Personalities of Non-English Speaking Fighters (Bilingual Bros GTFIH)

[Pancake Sprawl]

Max Holloway, despite what people say about him sounding like he has CTE, sounds exactly like any other local from Hawaii who grew up in the country.

 

[Kaiserjuan]

Question to bilingual sherbros.
Do you ever feel there's a sway in how well you speak both of your languages? I speak both English (Irish accent bc of mother) and Italian, but sometimes I feel like one of them is kinda taking over.

Max Holloway, despite what people say about him sounding like he has CTE, sounds exactly like any other local from Hawaii who grew up in the country.

But he just speaks English, it sounds kind of american-ish with a pinch ox exoticness that makes it more islandish

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

Question to bilingual sherbros.
Do you ever feel there's a sway in how well you speak both of your languages? I speak both English (Irish accent bc of mother) and Italian. I be lived in Italy all my life but aswas a kidgkid itI wouldI often go to Ireland and very often to see my relies as a kid and


But he just speaks English, it sounds kind of american-ish with a pinch ox exoticness that makes it more islandish

i can understand everything he says easily but i grew up in Hawaii. a lot of people, even Americans sometimes have a hard time understanding the pidgin accent. his pidgin accent isn't really thick though and i think he consciously tries to speak a more proper type of English.

 

[Kaiserjuan]

i can understand everything he says easily but i grew up in Hawaii. a lot of people, even Americans sometimes have a hard time understanding the pidgin accent. his pidgin accent isn't really thick though and i think he consciously tries to speak a more proper type of English.

Yeah he s fairly easy to understand and I'm not from Hawaii....he kinda talks slowly as well

 

[Ramon Antonio]

Yeah, exactly, south Netherlands has the hard G like German, northern Netherlands has soft G like northern Europe

No. The south has the soft g. The north has the hard g.

 

[the big marmot]

There listed as of "Italian descent" but I wonder whether that might be direct rather than long term and they grew up partly speaking Italian?

nah, no brazilian speaks italian anymore. and the ones that did where in sao paulo not curitiba

 

[Willie]

Question to bilingual sherbros.
Do you ever feel there's a sway in how well you speak both of your languages? I speak both English (Irish accent bc of mother) and Italian, but sometimes I feel like one of them is kinda taking over.


But he just speaks English, it sounds kind of american-ish with a pinch ox exoticness that makes it more islandish

I am French but I have been learning and speaking english for like 25 years now. I was told once by a friend of my brother, from London to "quit that birmigham accent". I had a boyfriend from birmingham at the time, but when I told him that he said I had never had a brummie accent, go figure.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

French canadian tv shows are subtitled in France.

To be fair I am QUébécois and sometimes I have trouble understanding the Québécois TV shows that are on TV5 monde. There was this TV show about some hospital a while ago and I swear they only took actors that can't articulate.

 

[mst-dot]

Yeah, exactly, south Netherlands has the hard G like German, northern Netherlands has soft G like northern Europe

No, it's the other way around..

 

[Willie]

To be fair I am QUébécois and sometimes I have trouble understanding the Québécois TV shows that are on TV5 monde. There was this TV show about some hospital a while ago and I swear they only took actors that can't articulate.

I think it's more to do with your expressions, you guys have some weird phrasing sometimes.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

Yan comes across the same in Russian as in English: a thug, basically. Nothing out of the ordinary for a fighter, of course. But the hard edge you hear in English is very much present in Russian.

Fedor is extremely soft spoken and humble. Since becoming more serious about his Orthodox Christian faith, it's true that he mentions God more. But he doesn't come across as a religious fanatic, just a man who has found peace through the Church. When he talks about the outcome of a fight being God's will, he is displaying even greater humility than before. Of course, if you don't share his religious convictions, then his answers now are less interesting/charismatic than his old persona. He sounds almost like a very chilled out monk.

Khabib has a very different personality in Russian than in English, because so much of his shtick in America is connected to the humor of his weird grammar and pronunciation. In Russian, he has an obvious Caucasian accent, but he is also quite articulate and thoughtful in most situations. Yet there is also a harder edge that comes out sometimes. I don't want to say that he is "fake" when he speaks more honorably, like a humble sportsman. It's more like he sincerely believes that is the proper way to conduct himself, but sometimes his rough side comes out. You can take the man out of the mountains, but you can't take the mountains out of the man.

To me that is not being "fake". He is being watched by his president and pretty much all the Caucasus including inconvenient neighbors like Khadirov, AND to some extent he is the Muslim ambassador in MMA, so he needs to conduct himself accordingly. That and it is pretty normal in most cultures outside of Murrcan culture to polish yourself when you present yourself in public.

The reality for guys like say, Masvidal or Colby or Nate Diaz, is much different, whose following will only increase the more stupid thing they do / the more they cuss and act like trash.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

All the people saying GSP's french is so bad. Is it just a french canadian thing, is it that he sounds kind of low class, or does it sound like he's not that fluent because he mostly speaks in english now and has maybe forgotten some french?

We French Canadians tend not to speak well, unfortunately, but in the case of GSP that is compounded by his humble beginnings, weird voice and being naturally a bit awkward IMO.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

Russia isn't as culturally homogenous as the US. Overall, people care less about PC stuff, and they care even less in Dagestan and the rest of the Caucuses than they would in Moscow or Peter.

Khabib has basically four different cultures that he has to juggle his appeal towards: (1) Western culture, like the USA and Europe; (2) Russian culture, where he is famous but also somewhat of an outsider who is accepted begrudgingly more for his success than anything (3) Dagestani culture from his homeland, where he is like Michael Jordan but 10x; (4) Broader Islamic / Arab culture, where he is now one of the absolute biggest and most beloved celebrities.

Things that could be offensive to groups 1 and 2 will not necessarily be perceived the same way by groups 3 and 4.

Excellent post. This should be a must read to anyone posting about Khabib. It would avoid all the "but but Khabib this and that".

 

[Booksmasher]

Southern accents are ridiculed in the USA, Germany, Italy/Sicily, and now the Netherlands?

Yes, by us from the big cities. Sounds little bit funny to me.

Bas Rutten has a clear southern accent.

Overeem talks best proper Dutch from all fighters I think

Stefan Struve talk proper Dutch, maybe slight working class accent

Mousasi talks ok Dutch in a kinda lazy way and with an immigrant accent

Badr Hari has a heavy Amsterdam immigrant street accent

Rico Verhoeven has proper Dutch, with a slight southern accent

Remy Bonjaski has proper Dutch with a slight Amsterdam accent

Tyrone Spong has a Surinam accent

Rozenstruik has a Surinam accent

Gokhan Saki speaks proper Dutch, no heavy accents

Peter Aerts has the same southern accent as Bas Rutten but he really sounds low IQ because of head trauma I think

 

[Kaiserjuan]

I am French but I have been learning and speaking english for like 25 years now. I was told once by a friend of my brother, from London to "quit that birmigham accent". I had a boyfriend from birmingham at the time, but when I told him that he said I had never had a brummie accent, go figure.

Boyfriend? You're either gay or the ONLY woman on sherdog, which makes you the Sherqueen!

Well maybe your bf didn't notice bc he had a brummie accent himself. Like when I speak to British or American people that don't know about my Irish descent, they go "woo, wait ..why do you have an Irish accent? That's strange". Irish people don't really notice instead (maybe bc they're so used to it)

 

[Willie]

Boyfriend? You're either gay or the ONLY woman on sherdog, which makes you the Sherqueen!

Well maybe your bf didn't notice bc he had a brummie accent himself. Like when I speak to British or American people that don't know about my Irish descent, they go "woo, wait ..why do you have an Irish accent? That's strange". Irish people don't really notice instead (maybe bc they're so used to it)

Well since I am not gay, there is only one other option

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

Swiss French accent is slower than regular French, Swiss accent sounds dumb. Belgian accent is harder to describe, harsher on vowels and the ending of words. It's instantly recognisable, for a french anyway. But unlike Swiss French it doesnt sound dumb or anything like that.

There are many variations of Swiss French. I know people from Geneva that sound just standard French. I have met some people from other regions that spoke really slow and weird.
I have also heard some Swiss acccents that sounded like Québécois to me.

 

[Iroh]

Interesting, the north/south difference makes some sense geographically. Nordic European countries have a soft G and then the Germans have a hard G

Nah, the German G is totally different and how would a hard G in the notth make sense geographically with Nordic coubtries if they don't have it?

 

[King.]

That doesn’t make sense. The south of the Netherlands borders Germany.

It doesn't. It borders Belgium.

 

[King.]

Yeah, exactly, south Netherlands has the hard G like German, northern Netherlands has soft G like northern Europe

Wrong. Other way around.