Anonymous
Post 05/24/2024 04:35     Subject: Most beautiful (and ugliest) language you have heard
Hate Australian and New Zealand accents. Maybe a past life thing? Hate it. I find it twangy and exhausting and yuck.
Anonymous
Post 05/24/2024 04:11     Subject: Most beautiful (and ugliest) language you have heard
Worst: English spoken by Afrikaaners.

Most interesting: American Sign Language. When I was in graduate school one semester I was in two classes with a Deaf student and a 2 sign language interpreters came in for three hours and tag teamed simultaneously interpreting. It was so incredibly expressive. Not just the signing but the facial movements. I found myself only focusing on the interpreter because it was so fascinated.
Anonymous
Post 05/23/2024 22:10     Subject: Most beautiful (and ugliest) language you have heard
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote: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.


It’s the diphthong. I agree that it sounds bad (baa-ayd). French has no diphthongs.


It’s not diphthongs. It’s that English is stress timed, not syllable timed, like French or Spanish. There are absolutely diphthongs in French.
Anonymous
Post 05/23/2024 16:05     Subject: Most beautiful (and ugliest) language you have heard
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The ugliest language is German. Always German. All I can hear is Hitler when I’m around it.


I feel similarly way about Hebrew.

I actually do not mind Hebrew or German. For me, it's the Austrailian accent that grates on the nerve. "Throw a shrimp on the barbie, mate".
Anonymous
Post 05/23/2024 15:56     Subject: Most beautiful (and ugliest) language you have heard
Anonymous wrote:
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.


Thai and Mandarin are both tonal languages. English obviously isn't. I know I can't differentiate tones very well and wonder whether maybe native speakers of non-tonal languages don't hear the subtleties and differences.



Yes, I know they’re tonal. Thai sounds super nasally because you have to use the front of your nasal cavity to make it sound right. It just doesn’t sound pleasant though. You sound like you have a stuffy nose.
Anonymous
Post 05/23/2024 15:52     Subject: Most beautiful (and ugliest) language you have heard
Anonymous wrote:The ugliest language is German. Always German. All I can hear is Hitler when I’m around it.


I feel similarly way about Hebrew.
Anonymous
Post 05/23/2024 15:50     Subject: Re:Most beautiful (and ugliest) language you have heard
I agree with Vietnamese. While I really like the ladies that do my nails, it's really hard to listen to them for an hour or more.
Anonymous
Post 05/23/2024 15:48     Subject: Most beautiful (and ugliest) language you have heard
Patois and creole are awesome.
Anonymous
Post 05/23/2024 15:41     Subject: Most beautiful (and ugliest) language you have heard
Anonymous wrote:Vietnamese, sounds awful.


+1

It is really hard to listen to.

I also dislike English with a British or Irish accent.
Anonymous
Post 05/23/2024 13:54     Subject: Re:Most beautiful (and ugliest) language you have heard
Anonymous wrote:Most beautiful = French.

Most unpleasant = any Chinese dialect.

This
Anonymous
Post 05/23/2024 10:51     Subject: Re:Most beautiful (and ugliest) language you have heard
Anonymous wrote:If you heard my loud obnoxious neighbor speak in Spanish, you would say it’s the ugliest.


You just need to broaden your opportunities to listen other Spanish speakers. You’ll be enchanted.
Anonymous
Post 05/23/2024 10:46     Subject: Re:Most beautiful (and ugliest) language you have heard
Most beautiful = French.

Most unpleasant = any Chinese dialect.
Anonymous
Post 05/23/2024 10:44     Subject: Most beautiful (and ugliest) language you have heard
Learning German in ES built the foundation to learning English quickly in HS. Yes, German was a bit harsh for me, but the rewards of learning the language were bountiful. I appreciate my parents for that. They are not German.
Anonymous
Post 05/23/2024 07:49     Subject: Most beautiful (and ugliest) language you have heard
Anonymous wrote:I always thought German was super harsh until I heard people from different regions speak it. Some of the accents are absolutely lovely.

I think most Americans have really only heard German through footage of Hitler shrieking.


This. I have a co-worker who speaks German to her family on the phone and I love listening to it.

My great-grandmother spoke fluent German but did not teach it to my grandmother, because of the world wars. It has always made me sad that we lost it in our family.
Anonymous
Post 05/23/2024 07:34     Subject: Most beautiful (and ugliest) language you have heard
Anonymous wrote:


The harshness reminds me of how orderly they are and the superior organization Germans posses so I love hearing it


That's what it reminds me of too and that's why I don't!