Beautiful Languages

[Merci Alizée]

I was reading a discussion over languages on some other forum and one poster pointed out that Italian is considered as one of the most beautiful language. Why?

I have noticed same with some other languages. Urdu and Telugu are considered more melodic and beautiful than other languages in this part of the world.

German is probably considered anti-beautiful? Germans (read Jenny) please don't kill me for this. :D

So, what's the reason behind adoring a language more than other? Is it just stereotype? Is it because art and literature flourished more in one language than other ones?

[Fall]

Is it just stereotype? Is it because art and literature flourished more in one language than other ones?
I don't know if it's because of literature and art, but that sounds like a good reason. I personally like the sound of Portuguese, but I don't know any art or literature in that language, just a song or two, one of which I will link below. Just from hearing people speak it, I like the sound of it. Especially girls :D It sounds a little bit like Spanish and French put together with an extra something, it's quite nice in my opinon :)


This is a song from the 70s by Roberto Carlos, a famous Brazilian singer. It's a song about a very loyal friend. I believe it's called Amigo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTF184kDl5c

[Karin]

German is probably considered anti-beautiful? Germans (read Jenny) please don't kill me for this. :D

cause its hard like a swine :D

[lefty12357]

I hear a lot of people say that French is the most beautiful language. I think this concept of "beautiful language" has a lot to do with the way a language sounds when properly pronounced rather than just the words of the language itself. That's why many English speakers like the sound of a person speaking English with a French accent, or for that matter, with an Italian accent. They can almost make English sound beautiful. :D Personally, I enjoy hearing English spoken in many different accents.

[awkward Turtle]

I think a beautiful language is all just up to personal preference. I actually think German can be quite beautiful with the right voice and intonations.

On the other hand, I find Italian to be quite an ugly language. That might be because I speak Spanish and think Italian sounds like Spanish, just with random hard and jarring sounds thrown in which ruins the entire ascetic of the language. Then again, it is all just opinions, and I am sure many people will disagree with mine here.

[Rev]

I was reading a discussion over languages on some other forum and one poster pointed out that Italian is considered as one of the most beautiful language. Why?

I have noticed same with some other languages. Urdu and Telugu are considered more melodic and beautiful than other languages in this part of the world.

German is probably considered anti-beautiful? Germans (read Jenny) please don't kill me for this. :D

So, what's the reason behind adoring a language more than other? Is it just stereotype? Is it because art and literature flourished more in one language than other ones?

An anecdote sometimes attributed to King Charles is: "I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men and German to my horse." (noted in Wikipedia)

I think of English as not a very beautiful language. I would love to see Sanskrit become the universal language, but alas, it is not to be.

Spanish, Italian and French are often referred to as romance languages. I am guessing that this is due to the easy flow of pronunciation as well as the ability of these languages to convey emotionality and nuance well. :)

[Bigdan]

http://youtu.be/9BDyEB4T84g

Juliette Greco.
The French language at his best.

[awkward Turtle]

Spanish, Italian and French are often referred to as romance languages. I am guessing that this is due to the easy flow of pronunciation as well as the ability of these languages to convey emotionality and nuance well. :)

They are called Romance languages because they all evolved from Latin, the language spoken by the Romans.

In just the same way, English belongs to the Germanic family of languages because it evolved, along with German, Dutch, Norwegian, and others from a theorized proto-Germanic language.

[Merci Alizée]

Spanish, Italian and French are often referred to as romance languages. I am guessing that this is due to the easy flow of pronunciation as well as the ability of these languages to convey emotionality and nuance well. :)

Is it the case with languages having lot of words ending with a vowel?

[Rev]

Is it the case with languages having lot of words ending with a vowel?

I don't know any more. I remember learning all this in high school, but I have long since forgotten the details. Do we have a language major out ther who can answer this (where is Garcon Canadien when you need him)? :)


They are called Romance languages because they all evolved from Latin, the language spoken by the Romans.

In just the same way, English belongs to the Germanic family of languages because it evolved, along with German, Dutch, Norwegian, and others from a theorized proto-Germanic language.

And those from Indo-European - the common root to western and Indian languages, including Latin and Sanskrit.

By the way, if I remember correctly, Lithuanian is the closest modern day language to the ancient Indo-European. :)

[Future Raptor Ace]

The beautiful language of binary
01001000 01100101 01101100 01101100 01101111 00100000 01000001 01101100 01101001 01111010 01100101 01100101 00100000 01000001 01101101 01100101 01110010 01101001 01100011 01100001 00100000 01101000 01101111 01110111 00100000 01100001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000

and then you have the beautiful Hexadecimal
48 65 6c 6c 6f 20 41 6c 69 7a 65 65 20 41 6d 65 72 69 63 61 20 68 6f 77 20 61 72 65 20 79 6f 75 20

[le chat des Etats]

There are 10 kinds of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't

[Future Raptor Ace]

There are 10 kinds of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't
Like button :D

[Jenny_HRO87]

oh that's an interesting topic :)

German is probably considered anti-beautiful? Germans (read Jenny) please don't kill me for this. :D

nah I would never kill you. I know A LOT of people say that.


I hear a lot of people say that French is the most beautiful language. I think this concept of "beautiful language" has a lot to do with the way a language sounds when properly pronounced rather than just the words of the language itself. That's why many English speakers like the sound of a person speaking English with a French accent, or for that matter, with an Italian accent. They can almost make English sound beautiful. :D Personally, I enjoy hearing English spoken in many different accents.

I guess you nailed it.


cause its hard like a swine :D

maybe. But I think Russian is much worse... nothing against Russians ofc... but if I hear a Russian talking it sounds kinda scary xD And much "harder" than German... in my point of view.

I agree, German isn't the nicest-sounding language (and some dialects are terrible... but you have terrible dialects in every language) at all I mean it's pretty harsh or better it sounds harsh to people who doesn't know it very well... or perhaps also to people who learn it... but it's also a beautiful language, I'm convinced every language has its own beauty and I think the German-is-a-terrible-language attitude maybe has also something to do with the sometimes negative views on Germany in general... considering all the things that happened in the last century.... I just mean I highly doubt that German has the reputation of a harsh language when it comes to Goethe and Schiller... oh well I'm talking all kind of rubbish ignore that...

I think French really is one of the most beautiful languages, I don't really know how to find the right words why... it's just a language that "flows" that you are listening to and it sounds beautiful and every word seems to match with the one before in a totally perfect melodic way... I hope you know what I mean.

But I also think English is a beautiful language and it maybe sounds nicer than German too (ok, I have to be honest I have a weakness for some accents from the UK ^^)...

But I guess your opinion what language is beautiful has also something to do what kind of languages you are used too... by the way... so many people say French is the most beautiful language... I wonder what the French would pick if you would answer them this question... what language they would think is the most beautiful (apart from their mother tongue)...

[Karin]

But I think Russian is much worse... nothing against Russians ofc... but if I hear a Russian talking it sounds kinda scary xD And much "harder" than German... in my point of view.

for us slavic people no, it sound very similar :)

[Jenny_HRO87]

for us slavic people no, it sound very similar :)

and that's exactly my point :D

Whether a language sounds nice or beautiful to someone or not also depends on what you are used too... so there might be even people (talking about non-native speakers of course) who think that German is highly beautiful ;)

[Rev]

There are 10 kinds of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't

Yes. Very good. :)


The beautiful language of binary
01001000 01100101 01101100 01101100 01101111 00100000 01000001 01101100 01101001 01111010 01100101 01100101 00100000 01000001 01101101 01100101 01110010 01101001 01100011 01100001 00100000 01101000 01101111 01110111 00100000 01100001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000

and then you have the beautiful Hexadecimal
48 65 6c 6c 6f 20 41 6c 69 7a 65 65 20 41 6d 65 72 69 63 61 20 68 6f 77 20 61 72 65 20 79 6f 75 20

So, are you going to tell us what you said, or do I have to dig up a converter somewhere? :)

Edit:

...I agree, German isn't the nicest-sounding language (and some dialects are terrible... but you have terrible dialects in every language) at all I mean it's pretty harsh or better it sounds harsh to people who doesn't know it very well... or perhaps also to people who learn it... but it's also a beautiful language, I'm convinced every language has its own beauty and I think the German-is-a-terrible-language attitude maybe has also something to do with the sometimes negative views on Germany in general... considering all the things that happened in the last century.... I just mean I highly doubt that German has the reputation of a harsh language when it comes to Goethe and Schiller...

Which dialect sounds the harshest to you, and which the nicest?

By the way, historically, my wife's family is from Germany. Although they no longer speak German, the essence of being German still flows through them.


...But I also think English is a beautiful language and it maybe sounds nicer than German too (ok, I have to be honest I have a weakness for some accents from the UK ^^)

But I guess your opinion what language is beautiful has also something to do what kind of languages you are used too... by the way... so many people say French is the most beautiful language... I wonder what the French would pick if you would answer them this question... what language they would think is the most beautiful (apart from their mother tongue)...


Of course, English (and especially American English) is a little bit of everything (took words from many other languages), and has had waves of influence from other countries over the centuries.

Do you know what part of the UK has the most interesting or best sounding accent to you?

Its funny, but I really like Spanish as a language. It could be that Spanish would be the most beautiful language - if spoken with french emphasis and accent (I would love to hear what that would sound like). :)

[Future Raptor Ace]

So, are you going to tell us what you said, or do I have to dig up a converter somewhere? :)

"Hello Alizee America how are you" :p

[Jenny_HRO87]

Which dialect sounds the harshest to you, and which the nicest?

By the way, historically, my wife's family is from Germany. Although they no longer speak German, the essence of being German still flows through them.

it always fascinates me how many different origins Americans can have, even if their ancestors came to America ages ago...

about dialects - I obviously don't know all, especially because I'm from Northern Germany where you also have dialects but in my opinion they aren't so heavy like others e. g. in South Germany... I don't really think that there's a "nicest" accent... I guess "Standard" German is ok, so that kind of German you talk when you don't have any heavy dialect (of course everyone has a slight dialect... for example I never really thought I would have any but then I moved to an other federal state to do my training and my classmate asked if there is any dialect where I come from and I was like "well some people say that we for example tend to stretch the vowels" and my classmate was like "that's true" and I was pretty flabbergasted because I never really noticed that myself... and now sometimes I do... and this was a long story with no meaning at all)... Low German (the version I know from here) sounds quite nice but not a lot of people don't talk it anymore, it's more or less dying out... it's just nice, I don't know... an other dialect I like is the one people in and around Berlin talk... it's not "beautiful" but it's that kind of dialect that makes you like a person without really knowing him or her. It's a kind of blunt, direct, I-say-what-I-want but likeable dialect...

The worst? Besides the Bavarian dialect it's basically the dialect people in Saxony talk... nothing against these people but this dialect is just hilarious. It sounds horrible and funny the same time. You can't take anyone serious who talks with his dialect. And you aren't even mean. It simply is like that.



Of course, English (and especially American English) is a little bit of everything (took words from many other languages), and has had waves of influence from other countries over the centuries.

I have to admit it always makes me smile a bit when I read or watch something in English and suddenly a word of German origin appears.. I know it's stupid but it always feels like a little "wave" from home... also when I learnt English in school I was glad that there were some words of French origin which I knew from French class and so it was easier to figure out their meaning in English and to remember them...



Do you know what part of the UK has the most interesting or best sounding accent to you?

I don't really know... also I wouldn't allow myself to judge because my knowledge of UK accents is basically from British shows and actors I admire... sometimes I think Scottish accents have something friendly even if it's really hard to understand them... I don't really know. It's just... and this is nothing against you guys really... I don't know it's hard to explain why I like UK accents more than US accents... perhaps because the UK is closer or in school we learn British English... or because even if it's sometimes a lot harder to follow BBC News than CNN it just sounds a bit more classy... oh I don't know... you are better off to ignore this xD

and this was a long meaningless post. I guess I still won't delete it. I'm sorry.

[lefty12357]

Jenny, I'm glad you didn't delete your post. It was interesting to me. :)

Now I will say something that is truly uninteresting. The region of the USA I live in has a significant number of people of German ancestry. My mother's family traces its roots back to Pommern, which was part of Prussia at the time (around 1860), and now is part of Poland. http://pomeranianews.com/pomerania_map.html

[Rev]

People asked about the term "Romance Language."

Technically, the Romance languages are a sub-branch of the Italic language group, branching from Vulgar Latin (considered to be a "dead" language).

http://alizeeamerica.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=186&pictureid=1991

Corsican is a part of this branch, as is French, Spanish & Italian.

English and German are part of the Germanic language group.

http://alizeeamerica.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=186&pictureid=1992

For more on this topic, see Wikipedia: :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-European_languages

[Jenny_HRO87]

Now I will say something that is truly uninteresting. The region of the USA I live in has a significant number of people of German ancestry. My mother's family traces its roots back to Pommern, which was part of Prussia at the time (around 1860), and now is part of Poland. http://pomeranianews.com/pomerania_map.html

oh I don't think that this is uninteresting at all :)

I find it pretty fascinating to know so much about your ancestry... also I'm from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Western Pomerania), my (maternal) grandmother is from Pommern too (while my grandfather is from East Prussia... both obviously had to leave their homes because of the war) so Pommern isn't something totally uncommon to me. I think it's really interesting to know more detailed things about your ancestry and where you come from (I don't know that much about mine... my dad's parents [which I've never met] are from the "Sudentenland" which is now part of the Czech Republic [so it's not that uncommon to find Polish or Czech sounding names in Germany... but I bet that's not so rare in the US either, as I said before it's fascinating how many origins Americans can have).. do you when did your mother's ancestry left Pommern?

ok. This is really really off-topic. I better stop now xD



English and German are part of the Germanic language group.

http://alizeeamerica.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=186&pictureid=1992

For more on this topic, see Wikipedia: :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-European_languages

it's actually pretty cool that all these languages have the same origin... also it reminds me that when you are German it's so weird when you listen to Dutch people... because you are always able to understand a bit... it sounds like really bad German xD

[Rev]

As of the US 2000 Census, German (43M) is still the most listed individual ancestry for Americans, followed by Irish (31M) and then English (25M). Note that Scottish (9M) & Welsh (2M) are also listed individually. In that Census, the total US population is listed at 281M.

Wikipedia gives a map showing where each major ancestry is in the majority:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a7/Census-2000-Data-Top-US-Ancestries-by-County.svg/2000px-Census-2000-Data-Top-US-Ancestries-by-County.svg.png

:)

Edit:

it always fascinates me how many different origins Americans can have, even if their ancestors came to America ages ago...

about dialects - I obviously don't know all, especially because I'm from Northern Germany where you also have dialects but in my opinion they aren't so heavy like others e. g. in South Germany... I don't really think that there's a "nicest" accent... I guess "Standard" German is ok, so that kind of German you talk when you don't have any heavy dialect (of course everyone has a slight dialect... for example I never really thought I would have any but then I moved to an other federal state to do my training and my classmate asked if there is any dialect where I come from and I was like "well some people say that we for example tend to stretch the vowels" and my classmate was like "that's true" and I was pretty flabbergasted because I never really noticed that myself... and now sometimes I do... and this was a long story with no meaning at all)... Low German (the version I know from here) sounds quite nice but not a lot of people don't talk it anymore, it's more or less dying out... it's just nice, I don't know... an other dialect I like is the one people in and around Berlin talk... it's not "beautiful" but it's that kind of dialect that makes you like a person without really knowing him or her. It's a kind of blunt, direct, I-say-what-I-want but likeable dialect...

The worst? Besides the Bavarian dialect it's basically the dialect people in Saxony talk... nothing against these people but this dialect is just hilarious. It sounds horrible and funny the same time. You can't take anyone serious who talks with his dialect. And you aren't even mean. It simply is like that.

I have to admit it always makes me smile a bit when I read or watch something in English and suddenly a word of German origin appears.. I know it's stupid but it always feels like a little "wave" from home... also when I learnt English in school I was glad that there were some words of French origin which I knew from French class and so it was easier to figure out their meaning in English and to remember them...

I don't really know... also I wouldn't allow myself to judge because my knowledge of UK accents is basically from British shows and actors I admire... sometimes I think Scottish accents have something friendly even if it's really hard to understand them... I don't really know. It's just... and this is nothing against you guys really... I don't know it's hard to explain why I like UK accents more than US accents... perhaps because the UK is closer or in school we learn British English... or because even if it's sometimes a lot harder to follow BBC News than CNN it just sounds a bit more classy... oh I don't know... you are better off to ignore this xD

and this was a long meaningless post. I guess I still won't delete it. I'm sorry.


Jenny, you have run out of your quota of appologies for the year. You are not permitted appologize again until January. ;)


More seriously, I would not have asked the questions if I did not hope for detailed answers. I always like to hear the perspective of those from other countries (I already know the perspective of those around me). Thanks for answering. :)


The worst? Besides the Bavarian dialect it's basically the dialect people in Saxony talk... nothing against these people but this dialect is just hilarious. It sounds horrible and funny the same time. You can't take anyone serious who talks with his dialect. And you aren't even mean. It simply is like that.

Do you think there is a Czech influence on the way the Saxons talk? It's interesting that they are so close to Berlin. :)

[lefty12357]

@Rev, thanks for the charts. I've always found the history and lineage of languages to be very interesting.

oh I don't think that this is uninteresting at all :)

I find it pretty fascinating to know so much about your ancestry... also I'm from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Western Pomerania), my (maternal) grandmother is from Pommern too (while my grandfather is from East Prussia... both obviously had to leave their homes because of the war) so Pommern isn't something totally uncommon to me. I think it's really interesting to know more detailed things about your ancestry and where you come from (I don't know that much about mine... my dad's parents [which I've never met] are from the "Sudentenland" which is now part of the Czech Republic [so it's not that uncommon to find Polish or Czech sounding names in Germany... but I bet that's not so rare in the US either, as I said before it's fascinating how many origins Americans can have).. do you when did your mother's ancestry left Pommern?

ok. This is really really off-topic. I better stop now xD




it's actually pretty cool that all these languages have the same origin... also it reminds me that when you are German it's so weird when you listen to Dutch people... because you are always able to understand a bit... it sounds like really bad German xD


My mother's side of the family came to the US in the 1860's and settled here in Minnesota.

[Jenny_HRO87]

Jenny, you have run out of your quota of appologies for the year. You are not permitted appologize again until January. ;)

oh I know it's hard to deal with me... I apologise for everything. xD



Do you think there is a Czech influence on the way the Saxons talk? It's interesting that they are so close to Berlin. :)

oh this thought never even occurred to me but I don't really think so. Maybe it had a slight influence. No idea. But Saxony isn't so "close" to Berlin. There's still Brandenburg around Berlin first. :)

But there's actually a (minority) language in Germany that is a lot closer to Czech than to German because it's a Slavic language (but I have never met anyone who talks this language because it's located in South Brandenburg/East Saxony which is too far away from my city ;)) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorbian_languages

[Marka]

But there's actually a (minority) language in Germany that is a lot closer to Czech than to German because it's a Slavic language (but I have never met anyone who talks this language because it's located in South Brandenburg/East Saxony which is too far away from my city ;)) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorbian_languages

Sorbian and Slovenian are one of the few languages in the world that have dual next to singular and plural. Being a Slovene myself, I consider it natural to use dual when I speak with someone in my own language, but I have noticed that more and more people of my generation (and younger generations) in my country are starting to use plural instead of dual, using the latter only when they want to stress that only two persons will do something (for example, when they talk about having a date or having sex :) ). Anyway, I see dual as something intimate and personal and I don't care if younger generations think that its outdated.

Sometimes, when I talk to somebody in Croatian or Serbian (which are similar to Slovenian), I sometimes intuitively try to use Slovenian dual, which of course makes no sense to the person I am talking to :))

-------------------------------------------------------
About which language I perceive as the most beautiful - none, really. Every language can be beautiful, flowing and poetic, if you listen to the right person who tries to make it sound flowing and poetic.

Therefore, French as a language is to me as beautiful as Croatian, Russian, Italian, Swiss German, ... if only I like the content of what is being spoken and if I like the person who speaks it. I would classify Esperanto as my favorite language - it is fairly logical, easy to learn and it sounds familiar to me.

[lapinschous]

I think a beautiful language is all just up to personal preference. I actually think German can be quite beautiful with the right voice and intonations.



Must agree! I remember when I was 8 I had my first german class and they gave us audio cassettes and the voice of the girl sounded so pure and smooth when she was saying "I liebe dich" for the pronuntiation practice that I kept replaying the same sentence for days! ^^



As to french langugage, it may be difficult to say being myself a frenchman , but i think that french is pleasant to hear but it REEALLY depends on the person, and the accent. I honeslty don't like the southern accents, Marseille, Montpellier or Corsican accents lack smoothness and the intonations can sometimes sound rude or unelegant... that's why Alizée got rid of the ajaccian accent. But I don't like the slangish suburban accent of Paris, it just sounds too nonchalant and the people who have it generally do not articulate much ... (Jérémy Chatelain is a good example) .


My favorite french accent is... well I can't choose between the North Western accent of Bretagne (Nolwenn Leroy) and the true french (oxfordian) accent from Lyon (Coralie Clément)

[Marka]

I honeslty don't like the southern accents, Marseille, Montpellier or Corsican accents lack smoothness and the intonations can sometimes sound rude or unelegant... that's why Alizée got rid of the ajaccian accent.

If Alizée ever got rid of the Corsican accent just because the way it sounds, then damn her. Its where she comes from, its parth of her childhood, and I am sure that she still speaks it when she is at home. One part of my family speaks a dialect with Hungarian influences, other part the dialect with Turkish influences, both can sound rude and funny at the same time, I know them both and in my real life I speak in my own way, while adapting to the way people around me speak.
But I would never say that one dialect sounds bad or that it is worthless, as they are all unique and beautiful in their own way, and every new one you learn, the more you gain in terms of your personality.

Anyway, I don't really hear the difference, but I love the way she spoke back in 2000-2003.

[ptjmwa]

I think Spanish, Italian, and French are beautiful languages because they just "Flow". I do agree that German, Russian, and English sound kind of ugly. But, to me Russian is probably the worst. Well, asian languages also sound ugly to me..

[Merci Alizée]

Sorbian and Slovenian are one of the few languages in the world that have dual next to singular and plural. Being a Slovene myself, I consider it natural to use dual when I speak with someone in my own language, but I have noticed that more and more people of my generation (and younger generations) in my country are starting to use plural instead of dual, using the latter only when they want to stress that only two persons will do something (for example, when they talk about having a date or having sex :) ). Anyway, I see dual as something intimate and personal and I don't care if younger generations think that its outdated.

Sometimes, when I talk to somebody in Croatian or Serbian (which are similar to Slovenian), I sometimes intuitively try to use Slovenian dual, which of course makes no sense to the person I am talking to :))



I didn't know that dual exist in languages which are still used today. Only time we learn about dual is when we have to study Sanskrit where we have Shabd-rup (Form of words) which is just a table of how a word would be in different cases and number. We had to memorize those tables to learn how to form sentences.

[lapinschous]

Anyway, I don't really hear the difference, but I love the way she spoke back in 2000-2003.

Yeah everyone loved her voice back then , because the accent made her sound like she was stumbling on every word, she was speaking a very childish french and her accent was still cute not yet laughable. Now that she's gotten mature, I must say that mylène did a good job inciting her to hide her accent or it would have been very hard for her to succeed in mainland france.

If you want to transpose this to english, it's the equivalent of a mix between hardcore english cockney and the way poor black people from popular city areas talk in the us.

[Jenny_HRO87]

I hope the Corsican accent is not that kind of accent people can't take seriously or make fun of?

I'm sure she's talking more in her "old" accent now she's back home, even if I'm also sure that she'll go on hiding it in public... I never really noticed a difference between now and then but I never really paid attention either, I should rewatch some old Lili videos...

Sometimes when you move you just start to adopt a new way of talking even if you don't realise it... I had this for example when I moved away for a bit less than 3 years to do my training... when it was nearly over I already sometimes caught myself thinking differently... sounds odd but when it comes to the time of the day we have two ways in Germany to say "quarter past ..." and "quarter to..." which always causes endless discussions and all my collegues and classmates who didn't know this version from home just couldn't get it! On the other hand... I could always understand perfectly (and their version was new to me either!) what they meant but they never understood me! (and it isn't so hard!) And at the end of my training I caught myself thinking in the "wrong" way and I was like "noooooo how can you?" and when I went back it took a while to erase this info from my brain.

Must agree! I remember when I was 8 I had my first german class and they gave us audio cassettes and the voice of the girl sounded so pure and smooth when she was saying "I liebe dich" for the pronuntiation practice that I kept replaying the same sentence for days! ^^

it's actutally "Ich liebe dich" but nevermind :) but I'm glad to hear that at least some people think that German isn't ugly :) In my ears "Ich liebe dich" sounds a bit more beautiful than "I love you" (while je t'aime is the most beautiful out of those three), perhaps it's because that there is one more syllable and it takes a moment longer to say it or something.. but the "ich" might sound not so nice to foreign ears ;)

anyway, talking about ways to say "I love you"... when I was in Paris in January my friend and I we went to Sacre-Coeur and accidentally ran into a very beautiful wall. It's a wall full of ways so say "I love you" in different languages... I took a photo of it but it's not that great... also I concentrated more on the German bits...

http://sphotos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/538279_536185633068457_2108_n.jpg

I kinda regret now that I didn't take a picture of the whole wall....

http://www.lesjetaime.com/english/index.html

(I also found two German versions of "I love you" there and funnily it weren't even the standard versions of saying it... the first was "Ick liebe dir" (which is a version in a dialect people for example in Berlin would use... so not totally incorrect) and the other was "Ich ha di lieb" which was firstly spelled wrong (it's "Ich hab dich lieb") and secondly - a quick German lesson sorry - even if it means "I love you" when you translate it back to English it doesn't mean the same as the "real" I love you (Ich liebe dich) in German... it's more the way to say "I love you" to your mum or dad, to your brother/sister or to your best friend... it's more than "I like you" but it doesn't mean the same as when you say "I love you" to your boyfriend (well you can say it to your partner too)... but you say it to a person that is very dear to you and that love and means a lot to you, that you would miss a lot.. I think it's mostly said by kids to their parents (or vice versa) and for example by girls to their best friends because if a guy would say that to his best friend it would sound really weird... anyway, I thought this wall was really really lovely :)



ok this was a long post with a lot of not interesting and totally not necessary babbling about myself but it took ages to type it so it can stay here until someone complains about it.

[ptjmwa]

Yeah everyone loved her voice back then , because the accent made her sound like she was stumbling on every word, she was speaking a very childish french and her accent was still cute not yet laughable. Now that she's gotten mature, I must say that mylène did a good job inciting her to hide her accent or it would have been very hard for her to succeed in mainland france.

If you want to transpose this to english, it's the equivalent of a mix between hardcore english cockney and the way poor black people from popular city areas talk in the us.

haha. That's not racist at all.

[lapinschous]

I
it's actutally "Ich liebe dich" but nevermind :) but I'm glad to hear that at least some people think that German isn't ugly :)


:bow: Argh!! Forgive me!!! I meant Ich of course... Typing error ^^'


But actually I don't know why many people dislike germanic sounding languages like Flemmish , Dutch or German ... I find them really interesting, the way it sounds heavily depends on the voice of your interlocutor .

As my uncle used to say, the voice of a beautiful girl will always sound enchanting no matter what language she's speaking . :p

[Lili4ever]

I used to hate German grammar. All those artikels confused me a lot. Spent 6 years learning it, but know almost nothing. And i am hitting my self in the head for that. I could be fluent in German, if i was not lazy fuck. I like that sounds are very clear. It makes it so easy to learn pronunciation.
Right now i am learning Danish and my god, it must be the ugliest language a world has ever seen. The grammar doesn't look to difficult, but pronunciation and the way to talk. It's like people intentionally try to talk more difficult. They are just mumbling something so fast, that you are left scratching your head. It is really the least elegant language i have ever heard. I find it very hard to motivate my self to learn it, but i most to, if i want to find a better job

[Lucas]

I used to hate German grammar. All those artikels confused me a lot. Spent 6 years learning it, but know almost nothing.

I learned english and german from the 1st grade on elementary school, and I can tell... we all forgot or never used 95% of all... german could be much easier, without the all grammatical things :D

[Sagittarius]

What do you think about the Polish language? Have you ever had some contact with this language? Polish people do not really like German for obvious reasons we have aversion. For me, the German is little hard and stiff. I really like the French, and I would like to learn it once. French is probably the most beautiful language in the world, I don't say this because of Alizee. Many Poles also likes French. English also sounds to me a little stiffly.

[Jazzmin]

IMHO English is the most beautiful language, seriously. I looove to listen to all those various vowels :P .
Sorbian and Slovenian are one of the few languages in the world that have dual next to singular and plural. Being a Slovene myself, I consider it natural to use dual when I speak with someone in my own language, but I have noticed that more and more people of my generation (and younger generations) in my country are starting to use plural instead of dual, using the latter only when they want to stress that only two persons will do something (for example, when they talk about having a date or having sex :) ). Anyway, I see dual as something intimate and personal and I don't care if younger generations think that its outdated.
In Polish there used to be dual too but it's been archaical since I-don't-know-when. It remained in some proverbs, though. And also this knowledge is useful if you read Polish medieval texts ;) .

When it comes to outdated manners, the Polish pluperfect is quite dead. But roughly 30 years ago people still spoke with it. Or rather had spoken. :)

[Wizard]

Yeah everyone loved her voice back then , because the accent made her sound like she was stumbling on every word, she was speaking a very childish french and her accent was still cute not yet laughable. Now that she's gotten mature, I must say that mylène did a good job inciting her to hide her accent or it would have been very hard for her to succeed in mainland france.

If you want to transpose this to english, it's the equivalent of a mix between hardcore english cockney and the way poor black people from popular city areas talk in the us.

Interesting discussion! Her Corsican accent may be the reason why I struggled at first to understand what she was saying in her earlier video clips, circa early 2000s. I learned French in the formal setting of high school and university classroom, with some immersion, and tend to rely on how I learned it, so it was a struggle. Now, I seem to be getting used to her intonations and mannerism, so it's easier to understand her. Thanks for sharing this!