Anonymous wrote:Of languages I know:

best: French, Arabic

worst: Mandarin, Vietnamese

French and Arabic actually sound a bit similar to me, both phlegm-y.

My favorite is Persian/Farsi

Least favorite.. I’ll be attacked for saying this but I’m not a big fan of Spanish

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.

Totally agree. My kid is in Germany the next couple years, and the language sounds nothing like what we heard growing up watching movies with German speakers. I like it a lot, and many speakers would better be described as mellifluous than guttural. It’s quite similar to English, vocabulary wise. Agree with those who say all languages are fascinating.

Anonymous wrote:French or Mandarin as the most beautiful.
German and Dutch sound harsh to me.

I find that Shanghai, Suzhou and Hangzhou dialects (probably languages since China is huge) are much prettier than Mandarin.

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

Indian? Would that be a Native American language, or a South Asian language? My South Asian DH, who speaks six South Asian languages, would like to know.

p.s. India has 22 official languages, and at least 122 other major languages, plus many, many others. None of them are "Indian!" Good Lord!

Of languages I know:

best: French, Arabic

worst: Mandarin, Vietnamese

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.

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.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I also think French and Mandarin can sound similar, both nice although I don’t have a good ear for either.

English is probably the ugliest

I disagree. It depends who speaks it.
English spoken by British, good.
English spoken by some Africans, really nice!
English spoken by Australians, painful to hear.

I can not stand the the British accent.

But could listen to Australians talk all day long.

Australian English sounds a lot like the southern accent in the US. Flat.
British English sounds 'tall'.

-non-native English speaker

I think these accents carry a lot of baggage because of class associations but I do really love Southern aceents.

What do you mean?

There’s a pretty big variation in Southern accents. Love me some Tidewater.

+1 Memphis Judge, quite nice. Southern politician, usually not as nice.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also think French and Mandarin can sound similar, both nice although I don’t have a good ear for either.

English is probably the ugliest

I disagree. It depends who speaks it.
English spoken by British, good.
English spoken by some Africans, really nice!
English spoken by Australians, painful to hear.

I can not stand the the British accent.

But could listen to Australians talk all day long.

Australian English sounds a lot like the southern accent in the US. Flat.
British English sounds 'tall'.

-non-native English speaker

I think these accents carry a lot of baggage because of class associations but I do really love Southern aceents.

What do you mean?

There’s a pretty big variation in Southern accents. Love me some Tidewater.

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.

How is it racist? If poster just said they thought it was an ugly language, would that be okay?

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.

Anonymous wrote:Brazilians Portuguese sounds bizarre to me - liked it has a lot of pitch and rate changes. As a medical provider I used to wonder if patients were being histrionic until I realized that almost all Brazilians spoke that way and it was really just an accent.

Yes, I notice this too.

Anonymous wrote:Spanish well spoken is music to my ears.

Not to my ears.
Spanish makes a person sound like they have a lisp, a speech defect.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also think French and Mandarin can sound similar, both nice although I don’t have a good ear for either.

English is probably the ugliest

I disagree. It depends who speaks it.
English spoken by British, good.
English spoken by some Africans, really nice!
English spoken by Australians, painful to hear.

I can not stand the the British accent.

But could listen to Australians talk all day long.

Australian English sounds a lot like the southern accent in the US. Flat.
British English sounds 'tall'.

-non-native English speaker

I think these accents carry a lot of baggage because of class associations but I do really love Southern aceents.

What do you mean?