What do you like and dislike about each language ?

Catalan : My native language, sounds nice to me, I don't know how it sounds to others, some people say it sounds like a mix of spanish, french and italian.

French : I don't like it that much, some of the sounds are ridiculous lol, I only like it when women speak it because it sounds delicate and feminine.

English : American english sounds very forced and ugly, I prefer british english sounds more refined and melodic, though english langauge today is seen as modern and unclassy. The language of business.

German : A very harsh language for my romance ears, sounds like they are always talking about serious things.

Spanish I like spanish, the Castilian version. Very equilibrated and harmonious language,

Italian. Sounds like they are always singing, because all the words finish with the same intonation, and when they speak very fast sounds like they are complaining and angry.

Greek I like it, sounds nice, but they speak like machines.

Portuguese I like how it sounds, it's a beatiful accent.
 
I like hearing Gaelic both Irish and Scottish.
 
FRENCH It conveys me Tenderness. It's elegant, i like its j (sweet sounds) and also the vocals (like you find in german and northern italian dialcts). But i don't like listening to music in french. Spanish it's way much better in songs for example.

SPANISH I like it, spanish music is popular in italy (latin american music, you often listen to it played usually is summer on the beaches, with songs like Vamos a la playa, Aserejé ah ehehé; Salsa etc..). It conveys me fierceness, but not as in german (it's actually pleasing to listen to it).

PORTUGUESE I prefer spanish to it. (spanish sounds way more clear and more "pure").. portuguese is....shhshshs..eo..eu..shs..eo...ao...eu..eu..eu

ENGLISH I like it it's what i call a round languages (i don't know why it conveys me something round and joyful). I'm crazy for American English accent, "No wayyyyy" "You are a *****!!!" it's very exagerated but i like it. i like it also when it's extremely nasal too.

GERMAN it conveys me Vigour, harshness. Ich liebe dich(dick lol) sounds harsh and not romantic.

I've read always that italian seems sung, happy etc.. but i don't know why??
 
Brazilian-portuguese: I use to listen a lot of bossa-nova music. I like it. Sounds sweet.
Italian: I find its intonation really funny.
French: Agreed with Wilhelm, I like it when women speak it. French is a language I have always related with femality.
Basque: It's harsh on the ears, primitive, most people will find it ugly... but I like it. It evoques me ancient times.
Romanian: Sounds exotic and familiar at the same time.

Regards.
 
^ lynx ^ said:
French: Agreed with Wilhelm, I like it when women speak it. French is a language I have always related with femality.

Regards.
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The Foreign Legion will hunt you down, and take you to a court in Paris .. :innocent:
 
I speak Italian(my mother tongue) and English(since I was in elementary school. I used to be fluent in French, but it has deteriorated, and now my Spanish is probably better. My Portuguese is passable. I tried to learn German in graduate school, but gave it up.

German-too gutteral and harsh, and the grammar was too difficult, or perhaps I didn't try hard enough.

French-elegant, logical language. I like it a great deal-love French songs

Spanish-it was an easy language to learn and I love Spanish poetry and music, but when it is spoken, I find the tone somewhat monotonous.

Portuguese-I love the sound of Portuguese. (I also love Fado) I found there to be more correspondence between Portuguese and Italian than between Spanish and Italian in terms of vocabulary. French also was more similar. Perhaps it is because Spanish has more arabic derived words. I also found Catalan more easily understandable than Spanish when I first went to Spain. This may all have something to do with the fact that the dialects of my area are influenced by a Celtic substratum. There are correspondences to Provencal and Occitan I think.

Italian-It's hard to be objective about your native language, but I think it's extraordinarily beautiful. The open vowels make it perfect for singing,(which is why so many composers have chosen it) and it is extraordinarily easy to rhyme in it. There are many, many words related to domestic life and to the affections. I think it is harder than it appears, especially in terms of verb usage etc. In my experience, many foreigners for example think they speak good Italian, whereas they are actually butchering it. You can tell immediately how educated a person is by the quality of their Italian, and for many students it can be a nightmare to get a good grade in it. There is a very good book on it in English by Dianne Hales called La Bella Lingua.

English-Although it is not my mother tongue, it is the language I speak and write in most frequently. I don't think any other language can compare with it in terms of the subtlety and flexibility which it provides. The sheer quantity of its vocabulary makes it a dream for writers. I have no idea how it sounds to others, although I think it has a slight Germanic quality, and so may not be as pleasing to the ear.
 
It's not easy to give an answer, but I'll try to talk about the languages that I know better. :)

Italian - I think that I'm not the most indicate person to talk about a language that is the mine, so I may appear unbiased.
I think that the Italian is a great language not only for how it sounds (not too "sweet", not harsh, not sibilant and not "skinny"), but even because it has a literary tradition that is great.
What I don't like...Maybe it could appear too hard gramatically for the foreigners. It has a lot of tenses, irregular verbs and double letters.

English - I have to confess that I don't like so much this language. Even if it is perfect for music, it sounds too "chopped" at my ears, expecially when spoken in slang. And, strangely, I find it quite difficult to talk (and write).
What I like about English it's that it is immediate and it's the easiest way to communicate.

Spanish - I have to make a premise: I talk this language fluently and I hear talking in Spanish quite often. I think it's basic to make a distinction beetween Spanish-Castillan and Spanish-Latinoamerican. Contrary to the prevalent opinion, I LOVE Spanish language from Spain and I dislike the American pronunciation. I love the sound "J" and "Z" too, how it is pronunced in Spain. It is great for music and it give to girls and women a charm touch that makes me crazy.

French - I think here the fundamental distinction should be made beetween French spoken by men and French spoken by women. I love when it is spoken by women because it's SEXY. It gives to them charm, an "allure" as they would say.
If it is spoken by men it sound "too sweet". But it's always a Latin language, one of the best in the world to hear and talk for me.

Talking about languages that I don't really know:
Portuguese sounds great, but sometimes it is too "slobber".
What I can say about German it is that I don't understand ANYTHING and it doesn't sound good to me.
I really like Greek talking, but it's quite funny too.
The language I don't like at all is arabic, really harsh.
 
Riccardo said:
Spanish - I have to make a premise: I talk this language fluently and I hear talking in Spanish quite often. I think it's basic to make a distinction beetween Spanish-Castillan and Spanish-Latinoamerican. Contrary to the prevalent opinion, I LOVE Spanish language from Spain and I dislike the American pronunciation. I love the sound "J" and "Z" too, how it is pronunced in Spain. It is great for music and it give to girls and women a charm touch that makes me crazy.
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i respect your opinion but that's unfortunate. there's not a UNIQUE american pronuntiation, even in a single latin american country you can find a lot of differents pronuntiations.

i extremely dislike the spanish from spain, the S and the Z sounds like they are about to spit to you, and people in the southern pronuntiation make them sound like stupids (no offense intended).

the most beautifull spanish pronuntiations are in colombia and peru. colombian women talk soft and sweet.
 
Canek said:
i respect your opinion but that's unfortunate. there's not a UNIQUE american pronuntiation, even in a single latin american country you can find a lot of differents pronuntiations.

i extremely dislike the spanish from spain, the S and the Z sounds like they are about to spit to you, and people in the southern pronuntiation make them sound like stupids (no offense intended).

the most beautifull spanish pronuntiations are in colombia and peru. colombian women talk soft and sweet.
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You're surely right Canek, sorry if I couldn't explain me good. What I wanted to say is that in Spain they have a totally different pronunciation compared to the others in South America, and I prefer this one! :good_job:
Maybe it's even because I'm accostumed to it!
 
Riccardo said:
Maybe it's even because I'm accostumed to it!
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that's probably the main reason, it's totally understatable, you are more near to spain.

but people who knows the spanish accent, and most of the latin american accents, usually preffers the latin americans'.
 
Canek said:
that's probably the main reason, it's totally understatable, you are more near to spain.

but people who knows the spanish accent, and most of the latin american accents, usually preffers the latin americans'.
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Eheh a Spanish girl washed my brain in the past. :grin:
 
False. Latin americans tend to hate european spanish. Don´t generalize. That´s just your opinion sirius/canek/baldo. Obviously you don´t know that your favourite Peruvian spanish is pretty similar to our spanish.

I like the French (in girls) and celtic languages.
 
Many people I know who are familiar with various Spanish accents prefer Castilian Spanish. Most seem to consider Castilian to be clearer and easier to understand. The closest thing I have heard to Castilian in LatAm is Columbian style Spanish.

Language is language. You're going to like some and dislike others.
 
NO single language is without variants in their own countries.

Spain has many variants of Spanish, depending on region.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Spain


The Spanish spoken in the Americas has many indigeous words incorporated into it.
There is nothing "inherently" wrong with it.

There is no PURE language.

English even in England has it's variants in accents and dialects depending on location of the individuals.

ALL languages are influenced by: Level education of the individual(s), social status familial background, etc . The more educated a person is the more "likely" that that persons speaks their language closer to the "modal of that language (of their own country) . One's occupation also influences language. A farmer, sheep herder, coal miner, etc will have a different daily vocabulary of a given language than that of an office worker, artist, etc.

What I like about Spanish, French , Italian , Portuguese, and English, all of its variants are beautiful and pleasant to the "ear". What I don't like about them is that I can't master them. By the way I've been to Portugual, and Brazil and the Portuguese in Brazil is very "melodious" vs. the more "gutteral" mainland Portguese (to my ears).

All languages evolve and incorporate existing lexicons in their own languages. The computer age is a good examle, we are using words and phrases that did not exist bc (before computers).

To "lump" any given language as the "measuring rod" of an entire countries language and of any other country that speaks that language is simply not a fact.

I've been to Paris and have heard variants of French there, and I've been to Southwestern France, and the accent and dialects are also different than the French spoken in Paris (most of the small towns in Southwesten France, speak in a rather straight foward way.

Not all small towners speak country talk, it all depends on their education status as mentioned above.

All language is about communication, if one understands what is being communicated then that is all that matters in everyday "chatter".

Why find fault with its delivery?

Melusine
 
The limit where to define a dialect or a language is often very fluid and socially constructed. For instance, when I listen to Swiss German I understand as much as when I listen to Dutch. Although Swiss German is considered a German dialect, while Dutch is considered a distinct western Germanic language. In fact, "High German" as it is widely spoken today in Germany, linguisticaly lies between the Alemanic (e.g. Swiss Dutch) and Netherlandic (e.g. Dutch) branch. However, Swiss Germans are also considered as ethnic Germans, while the Dutch are Dutch. So in the end the limit between dialect and language is about politics.
 
Mzungu mchagga said:
The limit where to define a dialect or a language is often very fluid and socially constructed. For instance, when I listen to Swiss German I understand as much as when I listen to Dutch. Although Swiss German is considered a German dialect, while Dutch is considered a distinct western Germanic language. In fact, "High German" as it is widely spoken today in Germany, linguisticaly lies between the Alemanic (e.g. Swiss Dutch) and Netherlandic (e.g. Dutch) branch. However, Swiss Germans are also considered as ethnic Germans, while the Dutch are Dutch. So in the end the limit between dialect and language is about politics.
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I agree! Even dialects have their gramatical structure..I would add that maybe a language it's just the amount of the dialects that share the same gramatical structure?
I'm quite ignorant in this subject so don't blame me if I'm wrong! :good_job:
 
Riccardo said:
I agree! Even dialects have their gramatical structure..I would add that maybe a language it's just the amount of the dialects that share the same gramatical structure?
I'm quite ignorant in this subject so don't blame me if I'm wrong! :good_job:
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Mmh, I think there is no ultimate rule. It seems to be really a matter of acceptance by the people whether a dialect is still considered a dialect or already different language.
 
Cambria Red said:
Many people I know who are familiar with various Spanish accents prefer Castilian Spanish. Most seem to consider Castilian to be clearer and easier to understand. The closest thing I have heard to Castilian in LatAm is Columbian style Spanish.

Language is language. You're going to like some and dislike others.
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probably beacuse they live near to spain, and are more used to the spanish accent... but people not related to spain or latin america usually prefers some latin american accents like colombian or peruvian..
 
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