Frequent Questions and Answers (FAQ)

(1) Does Reverse Speech occur in other languages?

Yes. Although much more work is yet to be done, we have found reversals in three other languages besides English. They are French, German and Spanish. An interesting observation, though, is the fact that the reversal will tend to be in the language that the person is thinking in at the time. In other words, a person whose native language is German but is speaking in English will tend to have reversals in German if they are still thinking in German and translating to English in their mind. If, however, they have become fluent in English and are thinking in English the reversals will tend to be in English. We have even found cases where a reversal will start off in one language and shift to another language in the middle of the reversal.

(2) If two people say the same sentence will the reversals be the same.

Not usually. Reversals are formed primarily by the sounds of speech and not by the words themselves. People rarely say the same sentence the same way each time, and each subtle variation will alter the reversed sounds. We have found people saying exactly the same sentence, yet each sentence having a totally different reversal. Conversly we have found exactly the same reversed sentence on totally different forward sentences. The thing to remember is that the reversals have very little to do with the letters and word. They are formed by the sounds of speech - thus it is common to find reversals in sighs and laughter and other nuances of speech.

Sometimes we have had success in trying to reduplicate a reversal by saying someone's sentence in exactly the same way it was said forwards to see if we could get the same reversal. Sometimes we can get close but the tonanltiy and "spirit" of the reversal is never the same. I can recall two amusing examples where we were trying to reduplicate the reversal "man will space walk" on Neil Armstrong. A new student, whose name was Ralph, found a reversal that said, "Ralph's flipped out." - And I was challengened to do it once at a public lecture and found a reversal that said, "This is a gamble."

More Questions and Answers