"You don't sound X"

[Přemysl]

How is "You don't sound [insert nationality/dialect]." rendered in other languages? It seems like it would be rather idiomatic. I wouldn't think many languages would use a similar structure.

[Yiuel Raumbesrairc]

How is "You don't sound [insert nationality/dialect]." rendered in other languages? It seems like it would be rather idiomatic. I wouldn't think many languages would use a similar structure.

French : Tu ne sonnes pas (speaker of language X).

[finlay]

I thought you were going to vent about this. I get this all the fucking time.

[tubragg]

Swedish: Du låter inte [insert nationality/dialect].
"You sound not [insert nationality/dialect]."

[----]

Vietnamese would have this construction as:
Bạn không âm thanh [whatever]
2S NEG sound ...

This verb only applies to people speaking in a characteristic manner; you have to use nghe có vẻ if you wanted to say, for instance, "This bridge sounds unstable (as if it was creaking)"

[treskro]

你聽起來不像[nationality].
You don't sound like [nationality].

[linguoboy]

There might be a more idiomatic way to say it in German, but "Du klingst nicht wie ein X" works.

[Cathbad]

Slovene:

zveniš kot...
sound.IMPERF.2.SING as

But zveneti is kind of a weird verb, since it doesn't have quite the same implications as "to sound" in English - it's a bit more naturally used for sounds as such, and only barely covers e.g. opinions. Also, it sounds slightly formal / non-colloquial to me. [Tidbit: you would probably use the verb "to seem" to render "sounds" in the previous sentence were you translating it into Slovene.] But the only alternative in this case is to use the reflexive of "to hear":

sliši se, kot da bi
lit. "it hears itself as if... would be..."

That would probably be preferred if you were talking about a third person's voice / opinions / whatever.

[Magb]

Norwegian:
Du høres ikke [X] ut
du hør-e-s ikke [X] ut
2SG hear-PRES-PASS NEG [X] out
Lit. "You aren't heard [X] out".

I know the "out" at the end is found in many similar constructions in other Germanic languages, but I've always found it to be very odd.

Du låter/lyder ikke [X] ("You don't sound [X]") can also be used.

[Ser]

In Spanish you can perfectly translate it as:

No suenas X.
You don't sound X.

But actually, I think it may be more idiomatic to say:

No hablas como X.
You don't speak like [an] X.

E.g. "no hablas como mexicano" 'You don't sound Mexican'.

[MisterBernie]

There might be a more idiomatic way to say it in German, but "Du klingst nicht wie ein X" works.

There's also "Du hörst dich nicht [wie ein X]/[nach einem X] an".

[Jipí]

There might be a more idiomatic way to say it in German, but "Du klingst nicht wie ein X" works.

I'd say it that way, too. Though I'd rather use sich anhören than klingen probably (both mean 'sound'), so "Du hörst dich nicht an wie ein X" (2S.NOM hear-2S 2S.ACC not at like INDEF.NOM.SG.M X).

EDIT: Ninja'd. Badly.
* Guitarplayer loses an internet.

EDIT II: How does one gloss prepositions split off from verbs?

[Skomakar'n]

I wouldn't think many languages would use a similar structure.

Outside of IE, I have no idea, but I have indeed gotten the impression that the bulk of IE languages do form it this way, and the above messages so far are good proof of that.

In Icelandic, the word is hljóma, and sound is hljóð, so there is most likely a relation between those. In Faroese, it's ljóða which is indeed literally 'to sound'.

[Mr. Z]

The non-IE Hebrew uses a similar structure.
אתה לא נשמע X
ata lo nishma X
2S NEG heard X

נשמע is a verb from the root sh-m-', hearing; it can be literally translated as "heard", but is used much like the English verb "sound" (except for the usage in "sound the alarm", for example, for which Hebrew would use a causative verb instead).

There's an alternate way. With the above structure, you could say:
אתה לא נשמע בריטי
You don't sound British

Or one could say:
אתה לא נשמע כמו בריטי
You don't sound like a British (person).

The first one indicates that you don't have a British accent, while the second indicates you don't speak like a British person would.

[Ulrike Meinhof]

Swedish: Du låter inte [insert nationality/dialect].
"You sound not [insert nationality/dialect]."

Keeping in mind that the [thing] has to be an adjective for that construction to work.

Another option is "Du/det låter inte som du kommer från X" ('You/it don't sound like you're from X'), which of course is fine in English too.

[linguoboy]

The non-IE Hebrew uses a similar structure.

Modern Israeli Hebrew is an IE language with Semitic vocabulary.

[Skomakar'n]

Swedish: Du låter inte [insert nationality/dialect].
"You sound not [insert nationality/dialect]."

Keeping in mind that the [thing] has to be an adjective for that construction to work.

Another option is "Du/det låter inte som du kommer från X" ('You/it don't sound like you're from X'), which of course is fine in English too.

Or "som en" + nationality as a noun. :3

[MisterBernie]

Another option is "Du/det låter inte som du kommer från X" ('You/it don't sound like you're from X'), which of course is fine in English too.

"Du klingst (gar) nicht so/du hörst dich (gar) nicht so an, als ob du aus X kommst/kämst/kommen würdest" is fine in German, as well.

As is the construction "Man hört (gar) nicht, dass du aus X kommst/dass du X bist" ("one doesn't hear that you're from X").

gar would probably not be recommended in written language, but I find it rather unidiomatic without it in spoken language. Oh modal particles, how do I love ye...

[Jipí]

Also kinda interesting:

Man hört es dir gar nicht an, dass du aus X kommst/X bist.
3S.INDEF.NOM hear-3S 3S.ACC 2S.DAT very not at, that 2S.NOM out X come-2S/X be.2S.
'One can't hear (indeed) that you're from X/are X.'

[Mr. Z]

The non-IE Hebrew uses a similar structure.

Modern Israeli Hebrew is an IE language with Semitic vocabulary.

Alright, sorry. Though that is controversial AFAIK, and you don't know it wasn't like that in Biblical Hebrew. Anyway, it's still a contribution to this thread.

[Yng]

The non-IE Hebrew uses a similar structure.

Modern Israeli Hebrew is an IE language with Semitic vocabulary.

Alright, sorry. Though that is controversial AFAIK, and you don't know it wasn't like that in Biblical Hebrew. Anyway, it's still a contribution to this thread.

I'm not sure Linguoboy was being 100% serious.

Welsh could go with dwyt ti'm yn swnio'n... 'you don't sound...' or alternatively 'sdim sŵn... arnat ti 'there's no... sound on you'.

[Izambri]

Catalan

No sones (pas) com un parlant de [llengua] or No sones (pas) com un [llengua]parlant or No sones (pas) com un [nacionalitat/etnicitat] "You don't sound like a speaker of [language] / [language-ADJ]speaker / [nationality/ethnicity]": No sones pas com un francès... Les teves erres són suportables, fins i tot maques. "You don't sound like a French... I can stand your Rs; they're even beautiful."

No sembles (pas) [nacionalitat/etnicitat] "You don't seem [nationality/ethnicity]": Ah, doncs no sembles pas danès. Tens un accent català molt bo! "Ah, but you don't seem Danish. You have a very good Catalan accent!"

[cybrxkhan]

In Vietnamese I think we'd say something like "You don't listen/hear like [person of ethnicity]", although a non-literal translation might be "I don't hear you as a [oerson of ethnicity]."

We could also say something like "You don't speak like [person of ethnicity]"

[----]

In Vietnamese I think we'd say something like "You don't listen/hear like [person of ethnicity]", although a non-literal translation might be "I don't hear you as a [oerson of ethnicity]."

We could also say something like "You don't speak like [person of ethnicity]"

I believe I posted some Vietnamese translations in this thread already, from your literal translation they must be right

In Czech I believe this phrase would be:

Nemluvíš jako [person of ethnicity]
"You don't speak like a ____"

[cybrxkhan]

In Vietnamese I think we'd say something like "You don't listen/hear like [person of ethnicity]", although a non-literal translation might be "I don't hear you as a [oerson of ethnicity]."

We could also say something like "You don't speak like [person of ethnicity]"

I believe I posted some Vietnamese translations in this thread already, from your literal translation they must be right

Ah, whoops. Well, I haven't really heard anyone use the example you put up too much, but it sounds reasonable and makes sense.