Languages you 've heard
Printed From: History Community ~ All Empires
Category: Scholarly Pursuits
Forum Name: Linguistics
Forum Discription: Discuss linguistics: the study of languages
URL: http://www.allempires.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=13472
Printed Date: 23-Apr-2024 at 15:18
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 9.56a - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Languages you 've heard
Posted By: Arbėr Z
Subject: Languages you 've heard
Date Posted: 21-Jul-2006 at 12:19
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How many languages did you people hear, in your whole life? And which language you think has the most remarcable sonority among those? Is there any language that sounds like "singing"? ------------- Prej heshtjes...! |
Replies:
Posted By: Arbėr Z
Date Posted: 21-Jul-2006 at 12:29
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Please post only the languages that you have heard other people conversating in their everyday life, in their own language(not languages you heard in the tv, or in different songs etc). And when you have to choose the better sounding language, please do not choose your own. My answer I have heard people conversating in Greek, Macedonian (slavicFYRoM), Bulgarian, Romanian, Turkish, Serbian-Croatian-Bosnian, Slovenian, Italian, German, Flemish, French, Spanish, Catalan, English (as well as some dialects of the above). In my opinion French has the best sonority, when they speak they sound like singing. Probably thats because of the pluritone accents that characterise the french. ------------- Prej heshtjes...! |
Posted By: Giannis
Date Posted: 21-Jul-2006 at 12:40
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In my work, I hear languages from Latin America, Asia and Europe. The best sounded language, in my humble opinion is Italian. It's not only ''singing'', it's very expressive, i know only 100 italian words, but when I hear an Italian to speak, I think that I can actually understand him. Chinese on the other hand, it's incomprehensible to me.
-------------  Give me a place to stand and I will move the world.
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Posted By: xristar
Date Posted: 21-Jul-2006 at 15:15
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If we exclude the TV, erm... I've heard very few interesting ones.
That would be Greek, slavomacedonian, Bulgarian, Albanian, Georgian, Armenian, Russian, Turkish, Pomak, Vlachic, Romanian, French, Dutch, German, Italian, Spanish, English, Finnish, Arabic, Chinese (or something Asian) and some african languages by black people, Nigerian probably. Eh... perhaps some others, I don't recall.
I don't know which sounds the best.
Weird was the Gaellic I heard in a documentary. There was an old guy telling a traditionall 'song' (more like a poem). It is a very 'different' language to my ears this celtic. Not nice, but different.
German with a good accent in the vowels sounds weird also.
Portugese is the ugliest language I've ever heard. ------------- 
Defeat allows no explanation Victory needs none. It insults the dead when you treat life carelessly. |
Posted By: Aelfgifu
Date Posted: 21-Jul-2006 at 15:27
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Personally I think Swedish is a languege which is practically sung, but the language I like best is German, when spoken properly... Very suitable for poetry. ------------- 
Women hold their councils of war in kitchens: the knives are there, and the cups of coffee, and the towels to dry the tears. |
Posted By: Paul
Date Posted: 21-Jul-2006 at 17:21
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I think my favourite to listen to has to be Cantonese. A lifetime of Hong, Kong movies has made me appreciate it, they only have four words in the whole language, but say them in a 1000 different tones.
The worst, we'll I was in Monotone Drone City (New York) once, that was pretty ugly, Welsh is pretty horrid too, just most are too busy rubbing the gob off their face to notice, but I think both have to step aside for Dutch. If they speak a language in hell, it surely is Dutch, Kind of sounds like someone in the latter stages of Tuberculosis having a gargling contest with a Stephen Hawkings and realising they'd accidently used lighter fluid... and that's the poetry. ------------- Light blue touch paper and stand well back http://www.maquahuitl.co.uk - http://www.maquahuitl.co.uk http://www.toltecitztli.co.uk - http://www.toltecitztli.co.uk |
Posted By: red clay
Date Posted: 21-Jul-2006 at 17:59
Over the years I've been exposed to- Korean, French[F.Canadian and Cajun also] German, Gaelic, Italian, Greek, Yiddish, Chinese[3 dialects] Cambodian, Laotian[Hmung dialect] Welsh, Spanish[ many dialects] English, US- [ dialects- Georgian, West Virginia, Tennesee, Maine] My Fav. Yiddish.  ------------- "Arguing with someone who hates you or your ideas, is like playing chess with a pigeon. No matter what move you make, your opponent will walk all over the board and scramble the pieces". Unknown. |
Posted By: Arbėr Z
Date Posted: 21-Jul-2006 at 21:08
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While I want to thank all of you guys for answering, I would like you to post also your linguistic background (mothertongue and your everyday language). I am trying to do a research on this. And please, focus only on the sound of the languages you have been exposed to for a significative time, and that you have heard live, not through medias. ------------- Prej heshtjes...! |
Posted By: Akolouthos
Date Posted: 21-Jul-2006 at 21:55
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Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Italian, some form of Turkish, Arabic, Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek (Attic/Koine/Liturgical/Medieval/Modern), Latin, Russian, some Indian dialect, and finally, the only one I read, write, or speak--at least for all practical purposes--English. -Akolouthos
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Posted By: Aelfgifu
Date Posted: 22-Jul-2006 at 07:33
Gee, thanks...I''ll consider it a compliment ok?  -------------
Women hold their councils of war in kitchens: the knives are there, and the cups of coffee, and the towels to dry the tears. |
Posted By: xristar
Date Posted: 22-Jul-2006 at 07:36
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I am a Greek speaker. I speak no specific Greek dialect. I know some dialect words only.
I speak English and German, as second languages. -------------
Defeat allows no explanation Victory needs none. It insults the dead when you treat life carelessly. |
Posted By: Emperor Barbarossa
Date Posted: 22-Jul-2006 at 17:21
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I've heard Greek, Italian, French, Spanish(South American Spanish and Castillian), Portugese, American(Texan, Pennsylvanian, Massachusetts, New York, Georgia, West Virginian), Greek, Yiddish, Russian, Gaelic, the Scots language, German, Mandarin, Korean, Japanese, Australian English, Canadian English(That man is oot and aboot, eh?), Arabic, Czech, Northumbrian, Cherokee, and Iroqious. I believe that the Scots language and Gaelic sound singy. I have an interest in the Scots language because, as much as it is similar to English, it is sometimes so unintelligible. ------------- 
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Posted By: Menumorut
Date Posted: 22-Jul-2006 at 20:06
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For me, German sounds the best. Second come the French and the next is Spanish.
When I hear these languages I `see` the history of them, history which is very romantic for me. -------------  |
Posted By: boomajoom
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2006 at 19:03
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I have heard Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Vietnamese, French, German, Arabic, Hebrew, Russian, Italian, and Hindu (I guess).
Honestly, I couldn't tell the difference between Spanish and Portuguese. I liked Italian. I am a monolingual English speaker. ------------- http://www.languapedia.com - Languages & Linguistics |
Posted By: Justinian
Date Posted: 30-Jul-2006 at 00:52
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Lets see I have heard Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, Latin, Norweigian, Swedish, Arabic, German, Russian, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Somalian(?). The worst is Vietnamese it sounds like whining to me, but it could just be the pitch of their voices (fairly high). I like most of the languages I have heard, except Portuguese, but if I had to choose the most musical sounding it would probably be French. A person speaking french could say the most insulting thing imaginable to you and it would sound like a compliment. In comparison a person could complement you in German and you would engage in a vendetta against the guy. Although I do love german because of the fact that they combine a sentence into one word. ------------- "War is a cowardly escape from the problems of peace."--Thomas Mann 
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Posted By: Decebal
Date Posted: 31-Jul-2006 at 12:56
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English, Romanian, French (from France and Quebecois), Italian, Spanish. These are the ones that I speak myself. Then I've also heard Hungarian, German, Russian, Portuguese, Bulgarian, Greek, Vlach, Ukrainian, Polish, Dutch, Cantonese, Madarin, Hindi, Punjabi, Sinhalese, Tamil, Urdu, Pashtu, Swahili, Arabic, Farsi, Turkish, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Haitian Creole, Serbian, Finnish, Danish, Tagalog, Bahasia Indonesia, Thai, Armenian, Czech, Catalan, Gaelic and (I think) Bengali. My favorite: probably Italian or Farsi. The worst sounding (I don't want to offend anyone) but probably Turkish, Tagalog and Dutch. ------------- What is history but a fable agreed upon? Napoleon Bonaparte Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.- Mohandas Gandhi 
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Posted By: Zagros
Date Posted: 31-Jul-2006 at 13:34
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Mandarin, Cantonese, Turkish, Azarbaijani, Kermanji, Sorani, Gorani, Persian, Lori, Laki, MAzandarani, Dari, Pashto, Armenian, Arabic, Russian, Polish, Japanese, Thai, Hindi/Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali, Swahili, Spanish, Italian, Gaelic (Scots and Irish), Welsh, Cornish, French, Flemish, Dutch, Danish/Swedish/Norw., Finnish, Hungarian, Czech, Serbo-Croat, Greek and I am sure there are some more.
The ugliest and most vile language by far and away has to be Mandarin and then Cantonese, no offence btw to anyone intended, just answering the question. I don't like the sound of Istanbul Turkish at all either.
The most elegant is Persian and French.
My favourites are Azari, Laki, Persian, English, Italian and French. ------------- |
Posted By: Ikki
Date Posted: 31-Jul-2006 at 15:21
Many... spanish (all the dialects), portuguese, basque, gallego
(english word?), catalan, mozįrabe, arabic, berber languages (i don't
know wich was), many from black Įfrica mainly bantś, turk, italian,
greek, turkish, bulgar, french, english, dutch, swedish, german,
romanian, ukrainian, russian, mandarin chinese, japanese, hebrew and
armenian ufff  The best: armenian, greek and medieval mozįrabe. The most curious: bantś languages, japanese and the american english from Pensylvania spoke by Emperor Barbarossa  The worst: no guys... ------------- |
Posted By: Emperor Barbarossa
Date Posted: 01-Aug-2006 at 11:12
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Actually, for whatever reason, I don't have a Western Pennsylvanian accent. I mean, some people just have a normal American accent, while others have a thick "Yinz goin' dawntawn 'n that?". It is so easy to spot a redneck here, all you have to hear is them saying "yinz" and you know they are a redneck. Besides, Western Pennsylvania has a different accent from Eastern Pennsylvania, which is a lot more New Yorker. I don't know too much about that accent, but Tobodai lives around the area, so he would know more than me.
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Posted By: Flipper
Date Posted: 02-Aug-2006 at 05:59
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Well I speak natively Greek and Swedish. I speak fluently English and Norwegian. I speak less fluently french. I've heard languages like: Russian, German, Armenian, Spanish, Italian, Turkish, Vlach, Serbo-Kroatian, Bulgarian, Albanian, Romanian, Flemish, Sami, Finnish/Estonian, Ethiopian, Georgian, Arabic, Punjabi, Mandarin, Japanese, Hebrew, Thai, Danish, Persian, Hungarian, Polish, Lithuanian and various northern native american languages/dialects. The best sounding to my ears are: Spanish (Colombia, Venezuella, Chile), Italian, Russian, Persian (only when spoken by women though). Worst sounding: Danish (no doubt), Hebrew -------------  
SĆ„ nu tar jag fram (k)niven va! |
Posted By: The Gypo
Date Posted: 17-Aug-2006 at 03:25
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I speak Egyptian Arabic...since im Coptic Orthodox, i also recite Coptic..(cant make coherent sentences though)
as such ive heard arabic(lebanese, palestinian,iraqi and iranian)...Persian, Afghan and Indian are common at my school..German and Greek are pretty nice sounding...Italian and Spanish remind me of Latin origins and dance
The most curious would have to be the Asian dialects, trying to distinguish Chinese from Japanese and Korean
The worst to my ears would have to be French...sorry to those who are French but your accents are neither understandable in english nor are they uniform in french...
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Posted By: John Lenon
Date Posted: 18-Aug-2006 at 07:48
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I speak : Latvian , Russian, English.
I have heard: Lithuanian, Estonian, Suomi (Finnish), Nowegian, Chezh, Polish, Ukrainian, Chineese (don't know which dealect
 ), German, Italian, Serbian, Turkish, Kazakh, Georgean, French, Spanish.It sounds good to me - Italian&French
I like less - Estonian&Finnish(Sorry guys
). May be they sounds unusual ... |