I don’t want to call a language “ugly,” since that may be offensive. That said Thai, isn’t the most pleasing to my ears. Most beautiful is a toss up between French or Marylandese- I’m particularly fond of the Bawlmer and Glen Burnie dialect.

If I pause to listen, I wouldn't say I like the middle long drag in American English words. It is the start low, go up, and then bring it down accent. Not sure how to explain it.
Looooove, loooong, buuuuy, saaaay, goooo, traaavel, siiiing. As much as I think, I can't find sentences or words that do not follow this pattern.
In French, I wouldn't say I like the constant rushing and cutting-off sounds. Is it French if it is not rapid and garbled?
In a way, French and English are the same language as I am. I understand that they are not, but the similarities are so vast that knowing one, you can read the other and know what is being said.

Anonymous wrote:Listening to mandarin all day gives me a headache.

Thai also isn’t great. When they sing it just never sounds good simply because of the way they have to say words.

Was just coming to say this.

Whatever the Chinese are speaking sounds so harsh and clipped.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The ugliest language is German. Always German. All I can hear is Hitler when I’m around it.

That’s called being racist.

German here. It's called being true. Our language is harsh. But so is English.

Are you Swiss? Because that scheisse is bad. German, not so much, depending on dialect.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t love Afrikaans, which my grandmother used to speak. Nor Arabic and Hebrew, with their very guttural sounds. Irish is nice.

Levant arabic has a much nicer lilt to it than gulf arabic. Hebrew sounds awful, agree.

Anonymous wrote:The ugliest language is German. Always German. All I can hear is Hitler when I’m around it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Italian is most beautiful to my ears. It is a musical language.

I actually love the sound of Dutch. The vowels especially.

Can’t think of any language that is “ugly”. They are all fascinating.

Bedankt! (Dutch speaker here)

I also love the sound of Dutch, but mainly because its people are my favorite in the entire world!

I don’t exactly think it’s ugly, but Mongolian is probably my least favorite in terms of how it sounds. It seems terrible to say that though because in a lot of ways it, like all languages, is beautiful.

Most beautiful…I really can’t decide! I honestly love the posh British accent and Italian the most. But Tongan is cool and any language can be beautiful if the right person is talking to you.

Ugly: American English

Beautiful: Ukrainian

I dislike English spoken with a southern accent (I know there are various dialects - I don’t know the region well enough to distinguish, but it grates on me) and with thick NYC/NJ/LI accents. Not a fan of many Brit accents, too. Vs I love English spoken in India - very elegant sounding, way more so than in the UK/USA, etc.

I pretty much like all other languages in some way, probably because I don’t hear them as often, and as a PP said there is beauty in all. And it makes me long for travel when I hear other languages being spoken.

Anonymous wrote:I can’t stand the sound of Vietnamese, Cantonese, or Indian.

"Indian" is not a language.

Anonymous wrote:The speaker makes a big difference. Even within the same language some ppl can make it sound beautiful while others make you want to tear your hair out.

Some pp mentioned upper class English being enjoyable. Yes, there's definitely a class component to it. It's very different to hear street vendors who're hustling for customers than a TV anchor. They speak the same language, but one would be a lot harder on the ear.

+1
A hot Colombiana speaking Spanish can sound like she's singing a sweet song.

The speaker makes a big difference. Even within the same language some ppl can make it sound beautiful while others make you want to tear your hair out.

Some pp mentioned upper class English being enjoyable. Yes, there's definitely a class component to it. It's very different to hear street vendors who're hustling for customers than a TV anchor. They speak the same language, but one would be a lot harder on the ear.

Anonymous wrote:Most beautiful: Italian

Ugliest: Hebrew; English spoken by New Zealanders

Humphh. I recall the nasal whine of American accents carrying all the way across the plaza of a city in NZ. There's a certain tone produced by such tourists, even when you can't hear the the words.

Vietnamese is the worst!!