stupid.

What does Korean sound like? I dunno, maybe KOREAN?

Fucking retard, go download a clip from korean TV and see for yourself.

Much easier than having someone explain it.

Fucking retard, go die.

Your question was stupid.

What does Korean sound like? I dunno, maybe KOREAN?

Fucking retard, go download a clip from korean TV and see for yourself.

Much easier than having someone explain it.

Fucking retard, go die.

Uh. FUCKTARD- I speak Korean. Do you know what English sounds like to people who don't speak English? No. Shut the fuck up if you don't even understand the fucking question.

I'll put it this way: If I had to choose between listening to Korean, Mandarin, or Japanese for half an hour, I'd choose Korean.
Japanese is alot better sounding to my ears. Korean is harsh sounding to me.

It sounds like beauty shop jokes

I agree with those other people. Sounds very similar to Japanese to me.

I'd say it sounds uglier than Japanese, but better than Chinese.

It seems to me that it just has lots of random syllable combinations. If you look at Indo-European languages, you can usually find the roots of words pretty easily. With Korean, it seems quite chaotic (I attempted to learn some before I took a trip to Korea...most difficult language I've encountered).

I'd say it sounds uglier than Japanese, but better than Chinese.

It seems to me that it just has lots of random syllable combinations. If you look at Indo-European languages, you can usually find the roots of words pretty easily. With Korean, it seems quite chaotic (I attempted to learn some before I took a trip to Korea...most difficult language I've encountered).

As far as I can tell, by casually half-listening to Korean people speak, I think Japanese is much cleaner sounding than Korean, though Chinese is much more stereotypically asian sounding.
Korean is totally different from most languages, but it's in the same order as Japanese.. if that make any sense. And it derives a lot of roots from Chinese. Actually, most of its roots are Chinese.

I've always thought it sounds kind of like a mix of Japanese and something like Chinese. It flows more similar to Japanese but it doesn't sound as, I don't know, smooth. I prefer the sound of Chinese and Japanese to Korean but if it makes you feel better, I think anything sounds better than Vietnamese. That's stuff scary. I've kind of developed a phobia of the barber shop because of it.

japanese sounds way different from korean and chinese. The latter are both a bunch of strings of syllables. Japanese has multi-syllabic words. Korean sounds better though. It's less chaotic than chinese. Chinese has the wild intonation thing going on.

I prefer the sound of Chinese and Japanese to Korean but if it makes you feel better, I think anything sounds better than Vietnamese. That's stuff scary. I've kind of developed a phobia of the barber shop because of it.

I live in a city with a large Vietnamese population, and I was just going to say, Vietnamese is an "interesting" language to listen to. With all those different tonal levels, you're like "WTF?" when you first hear it.

I live in a city with a large Vietnamese population, and I was just going to say, Vietnamese is an "interesting" language to listen to. With all those different tonal levels, you're like "WTF?" when you first hear it.

My only exposure to Vietnamese is Full Metal Jacket. Apparently "You sucky sucky, fih dolla" is "Hello, Miss."

I live in a city with a large Vietnamese population, and I was just going to say, Vietnamese is an "interesting" language to listen to. With all those different tonal levels, you're like "WTF?" when you first hear it.

Vietnamese is not very pleasant to my ears, that's for damn sure. And I think they have the worst American accent. Lawd, and I thought Koreans had bad accents, nooo......

Lee Hyori was SOOOOOOO hot

like indain

Heh I'm a native Korean too but was raised in the U.S since age 3. I've always pondered about this question and generally the answers I get are something along the lines of "bold" and "harsh."

It's quite easy to differentiate between chinese, korean, japanese I think. Not everything sounds like ching chong or herrroooo. I think Japanese is very smooth, tends to have more inflections that aren't necessarily forced by whiny girls (koreans) and tend to end in vowels. That's just my opinion. Can't say anything about any of the southeast asian languages...

Chinese is fucking shit, I hate listening to any form of its dialect and want to rip my fucking hair out and shove it up their chodes. :mad:

Chinese is fucking shit, I hate listening to any form of its dialect and want to rip my fucking hair out and shove it up their chodes. :mad:

Ahaha, I think it just sounds fucking mean. I like when Zhang Ziyi speaks it though, it sounds very beautiful. She's so soft spoken. But I think if any pretty girl speaks any language, it automatically sounds much better.

As a native speaker, I can't really tell what a language sounds like to other people who can't understand it.
When I hear Italian, I think it sounds really exotic and pretty and fast.
When I hear Vietnamese, I think it sounds really clipped and choppy and curvy.
Et cetera..

What does Korean sound like to non-speakers?

Examples:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=tzfDFnC2J40
http://youtube.com/watch?v=gvlrJ1Y4S9I
http://youtube.com/watch?v=CB1fytlnt5g

Those are all famous korean actresses and announcers so they speak fairly clearly, without any regional accents or anything.

PS- I don't really need to hear any racist comments, I just want to know how it sounds.

Thanks!
Hai! I'm half Korean and my Mum is full blooded. I can't speak a word of it but she can speak Korean fluently. It sounds definitely oriental but I can distinguish it immediately as Korean when I hear it spoken. It's kind of hard to explain but it reminds me of a German in a weird kind of way. They don't sound at all alike but when compared to other languages that are "kinda" similar it is distinct. They are both like firm and very articulate.

Type Russel Peters outsourced into youtube or watch the outsourced dvd, he will explain how a few, including korean, asian languages sound.

Korean is such an ugly language. Someone mentioned that it sounds like they're whining. Well, shiba~, I think so too.

Sounds like Mandarin with a Japanese accent to me.

- ♫.i.b.y.v.n.t.h.♫