What do foreign languages sound like to you?

  • Context: Lingusitics 
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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around participants' perceptions of how various foreign languages sound to them, even if they do not understand the languages. It includes subjective impressions of languages from different regions and cultural contexts.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants describe British English as aristocratic and melodic, while American English is seen as more casual, with Texas English being viewed negatively.
  • Australian English is perceived as relaxed and laid-back, whereas German is described as familiar despite limited vocabulary.
  • French is often considered complicated, while Spanish and Italian are viewed positively as languages associated with joy and culture.
  • Japanese is perceived by some as sounding argumentative, while others find it normalized once understood better.
  • Chinese is described as softer than Japanese but difficult to differentiate by some participants.
  • Russian is appreciated for its emotional expressiveness, while Arabic is characterized by its hard sounds and exotic nature.
  • Some participants find Finnish to be related to Mongolian, while others dispute this claim, stating Finnish belongs to the Uralic family.
  • There are mixed feelings about the sounds of languages like Ukrainian, French, and Swedish, with some finding them pleasant and others comical or confusing.
  • Portuguese is likened to Spanish with a Russian accent by some, while others emphasize its distinctiveness.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a variety of subjective opinions about how different languages sound, with no consensus reached on any particular viewpoint. Multiple competing views remain regarding the characteristics and perceptions of each language discussed.

Contextual Notes

Some statements reflect personal interpretations and experiences with languages, which may not align with linguistic classifications or definitions. There are unresolved claims about language families and relationships that participants have debated.

  • #31
How about the fastest language in the world? I'd go for Tamil, followed by Italian and maybe Hindi. Spanish can be quite rapid too, though I don't know where.
 
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  • #32
fresh_42 said:
The next beauty about Europe today. (Hopefully our politicians won't ruin it!) It doesn't matter less and less which country printed the passport. I thank de Gaulle and Adenauer each day for their achievement. Far better than before! The first time I've been to Moscow I remember jumping joyfully in the snow on the airport next to the airliner and said: "I love that. Being in Moscow and having no gun with me!" Our many cultures are a great gift and surely no reason to fight.

When the ČSSR broke apart I remember one main reason wasn't Havel's and Meciar's ambition to gain power alone. The Slovakian were simply fed by the Czech domination. And the Czech thought they would simply finance Slovakia which had a more agricultural bias and the Czech a more industrial. Maybe there have been historical reasons, too, which I'm not aware of. Both countries are beautiful and most of all: the origin of European beer culture. [emoji2]

Edit: Funny incident. I've had a Slovakian car in front of me on my way home from the dentist. And as a biathlon fan you'd better know the difference between Slovakia and Slovenia. :wink:
Fresh, it seems you have traveled a lot and read and think about various issues. I'm really surprised by your knowledge because most people couldn't even show these countries on map.
 
  • #33
Sophia said:
Indian languages are cool, too. Bollywood movies make me smile :)
I'll have to youtube some clips with Danish, Dutch, Swedish and Norwegian languages because I really can't tell a difference between them.
For me it's almost the same. I have trouble with Danish, Dutch, Swedish and Norwegian, because they have just enough in common with Dutch that I understand a word here or there. But not enough in common to allow me to make sense of it.
 
  • #34
Sounds like most people's confusion between Swiss and Swedish... *sigh* (I'm swiss)
 
  • #35
Rx7man said:
Sounds like most people's confusion between Swiss and Swedish... *sigh* (I'm swiss)
Gruezi. Are you a fan of the famous Swiss group ABBA, too?
Canada plus Swiss? You're cherry picking, don't you?
 
  • #36
Samy_A said:
For me it's almost the same. I have trouble with Danish, Dutch, Swedish and Norwegian, because they have just enough in common with Dutch that I understand a word here or there. But not enough in common to allow me to make sense of it.
Don't you have to learn some of the other languages in school? As far as I know there are four official languages there.
 
  • #37
The official language of Malaysia is Malaysian. But kids aren't required to learn it in school. Tamil and Chinese Malaysians have their own schools. So English is the only language almost everyone understands
 
  • #38
Swedish sounds like something recorded and played backward.
 
  • #39
fresh_42 said:
Don't you have to learn some of the other languages in school? As far as I know there are four official languages there.
Three official languages.
Normally you learn Dutch, French and English in the Flemish and French schools. In the German schools obviously German, and I assume also French and English (don't know for sure, maybe they also have Dutch).
Of course some pupils learn additional optional languages.
But I don't believe many Belgian schools teach one of the Scandinavian languages.
 
  • #40
Samy_A said:
Three official languages.
Normally you learn Dutch, French and English in the Flemish and French schools. In the German schools obviously German, and I assume also French and English (don't know for sure, maybe they also have Dutch).
Of course some pupils learn additional optional languages.
But I don't believe many Belgian schools teach one of the Scandinavian languages.
What about letzeburgisch?
 
  • #41
Hornbein said:
Swedish sounds like something recorded and played backward.
That's exactly what I was thinking about the Czech version of Wabash Cannonball I just posted!

fresh_42 said:
Gruezi. Are you a fan of the famous Swiss group ABBA, too?
Canada plus Swiss? You're cherry picking, don't you?
haha, yes!.. mostly by luck I got to say.
I do like a few Abba songs, but to say I'm a fan would be an overstatement.. I do like Schwitzerorgli and traditional Swiss music, though I get my fill of it quickly.
 
  • #42
fresh_42 said:
What about letzeburgisch?
Not an official language in Belgium, though used in a few communes along the border with Luxembourg. No idea whether it is taught in the schools in these communes.
 
  • #43
Rx7man said:
I do like a few Abba songs, but to say I'm a fan would be an overstatement.. I do like Schwitzerorgli and traditional Swiss music, though I get my fill of it quickly.
In case you're homesick:
 
  • #44
Hornbein said:
The official language of Malaysia is Malaysian. But kids aren't required to learn it in school. Tamil and Chinese Malaysians have their own schools. So English is the only language almost everyone understands

That's interesting. I have friends from Malaysia and they have told me that all schools are required to teach Bahasa Malaysia (i.e. the Malay language) in their schools, at least as a second language even in the Chinese, Tamil, or English-language schools (although I was told that English is the common lingua franca among the different ethnic groups).

So I assume that you are from Malaysia then?
 
  • #45
StatGuy2000 said:
That's interesting. I have friends from Malaysia and they have told me that all schools are required to teach Bahasa Malaysia (i.e. the Malay language) in their schools, at least as a second language even in the Chinese, Tamil, or English-language schools (although I was told that English is the common lingua franca among the different ethnic groups).

So I assume that you are from Malaysia then?

I've been there a lot. You know how it goes when kids are required to learn something.
 
  • #46
OK, I hate to go nuclear but...



This is English.
 
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  • #47
Vanadium 50 said:
OK, I hate to go nuclear but...
This is English.
I made it until 0:27. In which country was it?
 
  • #48
fresh_42 said:
I made it until 0:27

Oh, but it gets better. And better still!

It's Bulgarian.
 
  • #49
Vanadium 50 said:
OK, I hate to go nuclear but...



This is English.


So is this.



I like it like that.

In east Asia books are often sold with English titles ever if they aren't in English. I never understood that. It would be like selling English books in the US with Chinese titles.

South Korean pop music is often a mixture of Korean and English. It's not unusual for the artists to speak English perfectly.
 
  • #50
And I always thought this was weird:



But I'd put him to Italy. Until I looked it up: Ohio.

Edit: @Vanadium 50 I've now made it till the end. That was really mean. But my toothache doesn't feel so bad anymore.
 
  • #52
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  • #54
Hornbein said:
The song that made crowdsourced software pop idol Hatsune Miku a star.

This... ?
 
  • #55
Here's the misheard lyrics of Nightwish - Wishmaster (I think they're swedish?)
 
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  • #56
 
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  • #57
Rx7man said:
Here's the misheard lyrics of Nightwish - Wishmaster (I think they're swedish?)


As I've thought: Nightwish are Finnish! (The crazy punks among the Scandinavian people. The Swedish are more the pop musicians. Long live prejudices!)
 
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  • #58
DrClaude said:


During the past 100 years USA English has become an extremely throaty language. Mandarin is the opposite: the sounds are produced at the teeth, or seemingly in the air in front of the teeth.

To speak Indian languages or Indonesian pull your tongue in. In Indonesian use your nose a lot, but not in India.
 
  • #59
OCR said:
This... ?

You bet. Here's Levan Polka as interpreted by Adolph Hitler.

 
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  • #60
I don't know what flavor of 'chinese' this is, Cantonese, Mandarin, or other, but it's a pretty good laugh too..

 

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