Language to the untrained ear
I find it fascinating to hear a new language and remember what it reminds me of.
When I was in Ireland back in the late 90's, I would listen to the Gaelic language radio while driving. I could detect two different dialects (there are apparently three). The one that struck me the most sounded to me like a cross between Swedish and Russian. Not too odd, since the Gaels are though to have been descended from immigrants from Eastern Europe, and the Vikings definitely had an impact on Irish culture and language.
Another one was a local cobbler shop, run by an Italian father and son. I was in there getting some work done, and they were chattering away. To me, it sounded much like French, so I asked. They laughed and said it was their dialect from Northern Italy. I'd never heard it before - most of the Italian one hears in the states is from Southern Italy or Sicily, I guess.
I often wonder what English sounds like to an Italian, Frenchman, or German. A Swiss-german acquaintance once told me that to him English sounded like German spoken with a mouth full of marbles. LOL.
