While I was waiting in line to get my blood drawn for my annual physical Tuesday, I noticed a poster about the right to a good faith estimate for non-insured patients. It was in both English and Spanish. In some paragraphs the Spanish took more syllables:
In other paragraphs the two languages were about the same.
I’ve read that people tend to speak faster in languages like Spanish that use more syllables to express the same ideas, so I’ve been looking to see if that’s true. Apparently the idea is the human brain can process only so much information at a time so languages that are more complex, that have a greater “information density”, are spoken more slowly than ones with less density. It’s fun to think about.
September 9, 2023
interesting
we on the whole speak fast here in New Zealand – apparently it sounds like there is no gaps between each word – so it’s hard for others to understand us.
Maybe it has something to with:
how fast paced certain parts of ones life unfolds = time
or how we were bought up as children = history of our lives
or something quite different = unknown
French was that way too. One of the biggest challenges in listening was to figure out where one word ended and the other began.
That’s interesting!
… and now I’m wondering if that also applies to those (English AND Spanish) living in the Deep South who tend to speak more slowly.
I’ve been thinking about that too. 🙂
That kind of makes sense when you think that English is one of the most complex languages.
The grammar isn’t that complex, I think, but the spelling is murder.
I don’t know about speaking faster in Spanish, but I know that my 2 coworkers that speak it, speak louder when they do.
Thanks for the info!
That’s interesting.
🙂
we have watched several movies, that were in Spanish speaking, with English subtitles. I noticed that the words on the screen were short and to the point but the talking was fast and longer. I also noticed the woman in the movie talked with her face and body, her motions spoke without even needed the subtitles. she was spouting fast and furious and loud, but I was reading her without understanding. they do talk louder and also seem to be happier than English speakers.. I was on a call with Asian young man, and he said, Please could you talk a little slower? I am southern drawl to the bone, which means he meant he could not understand me. I was struggling to understand him, but we made it through the conversation, with several repeats. more than several ha ha
That’s interesting about the Asian fellow. I usually have to ask non-English speakers to please slow down and enunciate.