Man shares TikTok on what English language sounds to foreigners

A clip of man demonstrating what the English language sounds like to non-English speakers has gone viral.

A clip of man demonstrating what the English language sounds like to non-English speakers has gone viral. Picture: TikTok/languagesimp

English is considered to be one of the most challenging languages to learn, and to non-English speakers, it sounds pretty strange.

Back in 2021, TikToker the ‘Language Simp’ shared a video demonstrating what it sounds like to those who don’t speak it — and the viral clip has since resurfaced.

In it, the language enthusiast with a total of 38 million views explains “this is how English sounds to foreigners” before reciting a series of gibberish.

You might be able to grasp a few words like “water’, but for the most part it sounds like made-up words — and that’s because it is.

The bizarre string of sentences has been likened to characters from the video game Sims.

“You are telling me people hear me talking like a Sim?” one person joked.

“Literally the Sims,” another added, while a third wrote: “This is what my Sims be sayin when there’s a fire in the kitchen and the baby just died.”

A man has revealed what the English language sounds to non-English speakers. Picture: TikTok/languagesimp

His clip has since resurfaced with many likening the gibberish to Sims characters. Picture: TikTok/languagesimp

Others said they picked up a few English words, before realising it was mostly made-up sentences.

“For some reason I keep actually trying to comprehend what he’s saying and then realise he’s speaking literal gibberish. not English,” one person wrote.

“This is what I hear even tho (sic) I understand English,” another joked.

Those who have since learned English said it is pretty accurate.

“I am from Syria and this is true,” one person admitted.

“I can confirm before I learned English every little word sounded like it ended on ‘tion,” said another.

“Yep this is what it was like,” a third person wrote.

Meanwhile, countless expats have shared their shock when moving to Australia, claiming Aussie slang is like learning a whole new language.

@charleedownunder 6 things you need to know if you’re moving to Australia🇦🇺 #movingtoaustralia #expatinaustralia #fyp ♬ original sound - Charlee | 🌏☀️

And who can blame them, we do have a unique way with words.

A British expat who goes by the name of Charlee on TikTok recently went viral after she listed nine Aussie slang words that left her extremely baffled – with one in particular she’s “never heard of in her life”.

“First thing – an eskie. An eskie is a cool box (what they call it in the UK),” she said. “I do actually quite like the word. It sounds better than ‘cool box’ but still, [I’ve] never heard of it in my life,” she said in the clip.

Meanwhile, expats who move to Australia have said Aussie slang words is like trying to learn a whole new language. Picture: TikTok/charleedownunder

Another word Charlee struggled to understand was “doona”.

“A doona is a duvet. I don’t understand why you would just change the last three letters of the word. It’s quite a nice word, ‘doona’, it sounds very Australian … but it’s just a bit of a strange word.”

She also listed “arvo” and “thongs”.

“I know we should all know what thongs are by now – they’re flip-flops. However, on the odd occasion someone will say thong to me and I genuinely think they’re asking me about the piece of material wedged between my butt cheeks.”

A recent survey of 1500 Aussie participants (aged 16 to 55-plus) conducted by language learning platform Preply revealed “mate” to be the most popular slang word.

“Arvo”, “thongs” and “brekkie” were also on the list.