How English sounds to non-English speakers
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN cites it as the best-known example of gibberish that mimics the sound of a language, in threads about fake languages and nonsense imitations.
What it is
'Skwerl' is a short film by Brian and Karl made entirely in fake English, imitating how English sounds to people who don't speak it. It was made for Kino Sydney and shown on QI.
Recommended by 1 HN commenters across 1 different months, 2013 to 2017.
What Hacker News said
Recommends tehmaco · 2017-07 · on “Radiohead album hides an app that only runs on an '80s computer”
There's a short film on YouTube that explores that idea: [this video] It's a very strange experience hearing it!
Cites CKKim · 2013-01 · on “It's Gibberish, But Italian Pop Song Still Means Something ”
A similar effect can be heard in "Skwerl (How English sounds to non-English speakers)": [this video] (speaking starts at 0m30s). It's not quite as good, is it? I wonder if this effect is easier to achieve in a song or if it's more a case of how much time, talent, and effort goes into making it.
Cites niccaluim · 2015-12 · on “Recurrent Net Dreams Up Fake Chinese Characters in Vector Format with TensorFlow”
I wonder what RNN-generated fake Latin characters would look like. Sort of a handwriting version of that "what does English sounds like to non-English-speaking people" video. ( [this video] )