you should look up afro asiatic languages, eg. is the shanga people in africa from whom mandarin originated, first dynasty in china is the shang dynasty if am not wrong
Singaporean English lacks the tense/lax vowels and a lot of diphthongs are also merged into monothongs So like "this is me before my shift" becomes "tees ees mee beefoo maaii sheef" 1)The sharp tense "i" sounds become a lax but long "eee" 2) dental th sound becomes t 3) "my" becomes "ma-i" 4) consonant clusters (ft) breaks into just the fricative (f) 5) non-rhotic (r not pronounced in "before") 6) constant stress, also due to the lack of tense/lax vowel differentiation (tEEs EEs mEE bEEfOO mAAi shEEf) ------------ It's interesting because it's very clearly influenced by hokkien. Hokkien does not have rhoiticity (r sound) unlike mandarin, lacks retroflex sounds (cha zha ra) which tamil and mandarin have, vowels are not tense/lax differentiated so no stress either, but instead it's all tones - which is why we have a slight singsong sound, especially with the lah leh particles Another thing if you note, all the ch8 veterans, if they come over to Ch5 to act, listen out for the "forced rhoiticity" - growing up without saying the "r" trill/tap, what happens is that these performers tend to overcompensate, so you hear something like "is it this color" being said like "ees eet tees kóloRw" It's something you can notice in Singaporean Chinese, but not mainland Chinese or Singaporean malay/tamil speakers So ye.
I AM NIGERIAN. THE SINGAPOREAN ACCENT DOES SOUND LIKE THE NIGERIAN ACCENT A BIT . HOWEVER , IT DOES NOT AS WELL. THIS IS BECAUSE YOU SPEAK FASTER THAN US, ANOUNCIATE A BIT LESS AND PITCH IS HIGHER. NOT TO MENTION AT FIRST IT DOES, BUT GRADUALLY IF YOU LISTEN MORE THEN YOU NOICE THSE DIFFERERNCES
People aren’t saying that they’re 100% carbon copies. We’re just amazed that 2 countries thousands of miles apart sound slightly SIMILAR. It’s a bit like how people say Jamaican and Irish accents sound alike aswell. There’s only so many accents to go round you’re bound to find some that sound alike
@@cvpiguy I’ve seen people who struggle with vision or not have English as a first language type like this. Their tone/wording doesn’t sound angry though
As a non-Singaporean and non-Nigerian: the singsong cadence is similar when Nigerian English is spoken fast. The way Nigerian and Singaporean English also remove copulas and speak in "shortcut" sentences is similar. Other than that, they don't sound the same.
I'm Malaysian and our accents (Malaysian and Singaporean) are pretty much the same. I was just telling my husband that the Nigerian accent reminds me of ours. I wouldn't say they're the same but I can definitely hear the sing-songness.
The jollof thing is a joke and that guy is not Nigerian.. also, you can't learn the Nigerian accent from Hollywood. They don't speak Nigerian, they speak wakandan.
I recently met someone from Zambia who said that our accents are similar, may be due to being former British colonies. Non-english forced to learn English, this is kinda what you get
It’s not just the British colonies. Many other African countries also have that similar accent/manner of speaking. It’s really a combination of the use of bastardised English (pidgin in Africa, singlish in Singpaore), and the pre-existing speaking characteristics
@@user-lk4jd5yc8ddk if I’m misunderstanding your comment but it sounds like pretty much what OP said but just in more detail/added context…? I’m still gathering that British influence played a part. English came from them so pidgin and singlish is a variation of mixing their home language with English, yeah? It seems like you’re just saying what they said lol
There's a lot of former British colonies in the world, so that's not the reason. As a Nigerian, I can tell you the sing songy rhythm is due to our indigenous languages being tonal. Sub-Saharan African languages are notoriously tonal, and the same is true for most Asian languages as well. I believe that's why the accents sound similar. The influence of tonal languages.
There's a Nigerian youtuber that I watch (he does movie reactions) and there have been many times where I thought I heard a Singaporean accent. I think when they're alike, they're very close but at the same time different enough.
African and Asian languages differ from most languages in the world in that they are tonal. We “sing” when we speak, or else it could change the meaning of our words. As a result, the way we speak English is influenced by the tonal features of our indigenous languages. Singaporeans and Nigerians just happen to have similar tonal cadences, hence the similarities. Language is funny, isnt it?
So apparently Nigeria has a lot of accents - since they’re pretty diverse with many different tribes and languages. The one that Nigerians are probably referring to is the Calabar accent. You can RU-vid it. I didn’t hear it at first, but if you were to speed up a video (1.5x) of a female person from Calabar speaking - you will definitely hear it. It’s bizarre. Don’t compare males with males - no Singaporean male speak like these SG girls.
Nigeria has a lot of accents in the same way America has a lot of accents. Existence of regional variances doesn't change the fact that they all still fall under a distinct “Nigerian accent”. Cameroon and Benin are the only countries I'd say have an identical accent to Nigerian.
@soso694 OP didn't say otherwise. I think they were trying to be more specific so he wouldn't go around listening to igbo people speak and expecting it to sound exactly like Singaporeans
Dude you also have the accent, its not completely alike but there are similarities. I noticed it in 2018, my aunt was watching the video of a preacher on TV, he sounded SO Nigerian, I thought he was a Nigerian preacher just hearing the audio, then I saw he was an Asian man - his name is Joseph Prince.
Yes, both accents do similar. Even watching this video in it self is a testimony to that. About them sounding the same though, I disagree. Lastly, the guy who said the 1907, jollof thing is just a troll😭😭
Everybody talks about why the Nigerian accent sounds like the sgporean accent but no one talks about why the malaysian accent sounds like the sgporean accent
ok this is wildly interesting: as a sgrean visiting NYC, i was told my accent sounds like it's south african. so perhaps there might be similarities to other ears/listeners? (and i enunciate when i speak and don't conflate my long and short vowels!!!)
Can we get Sgs reacting to Nigeria accents? I think they are reacting to the additions of lah and aiya (which sounds more musical in Nigeria) which is similar from what I can tell they might not pick up on how much we slur and monotone our accent is?
''Aiyah'' is a Chinese expression. "Lah" is mostly Hokkien. So is ''leh", which is in Cantonese. The colloquial Chinese language attaches a lot of these codas at the end of their sentences.
Hey I'm a half malay and half Nigerian born and raised in Singapore here! At first I could not understand how people hear the accent to be similar as I grew up hearing both and can kinda differentiate, but now that this has been brought to my attention I can actually hear it! Of course there will be differences but I always wondered if my accent sounds weird to my Nigerian family and friends but they never actually commented on it much unless I use malay terms
If you don’t hear it, it is simply because you do not want to. Often, one’s desire to espouse cultural and ethnic uniqueness distorts what is objectively there! Students of linguistics understand stress timed languages, sibilants and consonant clusters. These components and others combine to create English speakers who inarguably sound quite similar. The same audio echoing (from an English perspective) can be heard in Russian & Portuguese, Irish brogues & Jamaican patois! In conclusion, Yeolo, you sound Nigerian
Ahh humanity in 2023. They are all so focused on their differences rather than their similarities. Don’t let the shade thrown in this video go over your head.
In the 1800s, there was a set of British twins who became missionaries. They each left for different parts of the world to teach English. Mystery solved. 😂
I was thinking about similarities for many years even before this. Your first line "the singaporean accent," and it's upwards inflection then going down, is typical. Of course, it's not going to be exactly the same and yes, Nigerian to me also sounds more "lyrical" and more articulated, but there are a lot of similarities you cannot deny.
Well, I am Nigerian and what I hear is a similarity to English speaking west African accent. The way they introduce themselves is same as Nigerians. Nigeria being the most populous of those countries makes it seem like the accents are similar, and they are. I think Singaporeans don’t get it because they aren’t familiar because they don’t know how typical Nigerians speak.
You sound do like a Nigerian that left the country at a very young age and jsyk you didn't use the right movie for your research. Loved your video btw even if you came off defensive
Actually there are many Nigerian accents. If you take a person from the north of Nigeria and a person from yorubaland or igboland the accents vary!!! So first of which Nigerian accent are you comparing? I think you sound somewhat like a Nigerian from the Eastern part of Nigeria but there are still some chinesseish intonations that give you away!
It's actually really not that different. We have regional variances just like any other country, but I can always pick out a Nigerian accent no matter which part of Nigeria the person is from. They have the same overall features. It's like saying there are many American accents. Yes, but there is a “general American accent ” that all regional variances fall under.
This is the pure example of how a simple and nonsensical video can turn into probably controversy, stealing culture and whatsoever. The way they made things out of nowhere.
when working for a call center as an agent responding to customer calls in canada, a Singaporean confused me for another Singaporean. I am Nigerian 😂. the accents are very similar
I watched a documentary about maids in Singapore like 5 years ago and I Yup, had to send it to several Friends. Those girls sound like Nigerian girls but you can tell that they aren't Nigerians. BTW you don't sound like a typical Sjngaporean, you're trying to hide your accent lol
Even Singlish has its differences: ah beng/ah lian English, auntie uncle English and genz/millennials. Who is to say some don't sound 'Singlish' enough when everyone in Singapore has varying levels of English exposure depending on their background. Though I must say, I really can't hear the similarities between the Nigerian and Singaporean accent.
Finally someone points it out! I don't think it is Nigerian specific but I told ppl I hear the similarities between the African and our accent. Some words Africans pronounce that sound like our 'broken English'/word-by-word kind of tone I noticed.
Jollof rice is tomato ketchup+curry powder fried rice. My nigerian friend i met while working in the US canteen for my masters taught me how to cook that.
Three things. Nigerians have even less inflections and more mono tone than Singaporeans. Secondly the Nigerian character in Ted Lasso is Nigerian but not the typical Nigerian. Thirdly the dude that was talking about jollof rice is NOT Nigerian at all! He might fool some people but he can't fool a Nigerian.
Nigerian accent is very unique. We don't sound like even fellow Africans. Imagine our excitement when we realized you pronounce many words like Nigerians do. You just need to listen to authentic Nigerian accents. We definitely sound alike😂.
I am an😊 overseas S'porean & I can assure you guys, we ,they don't sound like us & we don't sound like them at all!!! I had to learn a new language,,some of my classmates were Nigerians. We were told not to speak english..when asking questions..later the teacher told me that these people speak terrible english..IF 2 nigerians talk english you would'nt understand a crap shit about what is going on..Bottom line is we don't sound like them at all!!! I know!! I live amongst them..I am almost an expert on dialects & accents, living in Europe for 4 decades,.Whoever claim that we sound like them, GTF out of my face..embarassing to be compared with them.If we were to compare us & them..we have noble upbringings- they were abrogines from time beginning. Period. KNN!!
