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Funny-sounding languages | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Rafa v. 2.0 Diglot Newbie Poland Joined 5685 days ago 36 posts - 38 votes Speaks: Polish*, EnglishC2 Studies: French | Message 1 of 54 23 May 2009 at 7:51pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Do you find any languages inherently funny when you hear them?
For me, there are three: 1) Czech - every Polish native speaker would agree: Czech words are quite similar to the Polish ones (in fact they can be understood, especially in writing), but in a distorted, sometimes diminutive way, 2) German - this language sounds very serious and a bit stiff; so when it is heard in not that serious circumstances (a pop song, a TV sitcom, a romantic movie), it seems totally out of place for me (and pretty funny sometimes), 3) Spanish - this is more of a cultural reference; whenever I hear it, I recall the Monty Python sketch about a band of Spanish musicians playing an educational song about llamas... :) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| snovymgodom Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5727 days ago 136 posts - 149 votes  Speaks: English*, Russian | Message 2 of 54 23 May 2009 at 8:01pm | IP Logged | |||||
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When certain people pronounce the 3ayn in Arabic I can't stop laughing.
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| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5840 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 3 of 54 23 May 2009 at 8:07pm | IP Logged | |||||
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For a Swedish person it's a given:
Norwegian! I don't know how anyone can be depressed living there becuase the pronounciatio is so cheerful and some of the words are delightful... Finnish! Funny but cool! I am only able to recognise random words that I happen to know. Usually I have NO idea what they are talking about. Video about famous Finnish swear word "Perkele" Edited by cordelia0507 on 23 May 2009 at 8:23pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Ashiro Groupie United Kingdom learnxlanguage.com/ Joined 5804 days ago 89 posts - 101 votes Studies: Spanish | Message 4 of 54 24 May 2009 at 12:04am | IP Logged | |||||
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German for the reasons you stated.
French makes me laugh ever since the quote off the Matrix film: "swearting in French is like wiping your arse with silk". Norwegians speaking English - there's something about the accent. Its very English-sounding but in a strange way. Hard to explain but. Dutch - reminds me of Goldmember from Austin Powers 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Dark_Sunshine Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5767 days ago 340 posts - 357 votes Speaks: English*, French | Message 5 of 54 24 May 2009 at 12:09am | IP Logged | |||||
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Ditto Norwegian.
I'm not so much amused as I am amazed by East Asian languages, such as Chinese because to me they sound as if they are almost 100% vowel sounds- I find it difficult to conceive how anyone can make a language out of them! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Rafa v. 2.0 Diglot Newbie Poland Joined 5685 days ago 36 posts - 38 votes Speaks: Polish*, EnglishC2 Studies: French | Message 6 of 54 24 May 2009 at 12:31am | IP Logged | |||||
Well, I've been always amazed by the fact that the French managed to create such a wonderful culture and become a world superpower while using their language. I've got an example: the concept of being upstairs is conveyed in French by the words "en haut". /ɑ̃/ /ʔo/ !!! Seriously, WTF? There are no consonants there! In Polish, it is "na górze", in English: "upstairs", in German: "nach oben" (at least my Firefox translation extension says so, perhaps they have another expression). Also, when I started learning French I couldn't believe their plural number system. Those "-s" endings were not pronounced at all! Now I know (more or less) how it works, but still the very idea is terrible. In further news, I've found the llamas video. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbwkkXGmFrI 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6274 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French | Message 7 of 54 24 May 2009 at 1:04am | IP Logged | |||||
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They're just a matter of getting used to. Perhaps you sound funny to them.
I remember once talking in Turkish to people some years ago, then leaving the room. I was not quite out of earshot when I heard one of the people I had spoken to do an impersonation of my accent, and the others laughed. I think finding people's languages, or the way they speak, funny, can be hurtful and may open the way to xenophobia. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Rafa v. 2.0 Diglot Newbie Poland Joined 5685 days ago 36 posts - 38 votes Speaks: Polish*, EnglishC2 Studies: French | Message 8 of 54 24 May 2009 at 1:18am | IP Logged | |||||
Certainly, I'm pretty sure I do sound funny (probably even more when I attempt to speak English). And I guess the Polish language is funny for native speakers of some languages. There's nothing wrong about it.
Sorry mate, can't help it. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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