Have you ever just heard a word, and thought it was a strange sounding word? Or maybe it didn’t really sound like a strange word until you put some thought into it. Here’s a fun activity, pick out just normal words, look around your cube and pick out random objects, and just say those words out loud but rather slow.

Here’s a few examples of what I thought sounded quirky… When saying these words, concentrate about 30% on the sound, but 70% on the way your mouth forms each syllable. Notice every tongue movement and lip contortion…

• strange
• sand
• music
• ticket

The words are completely normal, but the sounds it takes to compile these words makes each of them sound just that, strange.

I think with the word ‘strange’, it has to do with the harsh ‘a’ sound along with the ‘ng’. Sand is just a funny word… just ask my friend Mandy. You can come up with all sorts of words that are weird.

Sometimes I like to think about what people who don’t understand English would hear me say. If I were to hear some Chinese guys talking about what they did for the weekend, it would sound like complete gibberish to me, but it would make complete sense to them. It is all in the mindset of the conversation participants. Many of our English sentences don’t sound all too strange to us, but that is because we know what they mean. What if you were from China and didn’t know any English. You listen to a conversation about going to a ballgame, hanging out with buddies, and going to the bar afterwards completely different. What words would stand out to you as being completely strange?

Its fun to just take a normal scenario such as a conversation between two people and take it into an abnormal situation. How about you? What do you think the strangest sentence said in English would be to someone who doesn’t understand English?