which language sounds the nicest?

verdigris

Which spoken language sounds the nicest? And would people in Europe think that a european language sounds nicer than a language from another continent just because they are more familiar with European languages - or is there more to it than this?

neurocomp2003

french/spanish/taiwanese mandarin/japanese

MeJennifer

I think Thai sounds pretty good. Very melodic.

moe darklight

Well, my sample is not that big:

I was born in Argentina, where we speak Spanish with an Italian accent (we really do, watch an Argentinean movie and, unless you know Italian or Spanish, you'll think you're watching an Italian movie).
For most of my childhood, Hebrew was my native tongue (even though I don't remember much and it sounds foreign to me now). You are also exposed to the sounds of the Arab languages in Israel a little.
I moved here to canada in 2000 so now speak english -- this should be obvious . And I started trying to learn mandarin chinese a couple of days ago (so far I only know "hello" "how are you" etc. , but I'm familiar with the sounds of the language at least)

To me, definitely English. English is really a mixture of many languages. It took bits and pieces of many languages, so it has a very open grammatical structure (many other languages have very strict sentence structures -- I'm not sure if there is another language quite as open an English). This is why English poetry and literature is so beautiful and different, I think -- it's such a free language, that those who master it can paint beautiful and unique images with the bonus of having lots of "free room" to play with (I don't think Finnegan's Wake could have been written without an English sub-structure).

It also sounds very "liquid." all the words flow easily in and out.

compare it to middle-eastern languages such as Hebrew and Arab -- full of horrid-sounding, tough sounds: "I love you" in Hebrew is "Ah-nee Oh-ev OTAGH" -- the vowels are harsh and throaty, and the best way I can describe the "GH" sound is the sound you make before you hork up phlegm... thankfully not used in the English language.

There is a reason why people from all over the world are drawn to the sound of English singing; the language just flows (Americanization might also play a part, but this was true before Americanization). English sounds "cool," but is also very beautiful and song-like.

turbo

I have been educated (here on this board) that some of the most beautiful singing I have ever heard ("a Prayer for Love" by Mary Black) was in Russian. Who knew?!!

D H

I learned Spanish a long time ago, then learned a lot more when I became a soccer referee. I learned some new highs (lows?) a couple weeks ago sitting in a predominantly Hispanic section at the Houston Dynamos vs Pachuca Concacaf Champions Cup semifinals game (Dynamos won, 2:0). Spanish is both a very beautiful and a very ugly language, depending on the speaker and whether his futbol team is winning or losing.

eaboujaoudeh

i disagree with moe about arabic..well i love u in hebrew might sound a hard task, in arabic it is Ana Bhebbik for a girl, Ana Bhebbak for girl to guy..or even guy to guy :P...arabic is somewhat difficult but is a rich language...like a lot more than 100 ways to say i love u...etc..
but english by far is the easiest language to learn, and i think it should become the world's language

neurocomp2003

english is the hardest language to learn....all the grammar.

eaboujaoudeh

ever tried another language?

moe darklight

O I wasn't implying that great poetry hasn't been written in those languages -- "Martin Fierro" in Spanish comes to mind.

Especially languages that are so ancient compared to English (Hebrew remains almost unchanged for 2500 years; by knowing modern Hebrew, you'd be perfectly able to understand ancient writings like the old testament--

But try reading Old English -- used only 1000 years ago -- and you would not be able to understand a single sentence without Old English studies. Even modern English from only a few centuries ago can be challenging.

English changes very fast, even now. And even though it's very easy to learn, it is also incredibly complex -- sometimes weird and irrational: mouse/mice, car/cars, house/houses, fish/fish ).

What I meant to say was that English has a certain melodic flow to it that is very pleasing (to me at least, it all depends on personal opinion)... it avoids many of the harsh cacophonies of other languages -- it's made up of mostly round (?) (only word that comes to mind) sounds: rolling Rs, soft Ls and H's... which might be why it's so appealing.

<-- and I should really stop using these. but they're so awesome!

moe darklight

hahaha... yea there are some hard ones out there. I wouldn't say English is the hardest, but I would say it's one of the weirdest ones. There are no real rules to its grammar and spelling.

At least in spanish and Hebrew there are things that are always 100% a certain way. Find me one English grammar/spelling rule that is 100%.. not even the famous I before E except after C! This is why people new to the language often have that "Tarzan" way of speaking -- English grammar makes no sense to a foreigner!

eaboujaoudeh

the good thing about english is that it is adapting with our needs and pronounciations. lebanese arabic flows well because it is a mixture between western tongues and arabic tongues very different from other arabic accents and simple to use but still hard grammar. and yes hebrew seemed to stay the same all the way much like chinese i think, that's mayb what makes them hard to understand at time, its like learning hyrogliphics...btw isn't there some common pronounciations between arabic and hebrew?

eaboujaoudeh

u know i'm starting to think that ur right about english, but it seemed easier to me from french even though french was my first language, and is still easier to me than arabic even though i'm lebanese, i also tried german and italian. german is difficult, italian is easy because its like french but they also have the specials that come with them..but i think ur right they have stronger adherence to the rules except in cases when they really go beserk like the very was in french : etre, which becomes Somme complete transformations like that are confusing too :)

moe darklight

Arabic and Hebrew do have similarities (salam = shalom)-- they have similar origins and have developed side by side ... much like european languages are very similar and share common Latin origins or influences.

Most of the languages spoken today have the same common origins, and can be grouped: Chinese (chinese lol), Latin (Italian, spanish), afro-asian (Arabic, Hebrew), etc.

This is why I read mostly things written by Spanish or English authors. not because I think there's no good chinese or albanian novels out there, I'm sure there are -- but translate something from Italian to spanish, and you'll be able to keep some of the emotion. Translate something from Chinese to Italian, and you lose all the beauty and prose.

eaboujaoudeh

yeah i think ur right about that, some translations definitely don't work..especially if its a comedy :)..

moe darklight

it's especially funny watching Japanese movies translated into english. The two are so different, you can tell the translators have a hell of a time trying to make dialogue sound real or at least normal.

eaboujaoudeh

lol yeah...or english subtle jokes translated to french on french channels :)