Thomaskim Groupie Joined 7268 days ago 84 posts - 85 votes
| Message 17 of 297 18 March 2005 at 2:36pm | IP Logged |
For Italian language lovers - or for those who are curious to know what Italian sounds like at its best - I would recommend listening to (arguably) one of the greatest Italian singers alive: Mina
She's been recording since the '60s and she also sings in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish.
Her latest album is Bula Bula
you can check out her website at
www.minamazzini.com
there's a sample of her unique voice as soon as you log on :) Even Barbra Streisand has sung her praises in an interview
1 person has voted this message useful
|
KingM Triglot Senior Member michaelwallaceauthor Joined 7190 days ago 275 posts - 300 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Russian
| Message 18 of 297 18 March 2005 at 6:24pm | IP Logged |
I think they're all nice. I thought Thai was grating when I first arrived in Thailand, but it only took about 48 hours for it to sound charming to my ears.
I love the sound of Italian as well, but also French. Also, I love the sound of Spanish. I'm a bit biased, since I speak it well, but a good, clean accent, spoken clearly is something I love to listen to. If ears were tongues, Italian is cream, French is melted cheese, and Spanish is butter.
2 persons have voted this message useful
|
zack Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 7208 days ago 122 posts - 127 votes Speaks: German*, English, Spanish, French Studies: Mandarin
| Message 19 of 297 18 March 2005 at 6:39pm | IP Logged |
Definitely Italian! And thankfully for the language-learner it not only sounds great but is also easy to pronounce (though that probably depends on one's `host'-language).
Mostly, I feel that languages have a tendency to grow on me. When I first heard Cantonese and Catalan they sounded almost vulgar to me, and Swedish rather unappealing. But after listening to them more and paying more attention to their sound-patterns, I came to like the sound of them.
Edited by zack on 19 March 2005 at 3:18pm
1 person has voted this message useful
|
Malcolm Triglot Retired Moderator Senior Member Korea, South Joined 7314 days ago 500 posts - 515 votes 5 sounds Speaks: English*, Spanish, Korean Studies: Mandarin, Japanese, Latin
| Message 20 of 297 18 March 2005 at 8:31pm | IP Logged |
zack wrote:
Mostly, I feel that languages have a tendency to grow on me. When I first heard Cantonese, Catalan they sounded almost vulgar to me, and Swedish rather unappealing. But after listening to them more and paying more attention to their sound-patterns, I came to like the sound of them. |
|
|
For me, Cantonese, while probably not the most beautiful language, is the most enjoyable language to imitate. I love listening to Cantonese news broadcasts, movies, and commercials just to repeat the sounds after the speakers. I especially like imitating the sounds that have no equivalents in English, such as the vowels in "leung" (two) and "huei" (to go), and the ch and j consonants which are articulated with the tongue in a more forward position.
1 person has voted this message useful
|
hokusai77 Triglot Senior Member Italy Joined 7151 days ago 212 posts - 217 votes 1 sounds Speaks: Italian*, FrenchB1, EnglishC1 Studies: GermanB1, Japanese
| Message 21 of 297 01 May 2005 at 3:15pm | IP Logged |
I like every language, really! No-one sounds awkward or irritating. The ones I like the best are of course the ones I'm focusing on: English (especially British "BBC" English), French and Japanese.
I love German and Russian sounds, too.
Mandarin Chinese and Korean also sound very interesting, as well as Spanish, Portuguese (especially Brazilian P.) and Arabic.
And I adore Italian (but I can't be objective, since it's my mother tongue!).
Edited by hokusai77 on 01 May 2005 at 3:15pm
1 person has voted this message useful
|
Jose.pm Newbie Joined 7162 days ago 12 posts - 13 votes
| Message 22 of 297 03 May 2005 at 6:01am | IP Logged |
For me, the most beautiful language is Filipino. I have heard it sometimes and it sounds exotic and beautiful; besides, it has got some Spanish loanwords that remind me of my own language.
In general, I like languages with few sounds, and whose syllables are mostly open (end in vowel), like Italian. In that sense, I think that Polynesian languages like Tahitian or Hawaiian must sound wonderfully, as these have very few phonemes (although I have never listened to them).
Therefore, I like less languages with a lot of sounds and consonant clusters (German, Russian). Anyway, every language has got its characteristic sound, some of them are very easy to recognize (Arabic, Japanese).
Even a same language can sound very differently; for example, I prefer the sound of American English, and, as for Spanish, the variety that is spoken in Colombia sounds to me much nicer than the one we have here in Spain. But that depends on your preferences!
2 persons have voted this message useful
|
crylant Groupie United States cjrylantwealthmanage Joined 7196 days ago 85 posts - 85 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish
| Message 23 of 297 03 May 2005 at 10:46am | IP Logged |
My vote is a female voice speaking French. Very sexy.
1 person has voted this message useful
|
patlajan Triglot Groupie United States Joined 7148 days ago 59 posts - 65 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Turkish Studies: German, Mandarin, French
| Message 24 of 297 03 May 2005 at 12:30pm | IP Logged |
My vote would be Italian.
German friends have reported to me that English sounds to them like -rur-rur-rur.
2 persons have voted this message useful
|