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Why is Italian considered beatiful? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| ScottScheule Diglot Senior Member United States scheule.blogspot.com Joined 5232 days ago 645 posts - 1176 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Latin, Hungarian, Biblical Hebrew, Old English, Russian, Swedish, German, Italian, French | Message 17 of 35 18 February 2014 at 9:44pm | IP Logged | ||
True, but a lot of people DID like opera a long time ago, and maybe the current view of Italian is inherited from then. Regardless, is Italian really easier to sing in? Yes, the lack of consonant clusters make it easier to do certain things in Italian, but who says that's good singing? German produces a different kind of song, with its own aesthetic. When you sing German, you have to really enjoy the guttural sounds, the aspirated stops, make them loud and forceful. Now doing that would be terrible Italian singing--but it makes for fine German singing. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| jpmtl Diglot Groupie Canada Joined 4006 days ago 44 posts - 115 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Spanish, Russian | Message 18 of 35 18 February 2014 at 10:03pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think it's just a cliché that people repeat, and most of them probably have had next to zero exposure to the language.
I don't think I would ever use the word 'beautiful' to describe a language I don't know anyway. Sure some languages are more 'melodic' than others, and some have less harsher sounds, but when you don't understand, it's still just... a bunch of sounds that have no meaning? The first time I went to Italy, there was a guy on the plane sitting next to me speaking non-stop without taking a breath. After a while, it was just as irritating as it were Cantonese. 7 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Hungringo Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 3992 days ago 168 posts - 329 votes Speaks: Hungarian*, English, Spanish Studies: French | Message 19 of 35 18 February 2014 at 10:11pm | IP Logged | ||
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It is certainly partly a cliché, but there is more to it than that. Some languages - perhaps with some lingusitic and geographical limitations - are repeatedly considered more beautiful. For instance, I still have to meet someone who considers Dutch beautiful. (I quite like Afrikaans though.) Edited by Hungringo on 18 February 2014 at 10:49pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6601 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 20 of 35 18 February 2014 at 10:34pm | IP Logged | ||
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Well me for example :-) There were announcements in Dutch/Flemish when I took the Cologne-Paris express, and oh my, they were beautiful. Maybe to some extent it's due to a contrast with French, which I don't like, but when we were actually in Paris for about a week, I really just wanted to go to Amsterdam for a day and listen to this beautiful language.
The love is still there, though. It's like a softened version of German for me, maybe. And really we've had numerous threads about the most/least beautiful language and most languages got mentioned on both sides. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4711 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 21 of 35 18 February 2014 at 11:03pm | IP Logged | ||
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One thing: the Flemish pronunciation and the Amsterdam pronunciation are HUGELY
different. Most people consider Flemish the "rustic, beautiful" pronunciation. In the Netherlands consonants are often devoiced and pronounced more velar/uvular. Fun fact: I had an ex-girlfriend who had studied Dutch at school (but in Belgium), and if I wanted to speak Dutch to her, I had to modify my pronunciation to sound Flemish, or she would not understand. If I spoke my native Dutch, it was incomprehensible to her. Edited by tarvos on 18 February 2014 at 11:04pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Hekje Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4707 days ago 842 posts - 1330 votes Speaks: English*, Dutch Studies: French, Indonesian | Message 22 of 35 19 February 2014 at 12:01am | IP Logged | ||
*raises hand* 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| nicozerpa Triglot Senior Member Argentina Joined 4330 days ago 182 posts - 315 votes Speaks: Spanish*, Portuguese, English Studies: Italian, German | Message 23 of 35 19 February 2014 at 12:31am | IP Logged | ||
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Personally, I like the rythm and entonation of this language. Also, its double consonants
make their words softer than their counterparts in other romance languages. Another possible reason is that Italy is often considered the fashion capital of the world, and that affect the public perception of Italian. Many luxury brands come from Italy: Armani, Versace, Lamborghini, Ferrari... All that makes Italian language look more "stylish". I'd like to add another reason. I have Italian ancestors, just like a lot of people in the Atlantic coast of South America and the US. For that reason, I have a particular sense of "belonging" with this language, which definitely makes it even more beautiful. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4913 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 24 of 35 19 February 2014 at 5:28am | IP Logged | ||
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Two words: Sophia Loren.
If you need any more convincing, two more words: Gina Lollobrigida. Joking aside, part of the reputation for Italian comes from the fact that some very famous beautiful people spoke/speak it. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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