Anyone else notice that reversed English speech sounds German?

In another thread I was analyzing the audio from a video of Bill Clinton being interviewed about Roswell and UFO's. I thought it would be a fun study and wanted to check out how his pitch, rate of speech, and volume changed throughout the various questions. I decided to reverse the speech for the heck of it and found a few weird things, but I after awhile it really felt like his, and other English speakers, sounded like they were speaking German in reverse.

My first question is, ok, well if someone who spoke German listened to it could they extract more meaning than someone who spoke only English. I'm not worried about how important or meaningful the actual words are, but could their mind form a more coherent version. Does the speech actually sound more German?

If it did, I think it would be quite interesting to think one human language would have the phrasing or sounds of another human language reversed. I don't know what that would mean, but I'm curious. I have not tested reversed German to see if it sounds English, though I am about to. I really don't expect it to but I love the moment before you test something. People spend so much time and worry planning events in their lives but I love when you are certain you don't know what is going to happen next. Ha, I probably do, but for the sake of experiment you can't make assumptions. Lucky me.

I just wanted to know if others had heard this or wondered. Or if you speak German I would be happy to analyze a clip if you post a raw file of you speaking.

EDIT: I made a quick video showing some of the reverse speech patterns. It's mostly hearing English like patterns with some translations I threw on there. There is a portion around 0:50 seconds where I identify a German sounding part.





[edit on 4-8-2009 by Parabol]

[edit on 4-8-2009 by Parabol]

reply to post by Parabol


Well English is derived from old german.. so it's no surprise that sometimes it may sound it.

Humans speak a common language.

It has just been muddled, so to speak.
I am convinced of this.

reply to post by Raider of Truth


I realize this, I just find it odd that the phrasing seems to change to German. The way they begin and move into their vowels. Like hearing an instruments attack and fade reverse. To see that we had alternated the stressing or placement of vocalizations in almost an opposite manner is interesting. I have a psych degree so the brains ability to produce symbolic meaning through the pressurization of air is a treasure chest for learning about how we perceive the world as a human. A system which underlies the general capacity for speech, one that organizes specific vocal qualities, or one that is already assembled, it's just that different groups selected different areas of an unknown structure. What it means, I don't know, but I'm looking into the basics.

This video is really creepy. Great job OP.

Hi

I live near the german border (the netherlands) and due to my previous work I had te speak german a lot. So I think I know how german sounds. And I cant say this sounds like german. For me, as a dutch native speaker, it sounds more like russian.

greetings

Any other updates on this video? I think the OP's work here is very interesting.

Originally posted by Parabol

I made a quick video showing some of the reverse speech patterns. It's mostly hearing English like patterns with some translations I threw on there. There is a portion around 0:50 seconds where I identify a German sounding part.

You could have saved some time ...



And the plot takes place in ................... GERMANY!!!

Anyhoot, English and German saxophonic in origin.

Not sure what you are getting at with the backwards experiment though.

I'm English and I've noticed that even though I can't speak a word of German I seem to understand what they are saying. . . My brother lives in Norden and when I listen to his neighbours and friends I do get the gist of what they're talking about. Never thought about it before until you posted this thread.
Star for you!

To me forward or backward...it's all greek to me...anything dealing with politics makes my eyeballs roll backwards...however I have always been interested in reverse speech...but what's with those numbers there uh, close to my zipcode...is Florida Hell???

ok, now i want to hear some backwards german.
for conparison.

Made me think of this quality piece of television




Cool as