It's easy to imagine what English or French sounds like to someone who doesn't speak the language. Also Russian or German, for example, whose accents we have imitated at least as children. But perhaps not so much the Vietnamese. Or the Greek. Or Korean. It is also somewhat more difficult to imagine what Spanish, which is our language after all, sounds like to someone who does not speak it. Well Diego J. Rivas, a young man of 24 years who lives in Houston (United States) has recorded twenty videos on his TikTok and Instagram accounts in which he shows how these and other languages sound, imitating accents and intonations, but without say nothing, just gibberish so we only look at the sound. Some of these videos total hundreds of thousands of views.
See this post on Instagram
Just thought I'd post this video on here! 😁 Disclosure: I certainly do not speak all these languages. I just try to imitate what they sound like to me. They're definitely not perfect. Anyways, thanks for the support!
A shared post by Diego J. Rivas (@diegojrivas_) on May 2, 2020 at 11:38 PDT
The idea occurred to him in class, he explains to Verne by video call. Rivas is studying dentistry and this semester she had a neuroscience subject and the teacher told them about receptive aphasia. Those who suffer from this condition can hear voices or read texts, but they do not understand what they are told or what they read: the language that reaches them is incomprehensible gibberish. The teacher put a video in which an actor was seen talking gibberish invented so that his students could try an experience similar to those of those who have this type of aphasia. Rivas thought he could do that: "I've always been good at imitating accents."
"During the quarantine I had more time, so first I recorded a video on TikTok imitating how English sounds", both British and American. Those videos were followed by those in Spanish (Latin and Spanish), Hindi, French, Portuguese (from Brazil and Portugal)… In total, 21 videos for 18 languages, for the moment, and that's without counting their imitation of the sims, which have their own invented language, simlish. From there he jumped to Buzzfeed , which posted a compilation of his videos.
@ diego.j.rivas
What Spaniard Spanish sounds like to non-Spanish people ## gibberish ## españa ## español ## language ## funny ## foryou ## spain ## spanish ## tiktokespaña ## fyp
♬ original sound - diego.j.rivasRivas lives in Houston, which is one of the most diverse cities in the United States. "There are people from different cultures and who speak many languages, and that has helped me focus on these things." He is an example of this diversity: he was born in Venezuela, but lived as a child in Brazil, before moving with his family to Houston. He also spent a season studying in France and living a few months with a family "who did not speak any English", which he values as a very positive experience.
He does not speak all the languages of the video, but he does speak Spanish, English, Portuguese and French. For the rest, she remembered her trips or "watched YouTube videos of those countries and tried to imitate them." Some came out almost alone, like the French; Others cost him a lot of work, like Arabic. And for some he had help: “My best friend is Vietnamese and I sent that video to him before publishing it. She told me that the first part was fine, but that the second was more like Thai. ” So that second part had to be changed.
@ diego.j.rivas
What Vietnamese sounds like to non-Viet people ## gibberish ## vietnam ## foryou ## boredathome ## asian ## fyp ## vietnamese ## funny ## moreyouknow ## comedy ## viral
♬ original sound - diego.j.rivasHe plans to continue spending his free time on his videos: "It's a cool and creative hobby ." He is thinking of picking up the accents of all the variants of Spanish, but this would no longer be talking gibberish: "I have to think a text."
@ diego.j.rivas
What French sounds like to non-French speakers ## france ## gibberish ## francais ## boredathome ## fyp ## french ## beret ## funny ## comedy ## viral ## foryou
♬ original sound - diego.j.rivas@diego.j.rivasWhat German sounds like to non-Germans ## gibberish ## germany ## deutschland ## fyp ## top ## boredathome ## moreyouknow ## foryou ## deutsch ## german ## funny ## viral
♬ original sound - diego.j.rivas@diego.j.rivasWhat Portuguese sounds like to non-Portuguese speakers ## gibberish ## brasil ## tiktokbrasil ## portugal ## portuguese ## fyp ## foryou ## rj ## funny ## comedy ## brazil
♬ original sound - diego.j.rivas@diego.j.rivasWhat Arabic sounds like to non-Arabic speakers Part 2 ## arabic ## gibberish ## arab ## middleeastern ## fyp ## foryou ## language
♬ original sound - diego.j.rivas@diego.j.rivasWhat Japanese sounds like to non-Japanese speakers ## gibberish ## japanese ## anime ## fyp ## foryou ## funny ## viral ## japan ## language
♬ original sound - diego.j.rivas@diego.j.rivasWhat Hindi sounds like to non-Hindi speakers ## india ## gibberish ## pakistan ## fyp ## moreyouknow ## indian ## desi ## boredathome ## foryou ## funny ## comdey ## viral
♬ original sound - diego.j.rivas* You can also follow us on Instagram and Flipboard. Don't miss the best of Verne!
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