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A comment on The weirdest languages. Parent comment

Re:The weirdest languages by chewxy on Friday June 28, 2013 @06:10AM (#5957136)
I think 'weirdness' in this context should not be conflated with 'norm'. Instead, as I read it, I think about it the same way you would think about the regularity of a language (to put it into compsci terms)

I speak both mandarin and cantonese. I think a lot of the 'weirdness' factor comes from actually saying the words. Also there are some words in cantonese that are not in mandarin. For example, in Cantonese, there is 'mou' (the negation of having), while in Mandarin, it'd be pronounced as two words ('mei2 you3). Spoken cantonese in some regards, is easier to pick up than spoken mandarin (definitely easier to cuss in)

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Re:The weirdest languages by vorg on Friday June 28, 2013 @09:35AM (#5957860)
If Mandarin-speakers say "meiyou" quickly, it sounds like "mou". If English-speakers say "going to" quickly, it sounds like "gonna".
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Re:The weirdest languages by arethuza on Friday June 28, 2013 @10:44AM (#5958240)
I wouldn't say all English speakers - someone saying "gonna" sounds distinctly American to me. Around here, something like "gonnae" (which sounds more different than the small difference in spelling would suggest), common usage:

"Gonnae no' dae that?"

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