Anonymous wrote:
As an international family with members who speak German, English, French, Japanese and Vietnamese...
... I think this thread is slightly questionable.
It also very much depends on regional variations, accents and native vs. non-native speakers. I think native speakers have a softer, more musical enunciation than non-natives. Southern French sounds very different than northern French, and there are tons of different accents, just like in the USA (I once heard a colleague from South Carolina, and he had such a lovely lilt to his English!). My German will sound harsh, because I'm French and can't soften it like a native speaker. My Parisian French will sound more lilting than a Vietnamese speaking in French with a Vietnamese cadence. I've heard very soft-spoken Japanese face-to-face, and then I switch on the TV, and the voices seem harsher, for clarity maybe?
All languages are beautiful and fascinating.
Was going to say, native German speakers don't sound harsh!