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In the office here in Germany, everyone is telling others of a simple German phrase - which native German speakers can't understand! (see this Reddit)

Mähen Äbte Heu? Äbte mähen nie Heu, Mägde mähen Heu. Äbte beten.

Translation: Do abbots mow hay? Abbots never mow hay, maids mow hay. Abbots pray

Very simple words, which should be known to all; nothing tricky.

An English speaker would hear it as

Men ebte hoy? Ebte men knee hoy, megde men hoy. Ebte baiten.

Not very meaningful, perhaps, but no tricky sounds.

There is something about the repeated ä (like e in bed) which causes the German brain to blink, think "does not compute" and ask "what language is that" (100% of people whom I have observed hearing it for the first time have asked what language it is).

Finally, my question: is there something similar in English?

Nothing using dialect or obscure words (I'm looking at you, buffalo), nor tricky repeated words or phrases, etc.

Just some short, simple, common English words, which cause the native English speaker on hearing them to ask "what language is that?".

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There's a triple of English sentences that are supposed to be difficult for native speakers to understand on first hearing:

In mud, eels are; in clay, none is.
In pine, tar is; in oak, none is.
Mares eat oats and does eat oats.

The 1940s pop tune "Mairzy Doats" has made the last one familiar. The title of the song gives a clue to the phonic difficulty, but the sentences also rely on an unexpected word order as well.

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My apologies if this does not constitute an answer but given that I've spent a good deal of time thinking on it, I believe the answer is no.

There are plenty of words and phrases in English that fit such a bill. The issue in hand is that you stated that they should be 'common' words.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Most_common_words_in_English

The most common words in English as used so frequently that they make up a key, integral part of the English Language. English is a language, like many European languages that is derived from different languages such as more recent influences from French: an example being things like names for meat. Go further back and you find roots in Nordic languages and Latin as one might expect.

In conclusion, they exist but they are the uncommon words and phrases of English or the deliberately superfluous.

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  • Let me rephrase it then and say that they should words known to John Q Public, the average man on the street; nothing as esoteric as ... well, "esoteric". The point of the question is to ask if there is a combination of sounds that doesn't sounds like English, although it ought to be easily intelligible when heard and when seen in writing the obvious reaction is "oh! That's what you meant!".
    – Mawg
    Commented Oct 16, 2015 at 8:04

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