How To Tell What Country Someone Is From With A Single Word

Differences in regional pronunciation offer fascinating insights into the geographic and cultural origins of speakers, acting as an auditory map that can hint at where someone might be from.
Languages often have distinctive sounds or phonemes that are not shared universally. For example, the "th" sound in English is notably absent in many other languages, making it a common stumbling block for non-native speakers. Similarly, the rolling "r" in Spanish or the guttural sounds in Arabic can immediately suggest the speaker's linguistic background. Moreover, the way speakers from different regions pronounce English words, influenced by their native phonetic rules, can reveal their origins. A German speaker might add an aspirated "h" to "st" sounds, turning "street" into "shtreet," while a Spanish speaker might instinctively add an initial vowel sound to the same word, pronouncing it "estreet."

[@_magnify]

The radio program at the end is called “Where Are You From” from linguist Dr. Henry Lee Smith. Also I want to clarify that none of these pronunciations are wrong, they are just regional preferences and habits that can give you information about what language system someone is accustomed to.

[@overbakedbreadroll2918]

Thank you! 👍

[@alexmuller3883]

I think there‘s a smiliar thing for Swissgerman - the DialäktÄpp, which can quite accurately tell which town a Swissgerman speaking person is from. From what I‘ve read the radio show also focused on native English speaker?

[@user-gb8et4ry6f]

😮

[@hdrodic]

"regional preferences and habits" I am aware that those exist. That is why I very much dislike KZbinrs and other social-media people who claim that they are teaching "the correct" way to pronounce [word] in [language]

[@OliveVODS]

the r. almost always. and the ls are pretty noticeable too.

[@bomblii]

you can also tell where someone is from by asking them "where are you from?"

[@hydrofalls8154]

Yeah but where is the fun in that when you can play detective.

[@Cottor_OwO]

Usually the place they name is the one they’re from. Pretty neat trick!

[@nonameninja_]

mind blown

[@Ziggy_Rotten]

XD

[@el_wey_8]

@@velvetmoon____boo hoo

[@jeffreythelad8398]

Americans “Say street” “Street” “Ah see. He’s a foreigner”

[@St0ckwell]

Foreigners "Say street" "SKREET" "Ah see. He's a basketball American"

[@slayr4170]

@@St0ckwellwhat’s a basketball American by chance? Does it start with a N

[@iamnoob3931]

"Go back to your own country!"

[@ARCtheCartoonMaster]

Actually, Americans pronounce it as “STRYYYYT” - they really tense up their “ee” sounds.

[@canaluludorel5838]

Igga​@@slayr4170

[@wartron_YT]

As an italian i never heard someone say it like that

[@harold3165]

Well I have.

[@shishinonaito]

You Italians are always adding unidentified vowel sounds to the end of foreign words. As a Spaniard, it's pretty clear when you do it. Just as clear as when we add an e to the beginning of words like street

[@andreafanese2756]

Oggettivo fattuale

[@franceskinskij]

​@@shishinonaitoit's an ə

[@shishinonaito]

@@franceskinskij yes, I know

[@legendeniu]

"Prononcue streets!" "Ulica." "Oh..."

[@JevatJes]

Poland?

[@JevatJes]

Idk

[@JevatJes]

In my country we say: "drumuri" :))

[@yourfavouritesoulsnatcher]

Slovak people... UNITE (I'm from Slovakia too :O)

[@legendeniu]

Im a serb​@@yourfavouritesoulsnatcher

[@coolguyvideos3992]

This video is streets ahead!

[@heisen-bones]

Stop trying to coin the phrase streets ahead

[@MrForcorrie]

@@heisen-bonescoined and minted! Been there coined that!

[@klader12]

@@heisen-bonesSeems like you’re just streets behind

[@jeremyjdl713]

Space invaders👾

[@Baronnax]

Does it just mean cool, or is it supposed to be like "miles ahead"?

[@IlLupodelTubo]

As an Italian I've heard a lot of English words mispronounced but I've never heard someone pronounce streets "streetsa" in my entire life

[@n11ck]

He could have made a better point if he mentioned how italians pronounce “R” with a stronger trill, as in “strrit”. Or even how they tend to emphasize the “T” at the end of the word. But nope he just made something completely up, never in my life as a student have I ever heard someone add a vowel to a word that ends with “s”, ever.

[@andreagermani379]

Sta cosa che finiamo tutte le parole straniere con una vocale è tipo lo stereotipo più stupido di un italiano che parla un'altra lingua, roba da film comico

[@AlphaSphere]

Would it not sound more like strrreetah?

[@IlLupodelTubo]

@@AlphaSphere i still don't understand where the "a" in streets come from, we don't add letters, is pronounced by some more similar to "Strrits"

[@IlLupodelTubo]

@@n11ck yeah it's more like "Strrits"

[@Inam-798]

As an espanish, I can confirm we pronounce spiderman [espeederman]

[@tonnymelendez7451]

Correcto tío

[@1ris_lol]

Si

[@PotentialGrim]

Espáiderman

[@jippiijajee]

Ah that is so cool! For curious I googled how you write and pronounce Spain, it was "España", so yes, E in front. I am a Finn and I found it so interesting that España is pronounced exactly the same as in Finnish. We just write as we pronounce so we write it "Espanja". English is the confusing part.

[@paulhappyfeet]

@@Inam-798 that only happens in Spain, not in other hispanic countries, where it's pronounced "spaidermæn" (right pronunciation)

[@LawrenceSilverclaw]

As an Italian i never heard someone say "Streetsa", except it sounds like "Strizza", which translates to "Squeeze" lol Edit: danggg tysm for the likes y'all, didnt expect it but appreciate it, same for the replies ^^

[@stice1]

The famous youtube guy ?

[@ggclash3969]

Confermo mai sentito neanche io

[@EricTheMupp]

@@ggclash3969 Notice how all of the words in your sentence end in a vowel tho. I think this was more of an example of trends within different languages.

[@didrikmesicek4825]

Yeah, that's not a thing, it's just something anglophones think. However, Italians would generally over-accentuate the i sound in that word and that would be telling

[@Security07Ita]

​@@didrikmesicek4825 the actual mistake that an italian will prob commit is to read the word as street and then add that last s sound aa if it was separate... But some dumb people mayb even read the double e as an italian e, but that would be very stupid even for our standards

[@mattj.7756]

“Oh! Are you from Greece?” “No, I just have a lisp.”

[@Lex-nx7kd]

"Thpinal"

[@rulingdenzy]

That’s not what a lisp does

[@purpledevilr7463]

I think you mean “No, I just have a lisshp”

[@Shenn3165]

No I'm just a sssnake!

[@infinityace3914]

Hi my naym isth nike tysthon

[@gepetodelamorte8149]

french: "zeuh strit"

[@wcjerky]

'r' needs to be heavily glottal.

[@egorsurimov5996]

​@@wcjerkynah

[@destianpatrianagara1119]

@@wcjerky definitely can't miss that one

[@victorjozek5384]

Teu zdrit ise vairi bioutifoule.

[@andreacalmado5429]

No, wi will say the rue ! wi dont spik ze engliche linguage in houre countri

[@Wiesto1]

Poland read like they look like "Street" Poland pronouse "S-treet" or sth

[@kryokori]

yup, we would spell it like a properly cut letter without any adds on, since we love mashing letters into words others will bite off their tongues😂 taking the "bezwzględny" as example 😏

[@Pidalin]

In Czech, it sounds almost the same as STRÝC, which means uncle in Czech. :-D Sometimes people at least try to pronounce TS at the end, but mostly they simplify it to our C.

[@SebastianApostu-dx7jt]

As an italian... i never heard anyone say "streetsA" even if i were to ask

[@builtontherockhomestead9390]

I had a linguistics professor who figured out where my mom was born and grew up, by my speech. Considering I had speech therapy as a child and my grandmother had been born in a different state and moved before meeting my grandfather makes this accomplishment amazing. For those interested, grandma was born in Buffalo, NY. My mom was born and raised in Chicago. Grandpa was not in the picture. I was born and raised in Sacramento, CA.

[@davidjacobs8558]

I heard a person's accent is influenced more by peers when they were kids, than their parents.

[@ggjr61]

@@davidjacobs8558I’ve heard that too which makes it even more amazing!

[@trym2121]

That's an amazing skill yet kinda useless for everyday case but very useful to profile someone.

[@friedchickenloverr]

Yoo I'm from Sacramento too!

[@meyague]

​@@davidjacobs8558 which isn't really correct as your first exposition, and where you learn the accent, is when you're a little child.

[@adrivoid5376]

In my experience, it may not be that Italians who know English will do ‘streetsa’ but instead over emphasize the s at the end as they very carefully cut the word off. They will also roll the r a little

[@EEEEEEEE]

‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎E‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎

[@napoleonicprussiaball]

Yeah, i am italian and we do not force italian endings to english words lmao

[@hattocatto]

haha /kompewterr/ edit: ask an italian to say hip hop and you'll get heep-e hop-ee edit 2: is my italian professor, who is italian, a liar? Stay tuned for tonight's episode

[@nonnodacciaio704]

Most italians don't add an a at the end, but a ə

[@l.a1532]

I studied for 5 months in Italy with English speaking professors and basically 6 or 7 out of the 10 I had were team "streetsa". Maybe it’s also a generational thing (they were old)?

[@SavoyMapper_Official]

Poland: Jezdnie Everyone: Wtf💀

[@Bot2MichaelB]

For Dutch in Flanders you have to listen for a hard R in the throat

[@ewerybody]

German here (🙈 pardon me) I DOUBT that many germans will make a "shtreet" out of this. I'd say they might more likely say it like "stweets" because this whole W-R-V-situation is tricky for lots of german english-speakers.

[@ewerybody]

OR they roll the R and make it "stRReets" Less likely but still I'd consider it more likely than "shtreets"

[@nogrammer]

I think it's more of an Austrian thing

[@whatshisnamegain1]

​@@nogrammer I've never heard any single Austrian say "shtreet" or pronounce any word in English with a "sht". I know that Austrians dialects tend to add more "sht" sounds than in Standard German (as in "Wurst" or "Durst"), but that doesn't mean they do the same in English. For example, in "Er/Sie ist ein Superstar", "star" will always be pronounced like in English.

[@hanneswiggenhorn2023]

I think it kinda depends, if you would show the word to a non english German speaker, they would definitely pronounce the St as Scht

[@yessirge]

true. if anything, "shtreet" is something I hear americans (bay area?) say sometimes

[@Atomic_Homisiak]

Polish people pronounce the letter „r” very hard, so it would sound like „strrreat”

[@shyamali8542]

As a bengali i get the estreet too.In bangla, consonants attached to s sound often results in the adding of e before s. So english school becomes eschool and funniest combo is stree meaning wife become estree which sounds similar to istree which means cloth iron.

[@yikewes]

"oh yeah i know lots of languages" "how do i say streets?" "esshtrayeetssa"

[@maciejiwaszkow8927]

Good one 👍

[@TheProteanGeek]

military brat

[@francescoardizzoni7498]

“Ash tray it’s a”💀

[@cerizz4771]

bless you. he would answer

[@worldoftancraft]

🤡🤡🤡 they literally think the quality of consonants is to put their English "way" and make the word 1.5 times longer for each case.

[@jonbour7739]

Italian here. From my experience only in American movies will you find someone who pronounces “streets” like that. It’s much more common that we pronounce it “streez”

[@v.958]

Italian-American living in Italy, I disagree, the way dude in the video presented it - streetsa - is accurate in my experience.

[@lkelevra7636]

​@@v.958you are talking abt ppl who do not know English very well: they will likely add the "aa" sound as a pause to think and process the word, it's like a cadence, especially in the South of Italy. Instead, if they know the language pretty well, but they still have the accent, they will say "stritz", more likely mispronouncing the Italian "r", without any "a".

[@aynuraagayeva9817]

Nope. I have plenty of Italian friends and yes, they pronounce streetAH

[@chiaraandreola2790]

I never heard an italian using the final a in a word that finish with t or s like street…and i live in Italy! I agree it’s more probable the z sound because it’s how we pronunce the ts sound

[@ThePerbin]

But Italians will end with an ah at the end, won't they?

[@PeterBaumgart1a]

Shtreet is becoming the more popular American English pronunciation for some reason too.

[@lzombietiger9200]

I’m an Spanish and never in my life have I said estreets

[@faruzao]

No, me neither. But my classmates have strong accents and I've hear them add "e" at the start. It's quite subtle though. (for example, square)

[@TheVerdant01]

“An Spanish” - you don’t add ‘e’s before s and another letter?

[@user-fl6ww3rs5q]

Yeah, I’m Puerto Rican so I was like, is this a Spanish specific thing? Cause I only ever say calle

[@faruzao]

@@user-fl6ww3rs5q I don't know, maybe?? I think it's just for heavy accent people when they speak *English.* because my classmate do the same xd. I don't have a heavy accent at all though.

[@phoenixfeathers4128]

I’m German and have never heard anyone say SHtreet. However, a common thing at least in school years is to say school not as “skool” but “shool” because, in German, the “sh” sound is written “sch”.

[@DieBlutigeLynn]

Yes, I remember this! :D

[@Sonia-jk7lf]

I think he confused Germans with Dutch.

[@salluere]

What

[@DieBlutigeLynn]

@@Sonia-jk7lf Why do you think so? In Dutch st is not pronounced "sht"!

[@usurpercries]

Then how did I know you were German

[@ladystardust5515]

As a german I would dissagree. Its not a pronunciation thing, its only a rule in written german. WE HAVE NO ISSUES PRONUONCING "ST"

[@KarlNiblock]

But you would pronounce it with a glottal stop off the R. German has no difference with ST pronunciation. Straße is a German word 😂 Schtreet would be more like Dutch or Danish

[@philomelodia]

If you learn English when you’re very young, you can do it no problem. If you learn it later in life as an adult, it becomes more problematic. I’ve personally known German speakers who come here to the United States who seem to have learned English when they got older and they say things like shtop, shpaghetti and shtudy when they are not paying attention. Nobody minds it and many don’t even notice it but, they seem to get embarrassed for some reason sometimes.

[@davidav8orpflanz561]

​@KarlNiblock Ge"st"apo... You're CORRECSHT!😅

[@WithersStan]

​@@philomelodiathat's probably because those words are the same in German, it's not that they're having issues pronouncing the st, they're just defaulting to their native pronunciation of the same word. Similarly, garage sounds different in France, Germany, England and the US, loan words have a habit of coming out the way you first learned it

[@maximilian8594]

@@KarlNiblock strrrreat

[@THE_Bandaid]

For the Dutch we learn English from a young age so you don’t really hear that we are Dutch only with some people that only learned to speak English later like in their adulthood

[@duukn]

European here. He managed to get absolutley everything wrong in this short video. Quite an achievement.

[@benrgrogan]

I'm a native English speaker with many Spanish friends. There's a pretty high chance they would say estreet

[@monito3575]

​@@benrgrogan totally agree. The german one was wrong but spannish is right. But we have the same s pronunciation as greek. Its a very similar accent anyway (Half german half spanish here)

[@SpanishAvenger]

@@benrgroganbasically it depends on the English level of each person. I am Spanish, but I’ve also got a pretty much native English speaking level, so you won’t be catching me pronouncing “estreet”, while that would be a common thing among Spanish people who don’t really speak English very well hahahah

[@user-ts8gc2hu1h]

Italian one makes no sense at all. There are tons of english words that end on consonants and are used all around the world, like weekend. We dont pronounce it weekenda bruh

[@confusioneternelle]

​@@user-ts8gc2hu1h Wait, is weekend also "weekend" in Italian, like in French?

[@DSP990]

No, Germans will not say "Schtreets". We may have a harsh accent, but that's not how you'll know.

[@Anno_Nymouse]

I never heard a German saying Schtreets, when reading Street. Why? Because majority knows pretty well how to pronounce Street, because of English movies! They might pronounce it "Striet" with a long I, but never Schtreet. According to his logic, we Germans would pronounce "Sex" similar to "sechs" = zeks (number 6). I highly doubt he is correct all the other languages. When you learn a language, you learn also pronunciation.

[@donato286]

​@@Anno_Nymouse But you _will_ misplace "also" in a sentence 9 times out of 10 😂 I agree about "streets". Never heard any of my German friends pronounce that word as "schtreets". What you may do is apply some devoicing at the end of words - for instance, saying "word" with a light final T instead of D. And "also" seems to be hard to place right in an English sentence because its correct position in a German sentence is different. In English, these are the correct positions: ✅️ Also, it's very important to learn pronunciation. ✅️ It's also very important to learn pronunciation. ✅️ It's very important to also learn pronunciation. Incorrect positions: ❌️ It's very important to learn also pronunciation. ❌️ It's very important to learn pronunciation also. (In this case, it's possible to replace "also" with "too" to get a correct sentence)

[@Cegorachthelaughinggod]

I have heard it though.

[@DiiAM00NDx3]

@@donato286nope we will Not😂 maybe if you ask 10 random people in the streets but not if you ask educated people. Sure, there are some very German-ish mistakes that a lot of us do some time, but everybody that made it through high school with decent grades in English class will know where to put 'also' in a sentence.

[@thelastguardian579]

@@Anno_Nymouse can confirm this, never meet a german in my live who said Schtreet but what do you expect from someone who thinks Russian is part of the eu (maybe im wrong with the last statement but im 99,99% sure its asia)

[@tamaozinnamikaze_3174]

As a Portuguese, sometimes this test could go wrong when tested on some of us, english is literally becoming regular in portuguese vocabulary

[@a.patricianeto]

Exactly! I was just looking for a portuguese in this comment section to catch a matching opinion! As portuguese, I can confirm that you wouldn't recognise the country by our pronunciation since we have no difficulties with s-t-r sound. Our language is plenty of phonemes. Which turns talking portuguese so hard for foreigners.

[@lewismills7277]

I'm fascinated by how these differences become audible with familiarity. Like, I always thought (as a Leeds student) that Leeds and Manchester were so easy to tell apart, but for my Lithuanian housemate, Leeds and London sounded much the same. Equally, I couldn't tell you Midwest apart from Acela coast in a million years, but a stateside friend could hear Wisconsin vs. Pennsylvania as if they were distant star systems. I lived in Japan for 18 months, and started to be able to tell my region (Hiroshima) from some of the others, but Osaka and Tokyo, reportedly super distinct, sounded one and the same to me.

[@Katejsej]

Never heard a German saying “Schtreets” if he wanted to say “Streets”. xD

[@iwonttellmynametoamachine5422]

Just wanted to write that. Especially when you think of the Northern Germans "Plattdeutsch" and how they pronounced "Spitzer Stein" without the "sch"-sound.

[@Katejsej]

@@iwonttellmynametoamachine5422 Haha.

[@lolichkanns]

I'm German and know no one who says shtreets

[@Katejsej]

@@lolichkanns Yeah, so true.

[@Katejsej]

@@lolichkanns Because it's not in our nature of language. We have hard spelling, so it doesn't even make sense to assume this.

[@mr_mushroom3655]

As a German I can say that I've never heard someone say shtreet

[@crestas9]

For real where is he getting that from?

[@Chefmaks]

@@crestas9 Possibly because most German words starting with "ST" are pronounced like "SCHT". I have also never heard that though. He should ask germans to pronounce "think" and if it sounds like they are having trouble at sea he know's they're german.

[@silverstreettalks343]

Australians, particularly young women, often do "Shtreet". I suppose a German completely unfamiliar with English might say something more like "shtrayt", but how many of them still exist? And, if I remember Mann's "Tonio Kröger", didn't Mann write "Sderne" etc to capture the North German pronunciation of "st" as in English? So we are looking for a "bayrischer Bauer" who skipped language classes at school. What specific identification!

[@obrani]

Germans from the region of Swabia in Germany would say Shtreet.

[@frederikbalz8978]

Me to

[@Flame_Tp]

You can tell for french cause it is likely they won’t pronounce the last “s” In french S is used as a way to make words plural as in the letter used for that is usually silent as “un crayon” in singular and “des crayons” in plural they’re both just pronounced “crai-yon” because the s is silent

[@extravenusiano6352]

The s in des is also silent 😭

[@Flame_Tp]

@@extravenusiano6352 👁️👅👁️

[@user-yg5uc6ro5r]

as a Swede I'm pretty sure that most swedes would pronounce Street with a lot more emphasis on the T's

[@dapsilisvanitas3875]

"Where are you from?" "I'm from the sstreetss."

[@boo9781]

“Ah, so greece then”

[@ossi2635]

I live where the shtreets have no name

[@_xxisaiahwxx_]

“Sounds Peloponessian to me!”

[@heyysimone]

​@@boo9781"no. Im a ssssnake..."

[@ribstuff6116]

I'll better say 🐍🌲T🐍

[@dorrolorro]

Swede here. Most Swedes would try their darndest to pronounce it in as close to an English accent as possible. But what would give us away is possibly the R sound, it's not as flavourful as the Spaniard's but it is close. And the dead give-away is the melody. Swedish is a pitch-accent language, and no word is ever monotone.

[@Dharonious]

I'd add that we are more likely to pronounce the 'ee' in a higher pitch.

[@saba4190]

That's very cute for some reason

[@Luftpiraten03]

Yes, both of your things i thought about but a bit less complicated

[@rifkyprakoso9288]

Don’t forget the nasal voice in the ee especially with Stockholmska

[@Ipnodemas]

I noticed it in a lot of songs and interviews of Swedish musicians!! So glad I didn’t make it up haha! (English is not my first language)

[@CristianFrancescoDepalo]

Here's a member of the Italian community and linguistics university student... I just wanted to make a quick note. No Italian who knows a minimum of English will pronounce "streets" as "streets-a" (and the others? Those who don't know English, but "guess" it, will answer you in Italian and try to make themselves understood with gestures; very simple). The most common pronunciation is "streets-ə", where this symbol of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), the "schwa", indicates a sound more similar to how the French pronounce the word "eau" ("water"). But this pronunciation can sometimes be difficult to intercept, even for a native English speaker, especially if the native Italian speaker has excellent pronunciation in English. The most effective method to identify an Italian who speaks English is the pronunciation of the "r", very strong, evident and sometimes prolonged, similar to the Spanish pronunciation. But why do we Italians add semi-vowels like the schwa at the end of words in English? Very simple answer: almost all Italian words end in a vowel, since it is the final vowel that distinguishes the gender and number indicated by the word. For example, while in English, to indicate a young individual you have two (main) words, "boy" and "girl", and the plural is obtained by adding the "-s", in Italian we have a single root, namely "ragazz-", which becomes masculine if we add a "-o" ("ragazzo"), feminine if we add a "-a" ("ragazza"), masculine plural or neuter plural if we add a "-i" ("ragazzi") and feminine plural if we add a "-e" ("ragazze"). So in Italian the vowels are fundamental and not inserting them, at the end of a word, sounds strange to us, so, unconsciously, when we speak English we add the semi-vowel "-ə". A small note: not all words in Italian end always with a vowel (with the exception of "per", equivalent to "for", "in", equivalent to "in", and other words, which never have a final vowel). Let's use a sentence as an example. I can write "Mirko e Lucia andranno in Costiera Amalfitana quest'estate" ("Mirko and Lucia will go to the Amalfi Coast this summer") - all words, except "in", end in a vowel -, or "Mirko e Lucia andran in Costiera Amalfitana quest'estate" - "andranno" has become "andran", while "questa" has become "quest'". The Italian pronunciation of the last example is "Mirko e ["Mirk'e", even, if you speak quickly] Lucia andran(n)-in Costiera Amalfitana ["Costier'Amalfitana"] quest'estate." Where I have left or inserted the apostrophe or inserted the line, the two words merge. In the case of "andran" and "quest'" it is possible because the next word begins with a vowel, therefore, by joining the two words, the "ə" sound is avoided. I have tried to simplify the concept as much as possible. Open to clarifications or corrections by fellow linguists.

[@lucaperry5979]

As an Italian I must say that I have never heard an Italian say streetsA, except in American cartoons where they try to imitate an Italian character

[@the-a5]

Nobody in Germany would ever say "Shtreets". Greetings from a German.

[@andrewgould6689]

Well that's not true. Probably half the germans ive spoken English with do this, maybe a little less, but its a rule in German thats hard to break in a second language

[@the-a5]

@@andrewgould6689 I have no idea what kind of Germans you spoke to and why they all used the word "street". You probably only spoke to older people. Yes, of course they don't speak perfect English. But they are by far the minority. Most people who are German (and can speak English) are young and learn the language at an early age. Of course, they can then pronounce "st" correctly. Everyone does it with the word "steak", except for really old people who can't speak English. They like to say "Shtek" but when you talk to people who are not old, you never hear "Sht".

[@oskardahle2478]

@@the-a5 This is a video about identifying where they are from based on their accent. Obviously when they are good enough in English that their accent mostly disappears this no longer applies.

[@the-a5]

@@oskardahle2478 Very few Germans don't have an accent when speaking English. No matter how well they speak the language. You can always tell if it's a German. But bad pronunciation has nothing to do with an accent. You don't even have to speak English well to pronounce the English "st". By the way, the word "steak" is also a German word. So we even have words that don't have a "sht". And I can probably judge that better than a non-German. The "th" is difficult for Germans. If you really want to name a pronunciation that is difficult for many, then the "th". But not the "st".

[@DangerSquiggles]

@@andrewgould6689 That is not true. There are several words in the German language and many common loan words from English where "ST" is not pronounced like that.

[@ilghiz]

No, Russians don't add _y_ anywhere. A "Russian" street sounds as short as "strit" but still as narrow as "street". But the most prominent feature will be the rolled _r:_ "strrit".

[@ilghiz]

It might be perceived as if there were _y_ because of palatalization: it's a way of pronouncing consonants with your tongue slightly raised for _y._ But _y_ doesn't appear anywhere. The closest I can think of is the dark and light _l_ in some English dialects (RP has them both). In _little_ the second _l_ is dark but the first _l_ is light, i.e. slightly palatalized. Russian light _l_ is even lighter, with the tongue raised higher. The dark _l_ is roughly the same. In English this distinction is positional and doesn't affect the meaning. In Russian _luk_ (dark _l)_ and _l’uk_ (light _l)_ are _onion_ and _manhole_ respectively. A native English speaker will hear _look_ in both cases.

[@mitri5389]

Well I know they can't say opet they say ah pet.... апет😂 or город instead of град . And the spelling is something else

[@ilghiz]

@@mitri5389 , do you mean they reduce their vowels? The vowel quality depends on the stress: • хорошо (horosho, well) - [xərɐˈʂo]. Letter O has three readings: full [o] in a stressed syllable, [ɐ] before the stressed syllable and [ə] in other syllables. Опять (opyat, again) being stressed on the second syllable, has a reduced [ɐ] in the first one: [ɐˈpʲætʲ]. It may sound like apet to a non-native. Город (gorod) and град (grad) both exist in Russian. They both mean city. Город is a regular word for city, град is its "high style" doublet from Church Slavonic (both date back to a common origin in Proto Slavic and are cognates of guard, ward, garden, yard). There's also a homonym град (grad) that means hail (frozen rain). I wonder if these links will work: • en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/город • en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/град • en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/опять • en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/хорошо Also note that Russians devoice voiced consonants at syllable end: gorot, grat. Bag will sound like back, dog like dock, love like luff, sound like sount. I think most Slavs have this kind of devoicing.

[@eugeniabarsukova]

@@mitri5389 мы можем сказать и "город", и "град", оба слова есть в языке. А что такое "опет"?

[@Yuong0]

Rolled r isn't accurate for every russian-speaker, that's why when English speaking actors in movies try to parody russian accent it sounds more like Spanish accent for me tbh or something definitely not russian I'm not a linguist, but I hear more problems with a "schwa" sound, which is likely to be mistaken with "ee" sound, this short seems pretty accurate but idk

[@user-iy3zv3yq1l]

Swedish has a lot of different accents but a Swedish accent on the word “Streets” would probably sound something like “Strreets/strreeets” with a rolling R and long E sound. Swedish accents often include a long rolling R. The vowels in Swedish are often very open.

[@MaxClapera]

Omg i’m American and Spanish and I can relate that people is Spain say espiderman or estar.😅

[@TheGMisterG]

Dutch tend to flatten their vowels, so when someone does that it is a giveaway

[@dutchdragon2472]

"Street" written with Dutch as said, not translated would be "striet". So no noticeable difference in the vowel as it's fundamentally swapped compared to the Dutch word "straat". What you might notice on heavier accents is a feathery lightness on the last T, kind of like tsk tsk. Or a rolled R, as our R is rolled. That being said most Dutch grow up bilingual and it's only getting more common. So you gotta kick out on finding a guy that can't adapt his accent. A real Dutch accent is the heaviest shit I've ever heard.

[@jamesrosewell9081]

​@@dutchdragon2472 Bilingual in what language, though?

[@666kittycat666]

@@jamesrosewell9081 English, French and German are all standard languages you learn in school in the Netherlands.

[@EroiKuma]

​@jamesrosewell9081 dutch High Schoolers are taught like 4 different languages, and some even get Latin

[@DeDierenShow]

​@@EroiKuma and old Greek :(

[@flcc94]

You would never hear an Italian say “streetsA” you think we all speak like super Mario or something 💀

[@cjcampbell4799]

Mama mia! You don't wantA teachA the kidsA badA mannersA withA by notA lettingA themA come and see for themselvesA, wouldn't yA?

[@flcc94]

@@cjcampbell4799 ahahaha porcoddio tu si che sei simpatico

[@julian3620]

​@@flcc94la bestemmia connota quanto lo reputi divertente

[@confusioneternelle]

Oh wait, that's what it is? I always wondered why Mario calls himself "a Mario", had no idea that was supposed to be an accent 😂 Same with German though, you would never hear us say "shtreets". The st becoming sht in German words is a thing, but people know English isn't German and most Germans speak at least a little English. Even those who don't would usually know such a basic word like street and how to pronounce it. You could only get a "shtreet" if you asked a very old person who knows no English and basically has never been abroad to pronounce "street" without ever having seen or heard that word before, and then you'd probably hear something like "shtr-eh-t" Better would be to listen for other typical accent things like using the German r instead of the English one, and even then that will only work with people who speak pretty bad English.

[@flcc94]

@@julian3620 si

[@Zeccr]

Well im danish and i pronounce street like if i had a potato down my throat

[@sheronbarbato9233]

i can assure everyone that italians wont just add an A at the end of streets, BUT they will say SHtreets

[@space00055]

And then we have Europeans that can just speak English

[@antonm1834]

maybe they do - its an accent

[@space00055]

@@antonm1834 sorry i meant without accent

[@Bosolevu]

Well, yeah. The Brits

[@majaczerwonka6695]

​@@Bosolevuin freaking Poland we have exams at the end of the high school and one of the subjects you have to write is English. Most of the Europeans know at least some of the english and would certainly pronounce it like english words not adding any letters, it's really visible it's english, and street is a basic word, most people below 40 would get it right maybe a little bit of accent.

[@hm-henriquematias]

⁠ people have accent 😒

[@calabrais]

Ask a New Yorker and they'll pronounce it "'Eyy I'm walkin' 'ere!"

[@elduquecaradura1468]

Eey, I'm walking 'ere!

[@tedhubertcrusio372]

Marylander: *fires Javelin missile*

[@xander8559]

Ah...Americans....butchering the English language on a daily basis

[@lahavmorris9919]

Under what context is eyy im walking here ever used? Like ive seen people refer to it on american tv shows but ive never seen when its actually used.

[@chadwickthezulu]

​@@lahavmorris9919 typically it's someone crossing the street and an impatient driver tries to go right in front of them or honks at them

[@Szylek]

I’m from Poland so here is my tip to recognize a Pole. In Polish every single voiced consonant becomes voiceless when it’s the final letter so many Poles tend to use this pattern while speaking English. So for example instead of 'bag' they say 'back' (in this example you can also see that this might change the meaning of the word).

[@Pidalin]

Czechs when they are new into English would probably pronounce bag as "bek," but that's very lazy pronunciation, you can at least try to say G adn the end, better than nothing.

[@ImperatoChri]

As an Italian, I've never Heard someone Say "streetsA" or add vowels, instead we overstress the "t"

[@Jgfhujnggg23342]

Hi *Black* -Kane 😃

[@GeneralStriker]

💀💀💀🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@UsherGT3]

Rainbolt learned from him.

[@antoniobarisic7132]

Yes

[@whengrapespop5728]

And failed miserably

[@TheGameGuy2024]

You can find out if they're British if they say: "Schreet" (S-ch-ree-t) (I am British btw)

[@shloveaffair-ei8vb]

I've also heard "shchreet"

[@thephoenixsystem6765]

It's chewsday, innit? Issa cowed chewsday on dhe shchreet ean mah-ch. - Londoners on the street on a cold Tuesday in March, probably

[@SnailHatan]

You don’t have to be british to make fun of brits. No one cares. Everyone else is too sensitive about basic observations

[@4bigguysenjoyer]

I guess I'm British now

[@cnut7383]

​@@SnailHataneveryone online makes fun of british. he was showing his credentials

[@Shadow-croww]

hahahah the italian A got me explode- (we don't use the A like Super Mario)

[@kalabash4952]

The Italian one is totally cap, they might be pronouncing more like you think the Germans do, with a H between S and T

[@MaleeshaHuththo]

If you ask a drunk brit, they'll pronounce streets as "bedroom"

[@udaytejsingh3998]

No replies? How?

[@frances-if5fp]

😂 Thanks for the unexpected out loud chuckle...

[@aniboo8668]

that reminded me of something I woke up with a bloody nose today, and a british man said "We all wake up with noses!"

[@giuseppeburmeister6009]

I'm German and while I do agree with you that in German most St sounds are pronounced sht.. 😅 I and everyone I know is capable of just pronouncing it st like you would in English.

[@annadressel89]

I agree

[@Tessa_Gr]

Yes, I don't think I've ever heard of someone having trouble pronouncing that in English, I think anyone that would have, would also have major pronounciation troubles in German.

[@Wote89]

I think the question is less aimed at saying y'all are incapable of pronouncing it without the "sh" and more that in absence of actively trying/practicing to do so, the natural thing to do is to insert the sound. In a similar vein, I'm from the Southern US, and while I am fully capable of saying the name of a store or restaurant that is someone's name without adding a possessive 's to the end, if you catch me off-guard, I'm adding that apostrophe-s every single stinking time.

[@Yelonek1986]

#pasta

[@Yelonek1986]

The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility. As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5- year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English". In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter. There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter. In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.

[@Megamind_5455]

The most untrue ahh video I’ve ever seen

[@Gasteryoug]

Me when there was no sign to determine who is french: "He could be in this very room ! He could be you ! It could be me !

[@omen8491]

Bro, most of us learn enough English in school not to sound like cartoon villains...

[@tq2769]

So true.

[@yessi3434]

cartoon villains 🤣

[@ILoveYou-rv3pd]

You still probably have an accent, whether you realize it or not.

[@ForeverNeverwhere1]

​@@ILoveYou-rv3pdof course people have accents, but the point was they are still perfectly capable of pronouncing "Streets" correctly while having an accent, except the English of course, who have yet to decide a single way of pronouncing it themselves.

[@willb586]

Press x to doubt most outside of maybe a couple Nordic countries do Most people I met in Germany had a accent and or could only hold basic conversation in English,this idea that the majority of Europe is indistinguishable from a native speaker I find just isn’t true from my experiences with accents

[@signorgatto5893]

As an Italian, I know a lot of Italians who are bad at English, but never ever in my life have I heard an Italian adding random vocals at the end of a word 😅

[@fluffyx1676]

One of my teachers at university who was Italian always added -a or -eh after every single word when he talked english. Almost godt the feeling he was doing it deliberately as to how many words he did it with, but there is simply no way he faked it. He wasn't very good at pronouncing english as a whole

[@nikitatavernitilitvynova]

​@@fluffyx1676I think it's more a southern italian way of pronouncing things. For context I was born in Genova in the north-west of Italy. My dad is southern italian from Calabria or to be exact in the province of Reggio di Calabria. I've never in my life heard anyone pronounce things this way in northern Italy. Specifically my classmates. I can also fake a spot on italian English accent.

[@nicoladumpvideos]

I agree it might be typical from southern Italians (I’m from the south myself, Reggio Calabria as well!) But I would also add that I think you are more likely to hear from very old people. But what it’s more likely to hear from a general Italian speaker, from that specific word, is to drop the final “s” since we don’t really pay attention to it when it comes to plural!

[@Sirathlerad]

Facts

[@user-fd1vc4sx7f]

I always heard Italians in London talking about buying milkE, breadE & cheeseE for breakfast ❤

[@Frankie-frankster]

Swede here! Most of us for some reason have trouble peonouncing many consonants in one word when its in english. "Stereat" is how i usually end up pronouncing it even after speaking english for 11 years now 😂

[@user-kc6be5lq2n]

If you know the basic sound of Swedish you can with 99% certainty hear if their from Sweden, the Swedish dialect slips a lot for us when we talk English

[@luigidefatico2665]

Italian here! I never understood this “-a” thing that native english speakers hear when talking with italian speakers untill I found out the [ə] sound. The schwa vowel isn’t present in italian language and it brings us to a lot of problem when trying to reprodure a “correct” pronunciation, mainly because it is basically not even known around here. I think that our pronunciation is closer to “streetsə” more than “streetsa”. That’s why there is plenty of italians comments complaining under this reel 😂

[@exist4046]

I think a lot of it is literally just that people dont know what exactly to make of a schwa, especially when writing dialogue. I know of exactly one comic dubber, for exactly, who actually properly pronounces English words with an Italian accent (while not being Italian afaik) and even actual ITALIAN words when doing comic dubs for shit like Mario or Pizza Tower comics. Its actually really interesting to figure out how written accents work for comics and writing and such, but a whole other beast to know how its meant to be read. Insert me, struggling to write a character with a Brooklyn-Boston accent that doesnt lean into Southern accent territory, lmao. Anyway yeah us Americans have a habit of reading things exactly as theyre written, or writing exactly as we hear it..... Despite the fact that half of our language breaks those rules completely anyway. Language is neat though!

[@fedechan6325]

Also Italian here! All my professors think I'm from abroad because I have no accents whatsoever

[@nbvehbectw5640]

Interesting. I'm Russian and I don't see where does he get the "y" from. I guess everyone who's native language is listed in the video wouldn't agree with the statement about it, because it sounds totally natural to them)

[@thunderarch5951]

​@@nbvehbectw5640This video also mostly applies when you're not that fluent in English, or at least not enough to mask your accent a bit. I know a bunch of Russians, with some, the y is quite noticeable, some others don't even have a Russian accent when speaking English, so it varies widely

[@rafag9153]

yeah, the "a" in "streetsa" was used to show how a word would be pronounced in english, it seems obvious that "a" was used instead of schwa as it is not present in the english alphabet

[@Ajeje_Brazorf-YT]

As an Italian I must say that yes, we don't end a word with a consonant, but we have no problem pronouncing words that end with it. We instead would have problems say the "r" since italian "r" is really vibrant. So we would say "strrreet" with a vibrant "r"

[@Brandlingo]

My experience (🇩🇪 here) with pronunciation by Italians is that many do add a little vowel (I would have described it as between a and e), probably even unnoticed by the speaker. Happens with other languages as well, I experienced it with Spanish. But of course there are also Italians with good pronunciation who don't do this.

[@ricmiii]

Also we forget lots of “s”

[@nekhumonta]

Maybe you don't hear it yourselves, but we do.

[@_magnify]

well said@@Brandlingo

[@mjiopytrklk]

​@@nekhumonta nah, an Italian would pronounce the final two letters ("ts") as "z" so streets would become strreez (the Italian sound for "r" is pretty strong). Italian is pronounced as it's written. Source: I'm Italian and just asked my friends who don't know English to pronounce "streets"

[@Fiooorellaaa]

I'm italian and I've never heard someone pronouncing streets THAT WAY. Even my grandmother who doesn't speak english would not say it that way...

[@nicolettacasali6541]

My cousin who really know italian very well said this: Italians can easily say "street" if its the first time maybe they are gonna say you "strets" with a long "e" but if they know a little bit english they might say "streets" right.

[@ventsislavminev]

"Anywhere" in Europe. Proceeds to list 5 out of 44 countries.

[@kate_6436]

He has limited time man shorts are only like a minute 😂

[@Player-gx1eo]

I thought they were 50 countries in Europe

[@Janecek185]

Latin / Roman, Germanic, Slavic.. main thing was represented ;D

[@ApfelR]

also, never heard the thing he said about German. We say 'Straße' and although there is a 'SCHTR' tone, nobody says 'Schtreet'

[@ratatatuff]

@@ApfelR Yeah, nobody says that. This guy most likely never talked to a German person.

[@claudiopozo3478]

The marked area at the end is the province of Seville in Spain, where I am from. It appearing for no reason has given me also an unreasonable joy, for which I thank you!

[@jeffwei]

Because the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain

[@uforob5601]

We Italians can easily pronunce consonants at the end of a Word, we have difficult with your many vowel sounds like "long E" (sheet, beach etc.) so probably our pronounciation of "streets" seems "stricts"

[@warukeru]

That was translate in Spanish as "la lluvia en Sevilla es una maravilla" Which is funny as all this started cus Seville was highlighted in the video

[@hansudowolfrahm4856]

He's showing Lübeck the most beautiful city in germany😮❤

[@Sillyant1987]

as a person from switzerland, im telling you I know how to pronounce street

[@sammys8540]

No German would ever say shtreets😂😂

[@christopherstein2024]

Germans don't but Americans do sometimes. The last time he said it in this video he said shtreet. Dr Lindsy made a video about it and his first example is Michelle Obama saing shtreet.

[@togas_nightcores]

I think he means „schtreet“ like the pronunciation we use for Straße. Do we have an „st“ that is naturally pronounced like street? Anyways we obviously know how to produce a sharp s sound before a t so his argument has no point regardless and you are correct

[@janamariehagedorn8760]

​@@togas_nightcores Ast, beste

[@togas_nightcores]

@@janamariehagedorn8760 ich bin dumm, Danke!!

[@liketobe2743]

This not entirely true: Bavarians speaking dialekt would say more likely say Shtreet, since the use Sch... sounds way more often were we northgermans would be more likely use sharp S. But since for most people int the world think germany is Lederhosen and Oktoberfest they may know this from what ever. But to be honest. Bavaria is the most un-german state in terms of cultural differences with the others Regions. And they are annoying politcally :D

[@FindusHastlasagne]

Sweden: Striiiit where the i sounds like a bee humming

[@JaGattBa]

Agree 😅🇸🇪

[@gpcubing123]

Precis

[@SgtMclupus]

Maybe people around Stockholm, because they are statisticly the worse when it comes to any foreign languages

[@stuartlarkinmadtv]

​@@SgtMclupusyup the stockholm accent bleeds through more than any other

[@snokalo208]

Have to agree with the previous commenters that this is a Stockholm thing, the rest of the country don't say our i's like that

[@mrmanhasaplan]

American here, i have never heard someone pronounce it other than shtreets

[@randomlyfactual1943]

This works in French too. You give them the piece of paper with the word printed on it and they put their hands up to surrender

[@whengrapespop5728]

My man, most Europeans will fluently pronounce the word “streets” as if English was their mother tongue. Your examples are seen in stereotypes from movies, but rarely in real life. There are other words that are far more difficult to pronounce with native fluency.

[@exvagoergosum]

Absolutely true !! Inept video made by someone who doesn't speak nor understand anything but english

[@randomstuffs7648]

yeah, i'm german and i pronounce streets the english way.

[@Levuk0]

the Spanish one is true tho

[@Cookiedible]

The truth is that he is right. Having traveled and interacted with plenty of native speakers of those languages in English, they do in fact have both grammar and pronounciation rules bleeding in their English, even sometimes after years of speaking English.

[@ADarnSmore]

it has nothing to do with fluency, it's called an accent, brother. everyone has one, whether they think they do, or not.

[@andreyserov4636]

Never heard that "y-glide" in Russians saying "little streets". Where did you hear that? Examples? Whereas much more characteristic feature would be "Russian r" sound which simply doesn't exist in English. As to "y glide" - I mostly (or only) hear that when a Russian speaker is mocking an accent of a Western (non-Russian) speaker speaking Russian. Also, it's a way to show in a movie that the person is speaking in not his native language.

[@stc.martin822]

100% agree

[@ErenDoppleganer]

Wouldn’t for eastern Slavs more common be something like mispronouncing “f”, “th”, “t” and messing words like kitten and carton.

[@stc.martin822]

@@ErenDoppleganer only to an American who pronounces every of these sounds as "D", "D" and "D".

[@OlgaBooo]

As a Russian speaker, I confirm that. We never have a "y-glide". Only non natives do when trying to speak Russian

[@vaevictis2789]

​@@ErenDoppleganertotally not f, russian has exactly the same f sound as in friend, farm, finger etc. T on the other hand is usually dental in russian accent and th is often /s/

[@Indogen150_IT]

As an Italian I never heard someone saying “streetsa”, We most likely do the mistake saying “srit”.

[@JB-my4pp]

I as a german can confirm he is making this up. We have no problem, pronouncing "streets" correctly lmao. We even have a lot words that start with st and never speak an "h" which is not there. Its always foreigners learning german who do this mistake and add an "h"

[@Matko722]

Me German: *saying streets* „huh, i dont say streets with sh.“ *saying Straße* „oh there you have it“ 😂

[@_DerVinny]

HAHA, JA! Aber "Shtreets", hilfe

[@warphole0369]

Ist ja auch der sch Laut, also eigentlich schtreets, aber den hat das Englische wiederum nicht

[@BjörndHöcke]

Schtraße

[@janoschjobstmann4588]

Ich hab das nicht kapiert mit der Straße

[@BjörndHöcke]

@@janoschjobstmann4588 In Deutschland sprechen wir "Straße" wie "Schtraße" aus. "Streets" könnte dann auch wie "Schtreets' ausgesprochen werden.

[@radicalchic753]

I'm Italian, nobody would add an A to streets.

[@tankadar]

fr

[@LLLadySSS]

Fr

[@laemmeelagi]

more like a schwa

[@massy7771]

Fr

[@thebhutanchannel]

Non farci caso, penso che il bro non abbia mai incontrato un italiano

[@eliasegermark8719]

You can tell someone is Swedish if they pronounce the “ee” in street like an elongated “i”

[@IfYouMeetAWolf]

For us Swedes, a very broad Swedish accent would sound like "Striiit". I as the i in "machine". I've also heard some people "germanify" it, saying "Schtriiit". That's also how I grew up trying to pronounce Street lol.

[@xciter]

Im italian and i can confirm We never fucking say streetsa

[@user-zx4kb1cl6u]

As Russian I confirm, author wasn’t even close

[@PuffleTheWaffle]

@@user-zx4kb1cl6u he was close enough, реально близко

[@MrMargaretScratcher]

Sorry pal, you do. Streets-uh.

[@kaproskarleto5136]

It's a me streetsa

[@StupidusMaximusTheFirst]

yeah, Metallica would say streetsa not Italians. He's confused.

[@user-zj3pe1fb8y]

I love this channel, but I can assure that any Italian would say "Streetsa", more probably an Italian who doesn't know English will likely say "Strèèts"

[@Starbucks-sj5ph]

Yeah NO ONE is calling it streetsa, that's so clearly supposed to sound like pizza lmao. They would most likely pronounce it street, but with the e pronounced like it is in step

[@janeenjourney43]

I've had several Italian students take my online English lessons and adding that "a" sound to the end of words is super common. It's a giveaway before the students even tell me where they are from

[@winittiwary7893]

German, and travel a lot in Europe, none of his claims seems to be legit

[@mellowsign]

@@winittiwary7893Also German, also decently well travelled in Europe. Most of his claims are right on the money, just exaggerated a lot for clarity.

[@mellowsign]

Like in Spain people won't say 'Estreets', but they might make a little exhale noise before they start a word with a consonant, it does sound a little bit like that, just much less obvious.

[@MultiSpeedMetal]

Nonnative English speakers don't notice their little quirks when speaking English and get mad when native English speakers point them out. It can be subtle too and not the exaggerated form everyone thinks they're being accused of doing. It reminds me of New Yorkers and other East Coasters saying nobody talks like that when they themselves talk like that but don't hear it.

[@Thompson314]

As a German, i've never heard someone pronounce it like that...

[@ThePokeMusicLover]

That explains why all my Hispanic coworkers call Steven "Esteven".

[@thekito4623]

you can be thankful they dont call him "esteban"

[@elize2952]

A lot of the consonant sounds in English are unnatural for us. The name “Zack” is my biggest nightmare and I know like 3 people named Zack so I just avoid saying their names to their face at all costs 🤣

[@vladoshka9014]

​@@elize2952 you can't pronounce sonorous z?

[@elize2952]

@@vladoshka9014 it takes a conscious effort if I want it to sound like an American, and I’ve been living in the U.S. and speaking English for around 9 years now

[@mathisholler5504]

My girlfriend is latina and today she was talking about sports while i was wondering since when she has an interest in esports. Now i understand

[@SabrinaGrimm2012]

I'm an English teacher working with Russians. Never in my life have I heard anyone say lyettle street. They'd rather roll the Rrrrrrrr sound or in case of the word "little" they'd move the i sound to the front and make the l sound really soft

[@nordicmind82]

Blyat. Iym ayn Eynglish tyetcher wyrking, hyow yoh syay, wyeth Ryossynz. Nyever iyn my lyfe hyave y hyerd anyvone syay lyettle streetz.

[@deim3]

Because he's not taking about russians, he's talking about Americans doing russian accent.

[@SabrinaGrimm2012]

​@@deim3 oh, my bad 😅

[@toast7257]

​@@nordicmind82i had a stroke reading that

[@SabrinaGrimm2012]

​@@deim3wait, is he, though?

[@xUSMC1775x]

Spanish has many words that start with s "suelo, sol, sueno, saber, etc."

[@tristankoopmans4575]

For dutch, i have been told like 10000+ times that when talking English i have an accent

[@user-kq5lb1pq6r]

As a russian, no, we don't add a Y glide. You got it all wrong. The only people who add a Y glide are those who try to impersonate a russian accent but don't know what they're actually doing. The word streets said by a russian would have a hard, pronounced R, and also all the consonants would have slightly more weight, as if you were purposely trying to make sure you pronounce every letter. When i switch into english, i always purposely make my consonants more light and flighty to compensate for the accent.

[@sakatababa]

apparently the entire comment section is filled with europeans saying "we don't say it like that. only someone impersonating us, badly, would say it like that."

[@shinhonwy]

​@@sakatababa and the craziest thing is that all of them are actually right and the majority of europeans from the countries he picked _wouldn't_ pronounce the word "streets" the way he says XD

[@user-zx6fg9lv4d]

Still the most obvious giveaway would be our tone of speech - it seems that our speech doesn't have that tonal spikes inside words but the tone goes upwards at the end of the speech. And yeah, our consonants would sound more weighty because in Russian we use dorsum of our tongue instead of the apex. No Y glide however.

[@user-kq5lb1pq6r]

@@user-zx6fg9lv4d when it comes to the tone going upwards or not, that actually varies fro m region to region :0 the moscow accent has epecially wacky tone shenanigans as far as i'm aware

[@mr.abrickos]

Малек, ты малость не разобираешься в вопросу, как я могу судить.

[@annaok2520]

No, as an italian we don't put vocals randomly at the end of words. Maybe we wold add more emphasis on the r 🇮🇹

[@alexialu4224]

It's very subtle but it's true, we don't actively say "streetsA" with an emphasised A but we tend to add a vowel that kinda sounds like an A to consonant ending words. In order to hear it clearly you must pay close attention and the other person must have a heavy italian accent. I suggest you watch the video "why do italians sound italian", it's an interesting experience watching it as italians because even if he is actively explaining it, it's very hard to notice the "error".

[@Shalalacls]

​@@alexialu4224 You're mostly right, just one piece you're missing: we'd do that in a conversation, not while pronouncing a single word. The reasoning is also correct, we do that because we're used to ending words with vowels, so in a string of words we might add a soft schwa sound in between words cause it makes the flow easier for us. That's not the same thing as the stupid Mario accent they give us whenever they try to talk like us 😅

[@alexialu4224]

@@Shalalacls yes exactly, if you watch the video I mentioned you'll notice how it's almost as if we instinctively breath out when a word ends because we are so used to doing so with vowels. It sounds more like a "ə" rather than a "a". If you start noticing it you'll hear it a lot when English loan words are used in an italian conversation.

[@TvoyuMamkuMav]

Because your not Super Marios obviously… but for Americans maybe you all are 🤷

[@tha_gheb3143]

Lasciamo perde

[@callosamiusprometheus7350]

With the Dutch you can find several "r" sounds, varying depending on where they come from.

[@Syres25]

Im german, and never in my entire life, of 31 years, I heard another fellow German add an „h“ sound to a word starting with s or t, regardless of the language they were speaking 😂😂

[@djking9559]

The italian one is taken straight of some italian cartoon parody because we actually never do that 😂

[@karim____]

Yeah, I was a bit annoyed. The real italian accent doesn't sound like the stereotipical one, it's still bad though lol

[@trueaussie9230]

Sooooooo. You're qualified to speak for ALL Italians - EVERYWHERE in the world?! 🤔

[@djking9559]

@@trueaussie9230 yes I was saying exactly that, you are very smart

[@robert111k]

Yes, you do.

[@Anankin12]

​@@trueaussie9230yes, they are

[@nexplayspredator3307]

"Can you say streets?" "Shtreets" "You're German." "Wait wha-" "Did i stutter?"

[@Thearbiter96]

“Did I shtutter?”

[@roms7626]

​@yamamagheyit's"hakencreuz" not swastika

[@tristanthamm505]

Yeah no German would pronounce it that way. Even the German word for streets isn’t pronounced like that so it would be silly to mispronounce it like that even though we have the sound in our language.

[@TPdrizzle]

​@@tristanthamm505straße is pronounced schtraße what do you mean

[@kjbrandman]

​@@tristanthamm505 straße is pronounced as english shtrasse, ur wrong

[@1S44C_M]

In French accent from France we often say it like “sRRits” with big accent on the R. It’s difficult to pronounce for English speakers but if you know you know.

[@ICHope1]

It is quite common for people in the US to add the “h” after the “s”. It makes me crazy especially when people like journalists who should have learned diction do this. I find it so rare but refreshing when someone actually pronounces “streets” as it’s spelled.

[@jbmanifestor5016]

As soon as he mentioned italian, I was like, its gonna end in a vowel

[@itzamia]

You were correcto

[@AndreaAustoni]

Very few Italians speak like that in English though