Ever wondered why some languages sound like they're spoken much faster than others? Yet, in dubbed movies the words seemingly fit the actors' mouth movement. That's what researchers at Universite de Lyon wanted to explain when they set out to research one phenomenon: the speed of language. This infographics shows how they did it, and what they found.

1. Every
volunteer
recorded
the following
phrase
in his or
her
language:
Every
volunteer
recorded
the following
phrase
in his or
her
language:
LANGUAGE
the speed of
Ever wondered why some languages sound like they’re spoken much faster than others?
Japanese sounds faster than German, Spanish certainly sounds faster than English.
Yet, if you watch a dubbed foreign movie, the translated dialogue matches with the original
exactly—even seemingly to the actors’ mouth movement.
WHEN THEY SET OUT TO COMPLETE A STUDY ON
THE SPEED OF LANGUAGE.
WHAT’S UP WITH THAT?
were wondering,
That’s pretty much what three
researchers at
UNIVERSITE
DELYON
They gathered up
with an overall duration of:
volunteers
recordings
Each of whom
spoke one of
And made
languages:
29
WOMEN
30
MEN
150
MINUTES
E N G L I S H
F R E N C H
G E R M A N
I T A L I A N
JAPANESE
MANDARIN
S PA N I S H
The researchers counted all the syllables in
each of the recordings and analyzed how
much meaning each syllable conveyed—
called the "density" of a syllable, and,
it turns out:
that i wandered down
the garden for a breath
of fresh air.
Last night I opened
the front door to let
the cat out.
ITWASSUCHABEAUTIFULEVENING
while i was trying to force
the door open!
THEN I HEARD A CLICK AS THE DOOR CLOSED BEHIND ME.
I REALIZED I’D LOCKED MYSELF OUT.
TOCAPITALL,IWASARRESTED
WHAT DID THEY FIND?
SO
You can compare the speed of the languages:
is indeed faster than
7.82syllables/sec
SPANISH
6.19syllables/sec
ENGLISH
5.18syllables/sec
CHINESE take it easy...The
“outspeak” us all.
7.84syllables/sec
JAPANESEWhile the
take a look at their
information density*
*Vietnamese is set as the base density of 1.
and it turns out...
0.63
SPANISH
0.91
ENGLISH
0.94
CHINESE
0.49
JAPANESE
(least dense)
(most dense)
AND MORE DENSE LANGUAGES
SOUND
L E S S D E N S E
L A N G U A G E S
S O U N D
IN
OTHER
WORDS
we may speak languages
that sound vastly different,
BUT IN THE END
we’re all saying the same thing.
Source: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2091477,00.html