What the Folk!

I'm a little late in answering this..but i've been out of town this week (outoftown, malaysia..that is ). First of all, a BIG thank you for the compliment... I have to say I don't mentally translate when I read/listen or write/speak in english.. it's like I store all the sentences, words and expressions i come in contact with in a different part of the brain for each language.. if that makes any sense. Of course if i don't find the words to say what i want to say.. i have to sort of translate word by word from Catalan or Spanish.. but i usually go to the English library for English.. I grew up being bilingual..so i don't find it that difficult to change from one language to another.. it just depends on how fluent you are on a specific language.

About the WTF says Hello vids ..do you think we could all say the same text so we can better see how each person pronounces the same words? Those of us who speak more than one language could translate the text and record it also in those languages

Yes but which is the way it sounds to others - the way we hear it in our heads or the way we sound on tape? On tape I think my voice sounds much higher and spacier than I would like to believe it is.

The way you sound on tape is the way you sound to others...unfortunately I don't like the way I sound to others either...

But I like Amanada's 'Hello to WTF' idea

What would we say though?

'Hi everyone. My name is Biscuit and I grew up in Trondheim, Norway. I now live in Lalm, Norway'

How's this? Short and sweet, and also showing you where my dialect/language is from.

I like the idea!

And am I the only one who likes my voice?! I can sell the crap out of anything on the phone with my voice

Yeah, whenever someone calls and I hear my voice on the answering machine, I always think "I can't believe that's how I sound...."

I like my head-voice much better.

I think it's a great idea to record hellos so we can hear one another!

I've gotten used to the way my voice sounds because I've often had to review my own radio program as part of the job. It sounds odd but I think my voice sounds better on my voicemail message than how it does over the airwaves. I find it more cringeworthy seeing myself on camera.

I thought you sounded great on the radio, vmh!
I used to dj also, but I never got to listen to my own show. Probably for the best, since I've never liked the sound of my voice when I've heard it on voicemail messages, etc.

I think I sound like a 10 yr old girl on the phone ... which I guess is fitting since I am the size of one

Someone just said the phrase "in like flint", which irritates the $%&@ out of me.

It's in like Flynn. As in Errol Flynn, Hollywood golden age manwhore. The phrase spoke of his ease in getting ladies (and men apparently, according to certain biographers) into the sack with him.

Yes, I realize that there was a James Bond spoof movie in the 60s titled In Like Flint, which was one of those terrible-awesome flicks. And it had James Coburn in it, making it more awesome. But the movie title is based on the murdering of that phrase! (The movie is also about a huge feminist conspiracy, in fun irony.)

And most people saying said hackneyed phrase above have never heard of either the movie OR Errol Flynn and blink at you like a deer in the headlights when either are referenced with said phrase.

Of course I knew of Erroll Flynn, but I never knew the true phrase was "In Like Flynn". Guilty.

I grew up with the movie "In Like Flint", and never heard of the ironic twist of the title. I understand your frustration, because I just taught middle school kids Alice In Wonderland, which is chock full of puns and musical jokes that go waaaay over their heads. It's kind of hard to explain to kids why "Everyone knows... Alice doesn't live here anymore!" is funny. You had to be there.

Thanks for enlightening us, eejm.

I've heard of the phrase in like flynn but never knew what it was from and am unfamiliar with Flynn or the Flint film though from your description it sounds like a must see.

The Flint film is way cheesy, but fun.

I thought "in like Flynn" was a reference to how easily he would get off those pesky corrupting the morals of a minor charges that would pop up now and again. They both fit!

This is a message to anyone who has any knowledge of the Chinese language- HELP!!!

I'm Musical Director for Thoroughly Modern Millie, which has two characters who only speak (and sing) Chinese until the very end of the show. I was given the piano score, which gives the Chinese lyrics but no pronunciation guide. We also have a rehearsal cd which should be a helpful guide, but listening to it makes me more confused. I don't know if the vocalists just slid sometimes pronouncing words, or if certain words are pronounced differently under certain situations. We only have two weeks to put this show up, so ANY help will be greatly appreciated.

Nancy, I took Mandarin Chinese for 4 years in high school. While I've forgotten a lot of what I learned, I can still pronounce it fairly well. How can I help you with that? Chinese is a tonal language, so the same word can be pronounce in different ways and have different meanings. For example, "ma" can mean mother or horse depending on how you say it.

I won't be of much help I'm afraid. I know one sentence in Chinese (Mandarin) and it's "I'm not Chinese!" Probably the least useful phrase ever