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Most Enjoyable Language

 Language Learning Forum : General discussion Post Reply
60 messages over 8 pages: 1 2 3 46 7 8 Next >>
Journeyer
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
tristan85.blogspot.c
Joined 6872 days ago

946 posts - 1110 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, German
Studies: Sign Language

 
 Message 33 of 60
29 January 2011 at 3:02am | IP Logged 
The name of a language can affect how I see its color, too, but not always. Norwegian is a bright red, whereas Danish is blue and Swedish is yellow. I suspect this is because of the R in Norwegian. Arabic also is quite bright red for the same reason, but not in the same way was Norwegian. (In fact, each language looks subtly different, even if its dominant color is the same as another one.)

However, German has an R in its English name, yet it is still quite a dark-toned language. And I don't think Finnish's name affects the way I perceive it as beautifully deep and clear blue - one of the only languages I can think of that is almost completely one color.
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ellasevia
Super Polyglot
Winner TAC 2011
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 6146 days ago

2150 posts - 3229 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, Croatian, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian
Studies: Catalan, Persian, Mandarin, Japanese, Romanian, Ukrainian

 
 Message 34 of 60
29 January 2011 at 3:57am | IP Logged 
paranday wrote:
I was going by the sounds of the languages, not their names. No wonder !

I go by a combination of the name, sound, and how it looks when written. In the case of Luxembourgish and Xhosa, it's just based on the names because I have never heard them and haven't seen them written very much, if at all.
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zekecoma
Senior Member
United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5348 days ago

561 posts - 655 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Spanish

 
 Message 35 of 60
29 January 2011 at 4:53am | IP Logged 
I would have to say I rather speak in German than in English. Yes English is my native
but just prefer German because I find it a beautiful language unlike any of the romantic
languages (I'm not hating).
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strikingstar
Bilingual Tetraglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5177 days ago

292 posts - 444 votes 
Speaks: English*, Mandarin*, Cantonese, Swahili
Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written)

 
 Message 36 of 60
29 January 2011 at 5:02am | IP Logged 
ellasevia wrote:
I go by a combination of the name, sound, and how it looks when written. In the case of Luxembourgish and Xhosa, it's just based on the names because I have never heard them and haven't seen them written very much, if at all.


If you would like to hear some Xhosa, try listening to Miriam Makeba's "Click Song". In this video, she also gives a demonstration of how to execute the click sounds. I thought it was amusing. Not to mention I don't think I'll be pronouncing Xhosa anytime soon.

Edited by strikingstar on 29 January 2011 at 5:03am

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ReneeMona
Diglot
Senior Member
Netherlands
Joined 5339 days ago

864 posts - 1274 votes 
Speaks: Dutch*, EnglishC2
Studies: French

 
 Message 37 of 60
29 January 2011 at 11:20am | IP Logged 
ellasevia wrote:
Does anyone else find certain combinations like these very pleasing, or am I going to have to resign myself to the fact that I'm just insane?


Not insane, just synaesthetic. ;-)
And you're right, some combinations of languages do look beautiful. I like your Korean, Swahili, Portuguese combo, but not with Malay because that would make it too yellow.

I like diverse combinations of dark and light colours, broad and narrow, sharp and soft, warm and cool, etc.

Arabic
Greek
Romanian

Italian
Vietnamese
Zulu

Czech
Indonesian
Italian

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Journeyer
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
tristan85.blogspot.c
Joined 6872 days ago

946 posts - 1110 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, German
Studies: Sign Language

 
 Message 38 of 60
29 January 2011 at 12:06pm | IP Logged 
Ellasevia's description is also accurate for me: name, sound and how it's written all influence its overall color and personality to me. However, I've never have thought of language groups exactly, just whole lists of languages I want to learn or don't want to learn. :-)
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Lucky Charms
Diglot
Senior Member
Japan
lapacifica.net
Joined 6953 days ago

752 posts - 1711 votes 
Speaks: English*, Japanese
Studies: German, Spanish

 
 Message 39 of 60
31 January 2011 at 4:27am | IP Logged 
As I'm not synesthetic, I hope Ari won't mind me stealing his template!

English, for me, is like milk. I drink it quite often without thinking about it. I used
to think it didn't really have a distinct taste (or I guess I never really considered
it at all), but lately I've become able to love and appreciate its flavor. As with
speaking English, I drink milk so often out of habit that I don't need to worry whether
my daily intake is enough, unlike others who have to consciously make sure they're
getting enough - in fact, I'm sure it would better for my health to go with other
drinks more often!

German, for me, is like vegetable juice. In a perfect world, it's what I should
be drinking, because it would be the most beneficial for me. It's not that I dislike
it, but that I'm rarely in the mood to choose it over other drinks. Once I take a sip
of it, though, I'm hooked on the taste, and resolve to start drinking it more
regularly... Sadly, it's a resolution I forget pretty quickly!

Japanese, for me, is like green tea (who saw that one coming?) At first, I wanted to
like the taste, but it was too bitter and different from any other tea I'd had before.
I had to force myself to drink it and trick myself into thinking I liked it more than I
did, partially out of gratitude to the hosts who prepared it for me (i.e. my Japanese
host family, teachers, friends, and all those who had given me their time and
encouragement so I could learn the language). I don't remember at what point I began to
actually enjoy the taste without taking pains, but one day I realized that I loved it
and was genuinely looking forward to my next cup. Finally, I settled into a phase where
it wasn't something exotic and delicious anymore; it was an effortless and habitual
part of my everyday life. The thought of a cup of green tea doesn't get me excited
anymore, but it feels comfortable, agreeable, and natural. I can't imagine my life
without it.

Persian, for me, is like an ice cream smoothie with fresh strawberries and
passionfruit: the guilty pleasure that I can trick myself into believing is healthy.
It's just exotic-sounding enough to lure me in, but the taste is nothing too
unfamiliar, albeit with a small kick. I can't decide whether it's good or bad for my
current diet to be drinking it every day, but in the meantime I keep making excuses
because I can't get enough.

Edited by Lucky Charms on 31 January 2011 at 4:37am

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zerothinking
Senior Member
Australia
Joined 6376 days ago

528 posts - 772 votes 
Speaks: English*

 
 Message 40 of 60
31 January 2011 at 5:43am | IP Logged 
For me it's still French. I love speaking it. I love hearing it. I love reading it. It
looks good, feels good, and sounds good.


2 persons have voted this message useful



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