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Slavic languages’ sound | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Zaphkiel Triglot Newbie Czech Republic Joined 6210 days ago 6 posts - 8 votes Speaks: Czech*, EnglishC1, Japanese Studies: Mandarin, Polish | Message 33 of 38 18 October 2011 at 12:57pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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This seems to be a discussion based only on personal feelings, so it is not really
surprising for me that that people have completely different opinions concerning the beauty of sound of different Slavic languages. As for me, I'm a native speaker of Czech, therefore I probably shouldn't express my opinion about that one, but in general I have to say I like the sound of Slovak more. It sounds nicer for me because it has a rhythmic rule that's non-existent in Czech and it's overall softer. On the other hand I don't like the sound of Polish, I have a Polish girlfriend and I'm studying Polish at the time, but it just doesn't sound right to me. It's like to hear Czech spoken with a speech impediment. I don't want to offend anybody, but that was just my first feeling after hearing it. Anyway, I also like the sound of Slovenian, I find it very interesting. Serbo-Croatian isn't so nice, although I have to say it sounds very clear to me, probably because of a similar vowel system. I don't like the sound of Bulgarian. I have many Bulgarian friends and they're very nice, so it's really just about the language. It sounds a bit like kicking a sack of potatoes down the stairs. As for Eastern Slavic languages in general, I have a neutral feeling about them, they're not the most beautiful but also not the ugliest sounding. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5060 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes  Speaks: Russian* | Message 34 of 38 18 October 2011 at 6:30pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Polish is rich in sibilants, Czech has very many syllabic consonants, Serbian really
resembles Italian, Ukrainian sounds funny of course. Russian is certainly the softest Slavic language. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6276 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French | Message 35 of 38 21 November 2011 at 12:17pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Czech reminds me of Polish, but pronounced in a more staccato manner.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| kubaz Tetraglot Newbie Czech Republic kubaz.cz/ Joined 4749 days ago 2 posts - 2 votes Speaks: Czech*, Slovak, EnglishC2, German Studies: Russian, French, Polish, Dutch, Japanese, Italian | Message 36 of 38 30 November 2011 at 10:30pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I am a native Czech speaker (and so I am naturally acquainted with Slovak as well), and
I learn Polish and Russian. I must say that, from these four languages, Czech is my least favorite one. Its sound is really unnatural for the Slavic family of languages; it's hard and monotonous. On the other hand, it is also very articulate, so I think it should be one of the easiest Slavic languages to understand aurally (if the speaker articulates well, for example a TV reporter). Nevertheless, its grammar is perhaps the 'strangest' of the four languages, so I believe learning it is not really worth it, unless you plan to come to the Czech Republic (it is not only one of the ugliest and most complicated Slavic languages, but also has much fewer speakers than Polish or Russian). I do quite understand why Polish sounds "wrong" to many Czechs, but I think they just cannot stop filtering it through their "Czech ears". If you try to perceive Polish as a language in its own right, I think you should find it (aurally) more pleasant than Czech. The most appealing language of the four mentioned for me is Slovak. Its rhythm, softness and intonation are very pleasant; they've got just the right proportions---not too much (as in Russian), yet not too little (as in Czech). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5060 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian* | Message 37 of 38 01 December 2011 at 8:17am | IP Logged | ||||||||
What is too much in Russian: too much softness or too much intonation. As far as I know , the main problem with Czech is the difference between the oral and the written language. Syllabic Rs and Ls are heard very well in Czech. Russian spoken with Czech accent seems very beautiful to me. Russian is probably not very pleasant to a Slavic ear because of vowel reduction. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| kubaz Tetraglot Newbie Czech Republic kubaz.cz/ Joined 4749 days ago 2 posts - 2 votes Speaks: Czech*, Slovak, EnglishC2, German Studies: Russian, French, Polish, Dutch, Japanese, Italian | Message 38 of 38 01 December 2011 at 3:36pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Russian sounds somewhat cute thanks to its softness, but in connection with the irregular stress position and the 'familiar' intonation (when Russians speak, it sounds 'friendly' but 'urgent', like "what I tell you is very important, although it doesn't really matter"), it sounds a little 'drunk'. Nevertheless, Russian would be probably my second favorite after Slovak, it somehow encapsulates the Russian nature---sometimes drinking too much, but as a whole a very tough and strong nation. I think that language also influences music produced by people speaking that language and I must say that I love Russian music. The Russian national anthem is, in my opinion, the most beautiful anthem there is, although I like the text of the Soviet one better (the "Partiya Lenina" one, not the "Nas vyirastil Stalin" one), because I find it stronger (so I almost want to arise and become a Russian).
If you mean the difference between the standard and the colloquial forms of Czech, then yes, such a huge gap is quite unusual for Slavic languages, and it is one of the reasons why learning Czech might be slightly harder than learning other Slavic languages.
I, personally, have absolutely no problem with that (probably because I am used to hear quite a lot of English and German). 1 person has voted this message useful |
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