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Most beautiful language | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| gdoyle1990 Groupie United States Joined 5408 days ago 52 posts - 60 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Russian, Serbian, Estonian | Message 169 of 297 19 July 2009 at 5:39am | IP Logged | |||||
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Oh, it's just too hard to choose the ONE most beautiful language, but I think Icelandic, French, Turkish, Swedish, and Russian are all amazingly beautiful. If I had to choose just one, I would have to go with Icelandic, it's so mysterious. And if it's spoken just right, it sounds like a tape recorder playing in reverse. Its so whimsical and fun. Spoken Russian sounds so melodic and any language that has the consonant cluster "vzgl" is awesome in my book.
I think men speaking English with a Greek accent are insanely sexy. And English spoken with a Southern Welsh accent can sound refreshing and new, but it can also be horrifying. =P I am also partial to the Midland dialect of English, which I speak, and which is the closest to "standard" American English. I am even more proud of the fact that I speak Midland English because I live in a place where most people tend to speak with a thick Southern drawl. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Redbone Newbie United States Joined 6023 days ago 33 posts - 34 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 171 of 297 22 July 2009 at 7:40pm | IP Logged | |||||
I have watched broadcasts--mostly PBS kids shows--that may have segments in them with British children speaking. I have always found it very difficult to follow their accent! I was surprised by that. I do agree--they do sound mischievous! I don't think there are many recognizable AmE accents beyond some of the stronger ones. My native language and accent is SAmE--Southern American English. Southern English is supposed to be a mixture of 17th and 18th century British English plus generous sprinklings of French, Scottish, and of course, West African (there are many similarities between African-American Vernacular English and Southern English--note I said, AAVE--not common slang). One of the biggest leftovers is SAmE being non-rhotic. I think some southern accents are beautiful, like speakers from Virginia, and then others I don't care for, Georgia and Alabama for example. I like some of the accents from New England--Maine, New Hampshire. I also like the sound of Lakota. I have some friends that are trying to reconstruct Tutelo, a Saponi language, and we borrow a lot from Lakota. It's very beautiful but it is difficult to get the pronunciation just right because it's a little tonal. I like the sound of other tonal languages, for example, many of the southeast Asian languages. I also love the sound of Italian and French. -rr -rr -rr? for AmE? I've heard people describe American accents as 'flat'. Oh! I forgot! Finnish. I was trying to learn how to use a wrap (it's a piece of cloth to carry a baby in) and I found an instruction video on youtube. The woman does the video in English and in Finnish. Really cool. Edited by Redbone on 22 July 2009 at 7:50pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| CobaltDragon Groupie United States cobaltdragon.co Joined 5730 days ago 40 posts - 40 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Biblical Hebrew, Vietnamese | Message 172 of 297 22 July 2009 at 9:54pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I like to listen to the tonal languages like Vietnamese or Chinese.
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| MLSUSA94 Groupie United States linguisticventures19 Joined 5496 days ago 50 posts - 53 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, French | Message 173 of 297 23 July 2009 at 1:06am | IP Logged | |||||
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Japanese has a very unique sound to it, but I never plan on learning it :)
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| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5554 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 174 of 297 23 July 2009 at 1:44am | IP Logged | |||||
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No.
Okay, Cantonese. And any language spoken by young male native Japanese speakers who use this special lisped "s" (and I still have no idea how to call it). Edited by Bao on 23 July 2009 at 2:15am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| pohaku Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5439 days ago 192 posts - 367 votes Speaks: English*, Persian Studies: Arabic (classical), French, German, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 175 of 297 23 July 2009 at 2:00am | IP Logged | |||||
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There's been much said about the beautiful sounds of various languages, but I'm particularly sensitive to the looks of a printed language. So here are a few comments on the visual aspects of certain languages:
--Persian, whether handwritten in Nastaliq or typeset with skill, has to be one of the most beautiful of all languages. Arabic is written with pretty much the same script, but has a different look, also nice, due to the prevalence of alefs and lams, and--in some texts--a profusion of diacritical marks. The script is so important in these cultures that classical poets likened the postures of lovers to letters of the alphabet--tall and beautiful like an aleph, for example, or bent and suffering like a nun. --Chinese is wonderful to look at, of course. Japanese, too. I might have to learn Japanese simply to be able to hold and admire and read one of their wonderfully printed books. --The profusion of South Asian scripts is quite interesting. I learned the Tamil alpha/syllabary last year (before deciding that there were not enough resources to support a long-term drive to learn the language) and enjoyed the look of it, but I wonder how they manage to handwrite that with any speed at all. --All Scandinavian text looks interesting on the page, but I particularly admire Icelandic, with the eth and thorn. I also admire the "a" with the little circle over it in Danish. (Hats off, too, to the Czech "u" with a circle over it. One of my favorite composers needs it for his name--Bohuslav Martinu (with a circle over the "u"). --Georgian and Armenian scripts are very different, but fascinating in their unique ways, the former all curves and curls, the latter linear and slanting. People speak of Korean script being invented by one person at a known date specifically for that language. If I'm not mistaken, the same is true of these two scripts. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Saif Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5400 days ago 122 posts - 208 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Levantine)*, French | Message 176 of 297 23 July 2009 at 2:45am | IP Logged | |||||
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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But personally, I find the following beautiful:
Italian French Portuguese Levantine Arabic Russian Persian Spanish Icelandic Japanese Greek 1 person has voted this message useful |
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