What do you like and dislike about each language ?

[Maciamo]

The more fluent one becomes in a (foreign) language and the more one can judge what they like/dislike about it.

English

English is my favourite language of expression, because of its richness of vocabulary, flexibility and grammatical convenience (all the useful nuances without the annoying rules), and because it combines the Latin and Germanic cultures. Yet, there are things I dislike about the English vocabulary. For instance, the lack of home-related words compared to French (see Missing words in English).

I find quite primitive and unscientific to have words ending in "-fish" for sea/water creatures that are not fish, like shellfish, crayfish, jellyfih, etc. I also dislike words like 'pineapple' or 'eggplant', because a pineapple is not related to an apple, and 'eggplant' sounds too weird (it's just a word vaguely based on the appearance of an "egg"). Fortunately the latter is only American English.


French

I prefer French to English is formal or business situation because I find it has more "fixed" polite expressions, which makes it easier (like in Japanese). In informal situation or when writing I prefer English though.

What I dislike most about French is the ridiculously irregular grammar ("don't forget the exception to the exception to rule blablabla which applies in this case because of position of the subject in relation to the indirect object" kashii: ).

Quite a few French idioms are so metaphorical or old-fashioned that they sound really ridiculous or nonsensical. Of course, English has plenty of metaphorical idioms too, but some French ones are just uniquely ridiculous (while some other are well found indeed). In French, an idiomatic way to say that something happened by chance is to say literally "at the little happiness the chance" (au petit bonheur la chance) - frankly, what's that ! If you want to say that you "enjoy yourself", you can say that you "take your foot" (prendre son pied) in French. It's a very common expresion but I never like it because it is too ridiculous.

 

[Ma Cherie]

French:

What I like about French is that to me, it's a beautiful language. I like how it sounds when people speak French. I feel that French isn't a difficult language to learn because it has such a limited supply of words. But what I dislike about French are the issues with what's masculine and what's feminine. Even though my French is limited, I think get the general idea of what's considered feminine and masculine. It seems that when talking about a general concept or idea, it seems that's when words are feminine.

English:

I like English because it's my native language. But I, too like English because of the vocabulary. What I don't like about English is that to me, there are times when English doesn't seem all that logical.

 

[Maciamo]

I was hoping for likes and dislikes going beyond "because it's my native language" or learning issues like remembering which is masculine or feminine. I intentionally refrained from commenting on Dutch, German, Italian, Spanish and Japanese because I didn't feel I had reached a 'native enough' level, or I haven't analysed them enough or used them in all kinds of situation (e.g. business) to really feel what I like or dislike about the language apart from learning issues.

I didn't comment on which language I found more beautiful, because it depends too much on the voice, accent and intonation of the person speaking it. French can be as ugly as it can be beautiful, and the same is true for other languages. French sounds probably best when spoken by "annoucer-like" woman with a warm, sensual voice. I prefer English spoken in a British upper-class and slighlty old-fashioned (late 19th or early 20th century) accent Gender doesn't matter, but older people tend to sound better. German and Italian languages have many regional accents, but I do not know them well enough to pinpoint my favourite one. Japanese sounds best to me when spoken by in a virile "samurai-like" or "yakusa-like" voice.

 

[Kinsao]

Well, I can only comment about French and English, and I'm not sure that my thoughts would be suitable. :bluush:

About French:
Gahhhhhhhhhh I can't put my thoughts into words at all! :banghead: My mind has gone a blank now I'm trying to explain... I'm so bad at this. I can only think to say that there are some things I can express in French better than in English simply because the turn of phrase - could be grammar, word order or particular expressions - just happens to best suit my mood at the time. I can't describe it better than that... :gomen: ... for example, my lastest journal entry I had to write it in French because I couldn't express what I wanted to say so well in English. Not because of the vocabulary but just the mood of the phrasing.

I'm totally not making any sense...
ahem... moving swiftly on...

About English:
As you say, Mac, it seems there is a bit wider vocabulary, and sometimes I am a little frustrated at trying to translate a particular English word into French and having to settle on something that falls a little short of what I want to express. Again like you, I also like the combination of Latin and Germanic influences, which seem to give a broad range of expression. ^^

Both languages have their grammatical complications, of course. I wouldn't exactly say English is without "annoying rules"! It's true there are lots of irregularities in the French grammar but for some reason they don't bother me all that much, and English has irregularities too. In the same way, the 'nonsensical' phrases don't bother me - probably because I have not so 'logical personality' as you, Mac! ........ (I mean, why say "casser les pieds" for "annoy" anyway?! - but I don't really care about it!)

And the sound of languages; well, I think any language can sound nice or horrible depending on the speaker.

Ooo - I find upper-class British accents horribly annoying! :bluush: I don't just mean as in 'well-spoken' (i.e. like RP), but the true upper-class accent... *winces* >_<

 

[Ma Cherie]

I find it much easier for a language to have less vocabulary words, well at least at times I do. That's why I like French, because even though there aren't as many words like English, I feel that sometimes there is only one way of to say something. Instead of using complex sentences when there's no need for them. I know how you feel Kinsao, as I'm learning more French I have to resist the urge to translate a paticular word into English.


About Japanese, even though we're only discussing English and French. One reason why I like Japanese is because I like the patterns of syllables are important as the next. Like "konnichiwa" kon-ni-chi-wa. It gives the language a certian rhythm.

 

[Minty]

I find it much easier for a language to have less vocabulary words, well at least at times I do. That's why I like French, because even though there aren't as many words like English, I feel that sometimes there is only one way of to say something. Instead of using complex sentences when there's no need for them. I know how you feel Kinsao, as I'm learning more French I have to resist the urge to translate a paticular word into English.

Actually French has more vocabularies than English.

Ok, my comments on learning European languages.

English, I hate the irregular grammars, but I like the way English sounds, I think it has beautiful pronunciations.

French, well as you know my first language is Mandarin, Chinese.

So when I first learnt the English language the most challenging things were the tenses because our grammar is easy, but when I get to learn French I think boy it is more difficult than English, it also took a while to get the pronunciations right. I don't know, I find learning French tricky, at the beggining I kept on getting it mixed up with German... I am still learning the language I am not fluent in French.

German, I took it for a year when I was a University student back in Australia. I think the pronunciation is easy because it is very close to English but the grammar is a headache it is more difficult than French grammar in my opinion and the spelling is most difficult to remember their words are so long.

However I liked my German teacher, she used to teach in Malaysia and she was rather nice to me.

I am not fluent in German, but as I live in Strasbourg and we go to Germany to buy things I can understand the products' names in German, and not buy the wrong products. Although there seems to be quite some number of Germans online who speak English but the Germans in the stores we go to in Germany don?ft , some can speak French though...

 

[Duo]

French is a language with very a very complex grammar structure. I think at times it can be quite enjoyable. I have a love/hate relationship with french. At times i really enjoy speaking it becuase it sounds "chic" and fancy. However, when it comes to grammar i feel like burning the paper im writing on. There are way too many rules and expetions to the rules and expetions to the expetions and so forth.

English is simpler. It's more malluable and moldable. It's straightforward but when used in the right way by the right person it can be sublime. It's easier to give your own personal shape to english than french i would say.

Italian is in my view a more romantic language then french. It's simpler grammar wise and pronounciation wise it lacks the annoying nasal sounds and the "rrrrrrrr" in your throat that french employs.

 

[Ma Cherie]

I think Italian is another one of those "beautiful" languages, and Spanish, in my opinion. :bluush:

Oh, and that thing about the "rrrrr" that you make with your throat in French, after learning French for awhile it seems I've gotten use to it. Though it can be rather annoying at times. I used to cough when I first started learning French "r".:bluush:

 

[Maciamo]

Duo, you have expressed my exact thoughts in these 3 languages.

Ma Cherie, I don't think anymore that Spanish is such a beautiful language (after learning it). Real Spanish (from Castilla) is too harsh with all those "j" sounds and snake-like "c" and "z" (like in Zaragoza). It is "drier" and lacks the joyful intonation of Italian. It doesn't have the elegance of French, nor the grandeur of English.

 

[Kinsao]

I recently started learning a bit of Latvian, and it makes me feel very glad that English does not use different cases.

 

[Dutch Baka]

What I dislike about my language is that foreigners can't pronounce the G, and my wife makes joke about that!

 

[Maciamo]

What I dislike about my language is that foreigners can't pronounce the G, and my wife makes joke about that!

But what is even funnier is that the Dutch "g" is pronounced in very different ways in the North of the Netherlands (closer to a German "ch" or Spanish "j"), in the South and in Flanders. People in Brugge are said to be almost unable to pronounce "g" so that they cannot even pronounce their city name.

 

[buruburu69]

English:
I like the sounds and the rythm of the language, the way word are bouncing. I understand why Eminem is not French...Also, It s very easy to convey an idea with a minimum of words.

French:
My native language, many different sounds.
As most of the sounds are "flat", not stressed, to my mind, it is easy to learn orally, (written French is tricky and has been created to torture foreigners!!!), also it is very flexible to play with the tone. Thus you can pronunce a same sentence, according to the sound you say it, the meaning change.

Italian:
sounds sexy and familiar

Spanish:
idem (sexy), but the sound of "j" isn't nice to my ear.I guess it is the same for English native speaker who hear the French "r".

Dutch:
Sounds weird.

German:
Sometime I like the melody of the language. Sometime I think it sounds ridiculous. very long sentence, take your breath...

And I am sorry there is more word in English than French. But don't forget French supplied word to the english language for many century (and vice versa).
But, dont forget!!! French language is supplied by...many many other languages!!!

 

[Minty]

English:



And I am sorry there is more word in English than French. But don't forget French supplied word to the english language for many century (and vice versa).
But, dont forget!!! French language is supplied by...many many other languages!!!

You mean there are more words in French than English!

Bonjour! Where do you live in France! I live in Strasbourg with my French husband.

 

[Kinsao]

As most of the sounds are "flat", not stressed, to my mind, it is easy to learn orally, (written French is tricky and has been created to torture foreigners!!!), also it is very flexible to play with the tone. Thus you can pronunce a same sentence, according to the sound you say it, the meaning change.

One of the things that I find, I have to use my brain a bit when I'm writing, but when talking, I find French easier... it seems odd, because usually people find a language easier when reading/writing because you have time to think about what you are going to say, whereas in speaking/listening you are "on the spot", but I find the latter a bit easier in French, because of the flexibility as you say... I can make an indication of my ideas, and get the meaning across, without having to have precise grammar; in fact, even in only a very few words... (and no one in France has ever tried to talk to me in English, so I consider that a positive sign, although maybe it's just that none of them spoke English but I think in the capital at least some would have English skills! :relief: )

 

[Zauriel]

German
Likes: rich morphology, complex sentence constructions, three gendered cases (masculine, neuter and feminine) and distinctions between nominative, genitive, accusative, and dative cases.
Dislikes: confusingly grammatical differences between the dependent clauses and independent clauses or main clauses and subclauses.


English:
Likes: very simple syntax, abundant vocabulary, advanced phonology
Dislikes: No distinction between the singular and plural pronouns of the second person ("You" pronoun is both singular and plural), lack of a genderless third-person pronoun, insufficient verb conjugations of the subjunctive tense, too many irregular verbs, too many irregular plural markers, inadequate morphology, clumsy semantics,


Irregular Plural markers:
mice
children
octopi (plural of octopus)
alumni (plural of alumnus)


Tagalog:
Likes: Its ergative-absolutive cases, genderless pronouns, distinctions between the articles of people and things, ligatures, complex verbs, an unique morphology and an unique phonology.
Dislikes: Limited vocabulary, too many complex verb affixes, prefixes and suffixes, and lack of definite articles in the possessive and indirect object cases.

French
Likes: simple sentence constructions and and how the words are spelled seem romantic,
Dislikes: The way the pronunciation is too different from the spelling.


Italian:
likes: plentiful verb conjugations, four cases (masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural, feminine plural), the way it is spelled sounds romantic
Dislikes: Not too strict rules on Italian grammar, limited phonology, too many verb tenses

Japanese:
Likes: unique honorifics in reference to personal relationships,
Dislikes: limited phonology

 

[Kinsao]

Just thought I'd check in here again to say that I'm starting to learn Hungarian.

Of course, I only know a very few things yet! :blush:

So far, I like the pronunciation.. it's quite beautiful and not too hard (beyond actually remembering it, but once you heard/read the instruction, it's ok ^^).
And dislike.. umm.. can I say.. the fact that it has 22 cases? (!!!)

 

[Mycernius]

I always thought Maltese sounds like Klingon. Odd, eh.

 

[Crazy Russian]

English. I like the way the language sounds (especially in songs).

French. Sometimes it is rather difficult for me to memorise which French word is masculine and which one is feminine. The reason is that the same word can be masculine in French but feminine in Russian. It drives me crazy. For example, the word table is feminine in French but it is masculine in Russian. Or the word fenetre is feminine in French but it is neuter in Russian. Funny, isn't it?

Japanese. It is difficult for me to memorise Japanese words. They sound similar to each other. For example, igaku, kadeki, kuiki, kioku, ugoki, kukaku, etc. Please, advise me how to memorise Japanese words! I am scared!


What is the most terrible thing in the world? Love song in German!


By the way, those who speak English (the English, Americans, etc.) write the pronoun I with a capital letter. We (Russians) write the pronoun so: i.

Those who speak English write the pronoun you with lowercase letter. We write it so: You. Interesting, isn't it?



Scientists have discovered the fact that the right brain hemisphere of individuals who think in Russian is much more developed than the right brain hemisphere of individuals who think in English. Plus, the left brain hemisphere of individuals who think in English is much more developed than the left brain hemisphere of individuals who think in Russian.


Left side processes: speech, analysis, time, sequence.

Right side processes: creativity, patterns, spatial awareness, context.


Left side recognises: letters, numbers, words.

Right side recognises: faces, places, objects.


Individuals who are predominately left sided tend to be more verbal, analytical, and problem solvers; while individuals who are predominately right sided tend to be artsy, good with math, and are more visual in nature.

Functions associated with hemispheric dominance include:​

Right Hemispheric Functions:

1. Connected to left side of the body.

2. Integrates many inputs at once.

3. Processes information more diffusely and simultaneously.

4. Deals with space.

5. Responsible for gestures, facial movements, and body language.

6. Responsible for relational and mathematical operations.

7. Specializes in recognizing places, faces, objects, and music.

8. Does intuitive and holistic thinking.

9. The seat of passion and dreams.

10. Crucial side for artists, craftsman, and musicians.


Left Hemispheric Functions:

1. Connected to right side of body.

2. Deals with inputs one at a time.

3. Processes information in a linear and sequential manner.

4. Deals with time.

5. Responsible for verbal expression and language.

6. Responsible for invariable and arithmetic operations.

7. Specialises in recognising words and numbers.

8. Does logical and analytical thinking.

9. The seat of reason.

10. Crucial side for wordsmiths and engineers.

 

[Niedy]

German: my native language... I absolutely hate the sound of typically germany-german... its harsh and nasal and doesn't sound nice... I like austrian german though... not all dialects and definitely not the low-class slang, but my everday standard german...
german can be a very beautiful language... there are loads of words and ways to say something... but never ever read a specialist book if you don't have to... the thing that is nice for literature and stuff becomes a real pest when applied to scientific texts... there seems to be a competition in who makes the longest and hardest to understand (even for natives) sentences... an believe me... in german you are able to make REALLY long sentences... with loads of sub-clauses... grammar might be horrible for learner's... I mean how do you explain why "girl" needs the neutral gender article...

English: learned in school for 9 years... love it to some extent... I love specialists books in english... they usually are quite nice to read... short sentences... not too many foreign words... heaven! ^^ but i sometimes think it lacks beauty in everday use...

French: learned in school for 5 years... Like it, but hated the teacher... I think French is easier when written (I usually am better in writing in any language)... right now, whenever I try to make a French sentence, Japanese pops up... but I'm able to read it... I dislike Parisians... stuck-up folks...

Japanese: LOVE it I study it at university and I pretty much love everything about it... the sound, the sheer endlessness of ways to say stuff, the beauty of the language... the one thing i don't love is the fact, that the verb comes last (and in spoken language often is left out)... there you have a reaaaaaaaaaally long sentence and only when you hear the last word, you are able to understand... that's kinda hard... :relief:

Latin: yeah... its dead... otherwise I'd killed it... kashii:
Mandarin: just started studying... I think its hard to remember the tones for each and every hanzi... and that they actually sometimes change... but the grammar doesn't seem too difficult (better than japanese, that's for sure)... not sure about the beauty... sometimes I like the sound, sometimes I really hate it... ^^ I don't know about expressing stuff yet... so can't say anything about it