skwerl

[Richard]

Why does this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt4Dfa4fOEY - sound like English?

[punjaporn]

It sounds so ...English!
Help, please. I can't find the script. What are they actually talking about?

So, what does this sound like?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpkJ3Cq1pdo

[stevelouw]

That's really well done! It will be good to use this with TESOL students who have difficulty understanding why our students can't understand fast speech.

It really does sound English, and for the first section I thought I was just mishearing their speech because of the music in the background. Why it sounds like English, I'd say to start with is the use of English discourse markers like 'I mean' and 'so'. Every now and again there is a clear English word like 'today' and 'sure', and I thought I even heard 'Elton John'. But that's only part of it - there is something deeper in the interaction that gives this a definite American English feel. The rhythm?