NationStates Jolt Archive

So what is your favorite language, what language[s] can you speak, what language do you like speaking best, which are you learning, which would you like to learn and which are the most important to learn?

Of Russian, Chinese, Japanese and Arabic which one is the best to learn for the near future? Which one would you actually consider learning based on your own prefered reasoning?

Which language sounds best?

Which language sounds worst?

Or even...which dialects of a certain language sound best and which ones sound worse?

Japanese can be ridiculously soothing.

I've always found French to be pleasing to the ear. It's very flowing.

So what is your favorite language, what language[s] can you speak, what language do you like speaking best, which are you learning, which would you like to learn and which are the most important to learn?

I can speak English, more-or-less understandable basic French, and a smattering of Spanish. I'd like to become fluent in French, Spanish and Russian, at the very least. Spanish is definitely the most important for my job, as a California elementary school teacher; learning a bit of basic Tagalog and Mandarin would also help.

Of Russian, Chinese, Japanese and Arabic which one is the best to learn for the near future? Which one would you actually consider learning based on your own prefered reasoning?

Of those four, Mandarin would probably be the best to learn for my job, but I'm absolutely hopeless at tonal languages. I'd like to actually learn Russian--I took a year of it in college and forgot just about everything because I didn't have a basic understanding of it like I do romance languages.

Which language sounds best?

I am a sucker for French, I admit it. I also like the way Czech sounds, and various Native languages. Japanese can sound very nice.

Which language sounds worst?

I don't care for Cantonese--I prefer the "shuh" sounds of Mandarin to the high pitches of Cantonese. I don't like Finnish, either.

Or even...which dialects of a certain language sound best and which ones sound worse?

I can't stand the southern German accent, especially the Bavarian accent. All those soft mushy "ish"s where there should be nice crisp "ich"s. I prefer the Parisian accent to the Montreal accent--the latter is far too nasal.

I speak English, French and Arabic fluently and can speak in Spanish on a basic level. However I like to hear Italian. I think it has a good flow.

Japanese by far is the most pleasant language to listen to for me.

As for the second question, I'm not learning a language right now, but I'd like to learn either French/German and perhaps Arabic.

Arabic is and will be in the future, a very important language to learn, since the middle east is increasingly central to world affairs.


As for worst language, well I couldn't tell you. Well... Probably a few dialects of English...

I've always liked Arabic, it sounds very exotic. And Arabic script is simply beautiful.

Romanian, Polish, Greek, German, Spanish and Filipino were all spoken around my house when I was a kid. I liked the sound of Polish and Romanian the most, but if I had to rate them for utility, it'd be German among that group, and an Asian language like Mandarin Chinese or Korean among languages in general, at least regarding economic value.

Arabic is and will be in the future, a very important language to learn, since the middle east is increasingly central to world affairs.

I'm not too sure about this. The middle east doesn't seem like a horse I'd bet on.

I'm not too sure about this. The middle east doesn't seem like a horse I'd bet on.

Well it certainly is going to be an important if you're a businessman or diplomat in the future.

Not sure about the everyday joe.

Well it certainly is going to be an important if you're a businessman or diplomat in the future.

Not sure about the everyday joe.

They don't seem to be a rising star in the global economy, according to any data I've seen. Not that I'm an economist, but I do live with one and consequently have to endure more than a bit of speculation. :p

I like PIE!

They don't seem to be a rising star in the global economy, according to any data I've seen. Not that I'm an economist, but I do live with one and consequently have to endure more than a bit of speculation. :p

You need to look away from the cluster****'s that are Iraq and Lebanon, and look towards the United Arab Emirates.

You need to look away from the cluster****'s that are Iraq and Lebanon, and look towards the United Arab Emirates.

However, all of the major international business is predominantly done in English. Of course, I'd say if you're planning to invest in the U.A.E. itself, which is likely to be a big deal, knowing the language immeasurably aids you.

This is true of a lot of places, though; foreigners that make the effort to understand another language and culture show a strong sense of respect for the worldview of others and so are likely to be treated far more favorably than someone who knows nothing about them and expects everything to mold itself to their culture.

And of course, I doubt there are few things that can bring people together more than mangling each others' language...

However, all of the major international business is predominantly done in English. Of course, I'd say if you're planning to invest in the U.A.E. itself, which is likely to be a big deal, knowing the language immeasurably aids you.

This is true of a lot of places, though; foreigners who make the effort to understand another language and culture show a strong sense of respect for the worldview of others and so are likely to be treated far more favorably than someone who knows nothing about them and expects everything to mold itself to their culture.

And of course, I doubt there are few things that can bring people together more than mangling each others' language...

That *is* half the fun. :tongue: Although nitpicking is the unifier of the Web community. ;)

I like english best.
Japanese is not particularly soothing just the Japanese thing where women speak in a really soft high pitch voice makes it soothing. Japanese men speaking however can be unpleasant (given they were drunk salary men).
German is ok.
French is really too nasal for me.
Korean is nice to listen to.
Chinese of god the tones the loudness.

English is easiest to understand, since I'm American and I've spoken English since a few years after I was born. Chinese sounds nice, though its a competition between Russian and Chinese. They're both hard to learn but both awesome.

Ugliest language? Probably Korean in my opinion. I hear it way too damn much. Everyday, there are people talking on their mobiles in Korean, doing projects in Korean, hell even write essays with Korean along the edges. It's annoying. Second ugliest? German. It's awesome for yelling, and it's an epic language, but it sounds...gruff.

I like english best.
Chinese of god the tones the loudness.

English is easiest to understand, since I'm American and I've spoken English since a few years after I was born. Chinese sounds nice, though its a competition between Russian and Chinese. They're both hard to learn but both awesome.

When you say Chinese, do you mean Mandarin or Cantonese?

Also, wtf happened to the multiquote function?

When you say Chinese, do you mean Mandarin or Cantonese?

Also, wtf happened to the multiquote function?

both. Mandarin is more tolerable however. every conversation i have over heard in Cantonese i though was an argument. given that might be because i can understand mandarin.

I don't consider myself fluent in any languages.

Spanish- easy, I like it, it's logical.
French- easy, I don't like it, it's illogical
Swedish- hard, logical, I love/hate it right now
German- hard, illogical, hate it
Japanese- hard, logical, hate it
English- hard, illogical, cumbersome, stupid, worthless, I love it.
ASL- easy, logical, useful, mind numbing, I love it.

The multiquote function just died one day.

Mandarin sounds much better than Cantonese in my opinion. Cantonese sounds like Korean. Interestingly, the West base a lot of their transliterations on Cantonese, such as "Canton" and "Hong Kong."

I don't consider myself fluent in any languages.

Spanish- easy, I like it, it's logical.
French- easy, I don't like it, it's illogical
Swedish- hard, logical, I love/hate it right now
German- hard, illogical, hate it
Japanese- hard, logical, hate it
English- hard, illogical, cumbersome, stupid, worthless, I love it.
ASL- easy, logical, useful, mind numbing, I love it.
German is anything but illogical.....:confused:

i speak four languages:finnish,english,german and swedish.
you have to take swedish lessons in seventh grade.but,now some finnish:NSG on niin mahtava paikka.

I speak English, Spanish and German (and a little Lithuanian.)

I think French sounds the best, though I have zero interest in learning it. I also think English sounds pretty nice too.

Worst? Arabic by leaps and bounds. It is really choppy sounding to me, and all the Ack sounds make me think of someone clearing their throat of phlegm.

Edit: Greek is also a really ugly language. Every time I hear people talking it sounds like they are in an angry argument. I Used to think the local gyro store guy just hated his wife until I experience more Greeks who sounded the same.

I speak English, I find it most comforting if you are abroad, and lost, to hear English =D

I love the eastern European languages. Hungarian is my favourite. I'm a sucker for the east European accents and languages.

I'm learning German.

I dislike Asian languages, and I'm not fond of French or Spanish. This is just a matter of opinion on the language. No reflection on the people who speak them.

sami(saami) for the yoiking

sami(saami) for the yoiking

saami!it's one of the minority languages here in Finland.only used up north.

So what is your favorite language, what language[s] can you speak, what language do you like speaking best, which are you learning, which would you like to learn and which are the most important to learn?
English is my first language. My Spanish still works. I'm learning Norwegian. I'd like to learn Latin, Russian, and Arabic.

Of Russian, Chinese, Japanese and Arabic which one is the best to learn for the near future? Which one would you actually consider learning based on your own prefered reasoning?
Arabic, IMO, would be the best to learn. That language will open the door for many high paying jobs.

Which language sounds best?
I think Russian sounds the best and is very soothing. I like all the "v" sounds in it.

Which language sounds worst?
All languages sound interesting in their own way. I haven't met one that makes my ears bleed yet.

Or even...which dialects of a certain language sound best and which ones sound worse?
I really dislike the deep south accents in the US. Esecially the Georgia one. Apologies to anyone on here from Georgia, I'm sure it's just the people I've heard from that region. I'm not a big fan of the Arkansas accent and some US Midwestern accents either.

My favorite accent is the Boston accent and the middle class English accent.

In Norwegian, I like the Oslo accent better than the Bergen accent. I think that's because I can pronounce the "r" sound better the Oslo way. Not that the Bergen accent is bad, just not my preference.

saami!it's one of the minority languages here in Finland.only used up north.
i only really know about it because i'm a korpiklaani fan and i've listened to some shaman

BTW,there's ads about translation and learning russian in 10 days

I'm disappointed that we can choose only one option. I'd like to learn German, Russian, and Japanese.

My favourite out of those languages is English, because it's the only one I can speak fluently. It's not on your list, but I like the sound of Welsh.

I don't care for Cantonese--I prefer the "shuh" sounds of Mandarin to the high pitches of Cantonese.

Cantonese isn't high pitched at all. I went to a school where about 1/4 of the kids were Cantonese speakers and it wasn't high pitched.

I can't stand the southern German accent, especially the Bavarian accent. All those soft mushy "ish"s where there should be nice crisp "ich"s. I prefer the Parisian accent to the Montreal accent--the latter is far too nasal.

I think you might have that confused with the West-Rhine accents... Bavarian pronounces "ich", quite often in places where it should be "ig" instead. It's the West-Rhiners that will call "Kirche" "Kirsche"...

German is anything but illogical.....:confused:

I always found it highly illogical...

I can speak English fluently, I am learning Spanish & Welsh and I want to learn Portugese & Italian.

About dialects, I hate the American version of English! No offence, but I hate it when websites put the American flag next to the English language option and when they put English & English (British). English comes from the U.K. so it should be English & English (American). :mad:

English actually comes from Northern Germany.

English actually comes from Northern Germany.

If you must be pedantic, Anglo-Saxon (Old English) most resembles Frisian, which is found in the Western regions of Holland, not in Germany. However, unlike most other Germanic languages, in English syntactical functions are determined by the location of words in the sentence, rather than by endings - a feature of Celtic languages. Thus you can argue English is really composed of a Celtic structure, with West-German words, on top of which you get a bit of Old Northern French and Latin.

Celtic languages have word in a different order to English, and originally English came from Northern Germany. That's where most Angles and Saxons were from, although there were Frisians and Jutes. Also, modern Frisian is still spoken in parts of Germany.

Celtic languages have word in a different order to English, and originally English came from Northern England. That's where most Angles and Saxons were froom, although there were Frisians and Jutes. Also, modern Frisian is still spoken in parts of Germany.

I'm sorry to contradict here, but the Angles and Saxons most certainly did not come from Northern England...

Of Russian, Chinese, Japanese and Arabic which one is the best to learn for the near future? [ Dr. Sensitivity mode on ]
Japanese: "Faivu! Fyo! Sri! Zu! Fun! Missajlu relisu!"
Arabic: Two barrels of oil for AK, no way! Three barrels for two AK, deal?

Chinese and Russian are both important, but particularly Chinese.


Which one would you actually consider learning based on your own prefered reasoning?
Well, out of these four, Russian is the only one that can be realistically learned without great dedication, as it comes from the same roots as European languages. To expend the effort required for learning Arabic, Japanese or Mandarin, you need a solid reason.


Which language sounds best?
Tough choice between French and Russian.
Generally French is more melodic, but there are many situations where it lacks the proper expression, just doesn't fit in. Russian is more versatile, and due to its suffixes rhymes well, often unintentionally. So not sure, it depends on the situation. I think, just purely in pleasure for the ear, I like French a bit more, but it's already a solid winner, so I won't vote for it (the only reason English has most votes is because most people don't know anything else, so it doesn't possibly qualify).


Which language sounds worst?
Probably one of those I've never heard. I think it should be something African, if rap music is any indication of their musical tastes.
Out of those in the poll, German.

Or even...which dialects of a certain language sound best and which ones sound worse?
British English definitely sounds better than American. Mastering British vocabulary and accent can give you a good bonus to respect in many situations. Works best if you mix in a slight hint of French accent as well.

I'm sorry to contradict here, but the Angles and Saxons most certainly did not come from Northern England...

Yeah sorry. I just ruined my whole point by typing the wrong country.

Yeah sorry. I just ruined my whole point by typing the wrong country.

Well, this is NSG. Somebody had to call you on it. ;)
To get back on topic, English is at its most basic a Germanic language, but with very strong influences from Celtic, Latin and French. Moreso than any other Germanic language.

No influences from any Celtic languages other than Avon and bin, actually. See, I can play too.

I'd like to learn Russian. Mostly because I would like to be an astronaut and the Soyuz crafts are all there's going to be for a bit in a couple of years.

But then I'd also like to learn Korean (I love the writing style) Japanese would be cool to learn as would German and I'd like to improve my Spanish speaking abilities. I can already speak English and French. But Italian and French are pretty sounding languages.

Also, when you say "Chinese" which dialect are you referring to?

No influences from any Celtic languages other than Avon and bin, actually. See, I can play too.

Adopted words include bucket, car, crockery, noggin, gob, slogan and flannel, truant and gaol

Linky (http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~cpercy/courses/6361Lovis.htm)

Admittedly, not as many loan words as from, say, French, but Celtic languages certainly did influence English and left traces.

I'd say car was a shortening of carriage, and it isn't so much of an influence as a couple of loanwords.

I'd say car was a shortening of carriage, and it isn't so much of an influence as a couple of loanwords.

Etymology contradicts your there :

car
1301, "wheeled vehicle," from Norm.-Fr. carre, from L. carrum, carrus (pl. carra), orig. "two-wheeled Celtic war chariot," from Gaul. karros, from PIE *krsos, from base *kers- "to run." Extension to "automobile" is 1896

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=car&searchmode=none

So what is your favorite language, what language[s] can you speak, what language do you like speaking best, which are you learning, which would you like to learn and which are the most important to learn?

Of Russian, Chinese, Japanese and Arabic which one is the best to learn for the near future? Which one would you actually consider learning based on your own prefered reasoning?

Which language sounds best?

Which language sounds worst?

Or even...which dialects of a certain language sound best and which ones sound worse?
I LOVE the sound of Japanese. I can't get enough of it.

I actually like the sound of most foreign languages. All the more reason to bemoan my apparently serious difficulty in learning them.

Etymology contradicts your there :



http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=car&searchmode=none

Well, I was close, and car wasn't used until the 1800s, by which time the only Celtic speakers left in England were in Cornwall, so it was probably taken from French and therefore not directly from any of the 6 Celtic languages.

Well, I was close, and car wasn't used until the 1800s, by which time the only Celtic speakers left in England were in Cornwall, so it was probably taken from French and therefore not directly from any of the 6 Celtic languages.

The French for car is "voiture". It's unlikely that it was taken from French.

From carriage, which is a French word.

From carriage, which is a French word.

So you didn't read what the entymology of the word is?
Just to make it easier, here it is again : http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=car&searchmode=none

The French for car is "voiture". It's unlikely that it was taken from French.
It's Carro in Spanish, if that helps.

So you didn't read what the entymology of the word is?
Just to make it easier, here it is again : http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=car&searchmode=none

I did read it, it says, from Norman French "carre" meaning wheeled vehicle so it wasn't taken directly from a Celtic language, like I said.

I'm an (American) English speaker. I love the sound of Italian. I am, currently, taking an online Spanish course because I think that, in the US, Spanish is the most useful other language to know. When I complete the Spanish course, I may take Chinese, just because (even though it's tonal and difficult), it will important in the future.

My favorite accent is the Boston accent and the middle class English accent.

What is with people loving Boston accents? I'm from Massachusetts, and I really don't like them.

and the middle class English accent.

No such thing. There's a huge range of accents in England.

What is with people loving Boston accents? I'm from Massachusetts, and I really don't like them.

I dunno, I loves them.:fluffle:

No such thing. There's a huge range of accents in England.

I know there's a huge range, and I don't know the specific names of the specific accents. I like all but the really posh accents, and it's not that I dislike those, they just aren't my favorite.

It's interesting that when you click to see who voted for what the people who voted English are typically the right wingers of the forum.

It's interesting that when you click to see who voted for what the people who voted English are typically the right wingers of the forum.

I'm not right wing.

I'm not right wing.

I said typically, not in every single case.

Who was it?

Who was it?

Who was what? :confused:

The people that chose English.

Adunabar, greed and death, Hydesland, Itinerate Tree Dweller, Right Wing Politics, The imperian empire, Thumbless Pete Crabbe, Verutus, Wilgrove

German is anything but illogical.....:confused:

It's the language that machines speak to each other when they think no people are around :)

Der Amerikanisher Komiker Mark Twains Meinung nach Deutsch (http://crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/awfgrmlg.html)

It's interesting that when you click to see who voted for what the people who voted English are typically the right wingers of the forum.

English is a fairly functional language, it's very modular and flexible, and actually not painful to listen to.

It's just not a particularly fun language to listen to or learn. I like German, for instance, because it has been a fun language to learn.

It's Carro in Spanish, if that helps.

No it's not. It's coche.

Arabic: Two barrels of oil for AK, no way! Three barrels for two AK, deal?

Pfft, I could get a couple hundred AKs for 2 barrels of oil in parts of the Middle East :tongue:

I speak English (American/Canadian) and French (French, not Canadian). I really like the sound of spoken French (obviously) and spoken Arabic (Iraqi, not Kuwaiti or Qatari).

Celtic languages have word in a different order to English, and originally English came from Northern Germany. That's where most Angles and Saxons were from, although there were Frisians and Jutes. Also, modern Frisian is still spoken in parts of Germany.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1674914830350674131 ... and the subsequent 2 episodes.

These people disagree. Now I'm not saying that they are right about everything, but whenever people talk about mixing of peoples and cultures through invasions and wars they have this tendency to assume that along came the warriors and wiped everything out, when in fact this has never ever been observed, and all the evidence points to the contrary in all known cases. What happens is always more complex and intricate, and simplifications in historical accounts are always proven to be deliberate revisions of history.

No it's not. It's coche.
Also, but carro is "car" just the same....

You're arguing the difference between "car" and "automobile"....

And just to save you some wasted breath of arguing your false point with me, just go to google and search "carros" and something like usados or deportivos or something.

For example http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=carros+nuevos&aq=f&oq=

So what is your favorite language
Och there's so many to choose from.
what language[s] can you speak
English, and a little Spanish, French and German. More French and German than Spanish, mind.
what language do you like speaking best
English, because it's what I make myself the most understood in, although I enjoy talking German because the Germans I know are cool.
which are you learning
Learning more German as a Free Elective along with my History degree, so that, I guess.
which would you like to learn
Russian.
which is the most important to learn?
Business English.
Russian, Chinese, Japanese and Arabic which one is the best to learn for the near future?
None of the above, English is and will remain the main trading language of the world for the next, ooh, ages. No idea why you'd learn Japanese other than because you're really into anime and the like. Not actually very useful any more.
Which one would you actually consider learning based on your own prefered reasoning?
Arabic, because I hate freedom. Buh.
Which language sounds best?
Probably one spoken by aliens and such, how are we to know?
Which language sounds worst?
English, in a Birmingham accent.
Or even...which dialects of a certain language sound best and which ones sound worse?
Worst - any Swiss, also verlan.
Best - any 'Upper' version.

It's interesting that when you click to see who voted for what the people who voted English are typically the right wingers of the forum.

I didn't choose English because English is my first language. I made an, apparently erroneous, assumption that you were asking us to choose languages other than our own.

I dunno, I loves them.:fluffle:

They grate for some reason. My Boston friend of course thinks I have no soul.

So what is your favorite language, what language[s] can you speak, what language do you like speaking best, which are you learning, which would you like to learn and which are the most important to learn?

Favourite: Italian, just because it's the one I know best. On second place, Latin and ancient Greek (because of the declension system), followed by German (for compound words and precision). As for singing, German and Russian.
I can speak Italian (big surprise), Milanese ( ;), which isn't a dialect of Italian!), German, Russian, English (I've got a horrible accent though), and bits of French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Czech. Latin and Ancient Greek - I only read them.
I like to speak German and Russian (they've got a wonderful sound).
As for worst sound, English and Portuguese of the languages I know. Also Arabic doesn't sound very good, from what I hear on the bus.
Currently I'm improving my French. I'd wish to learn Sanskrit, but I don't have the time for it.
As for importance, Arabic for diplomacy, and Hindi and Chinese for trade.

I really enjoy both Arabic and Russian (which makes sense since those are the two languages I'm studying) but for different reasons. While Arabic (formal that is....colloquial Arabic sounds to me like what I imagine southern states English sounds like to a non-English speaker) sounds beautiful and can be very poetic, Russian has what I can only describe as a linguistic bitterness to it.

And, for what it's worth, judging from my classmates, Russian is only slightly easier to learn than Arabic. You'll have to put about as much effort into either or. Though, Russian is derived from PIE, it, and the other Slavic languages, have very much so followed their own path away from the Germanic and Romance languages.

Tie between Hebrew and Latin for my favorites... I can speak Hebrew (my parents taught it to me... That whole Jewish herritage thing) but I can't read/write it worth crap and I can read Latin but I can hardly speak it. Latin is the most soothing language and Hebrew is just awesome in my opinion.

The language I have the hardest time listening to without cringing is French... I don't like all the nasal sounds.

i find french most pleasing---in the vernacular.

however: hearing the qur'an sung in the original arabic is one of the most amazing things that i've ever heard. for that reason alone---although i'm not a muslim---arabic may tie; i'm not nuts about how it sounds in everyday speech, however.

i also think---to answer one of the OP's questions---that arabic is probably the best one to learn for the future.

there is one language that takes the cake over all of these, for me, though---it just wasn't listed---maybe because it's dead. but hearing a text read aloud in this language, by someone who actually knows what they're doing, pretty much makes me go right our of my brain:

it's sanskrit!

No it's not. It's coche.

Coche, auto, carro= all of these are acceptable terminologies to describe a car. Correction was superfluous.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1674914830350674131 ... and the subsequent 2 episodes.

These people disagree. Now I'm not saying that they are right about everything, but whenever people talk about mixing of peoples and cultures through invasions and wars they have this tendency to assume that along came the warriors and wiped everything out, when in fact this has never ever been observed, and all the evidence points to the contrary in all known cases. What happens is always more complex and intricate, and simplifications in historical accounts are always proven to be deliberate revisions of history.

Yeah, but there is barely any Celtic influence on English, and DNA tests in the UK show English have the most Germanic blood in them, which makes sense.

Although French is sexy, A posh English girl talking dirty is quite simply the epitome of melodious filth.

I can't stand the Wisconsin accent. It makes you sound like you've been lobotomized, but not quite well enough to shut you up. And The Mancunian twang is nasal torture!

Oh, and I can do basic French, German, about 5 Maori words and 4 Swahili (I'm counting 'jambo'), and "fuck Off" in Swedish.

Will I ever need more?

Although French is sexy, A posh English girl talking dirty is quite simply the epitome of melodious filth.
That does sound pretty good....can you send me a link of something like that? I'm trying to imagine it but I can't really and I havn't the slightest idea of where to look.

Sorry if that's weird but whatever, this is the internet, :p

I like both Arabic and spanish. If possible, in the future I would like to speak primarily both of those languages. I absolutely hate Northern European languages.

My favorite (and first) language is English, because it has such a complex heritage, being in origin a Germanic language, but borrowing rather heavily from Romance languages. My favorite English dialects (though 4T I like them all) are Mid-South American (my dialect), called "Gulf Southern & Mississippi Delta" on this wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_American_English) and Elizabethan era Early Modern (i.e. what you would find in a King James Bible or the works of Shakespeare).

As for other languages, I like the relative intelligibility (i.e. to an English speaker) of the Germanic languages. Dutch, to me, looks like 20% plain, correctly spelled English, 30% misspelled English, and 50% gibberish.

When it comes to Romance languages, I know (and therefore like) Spanish best. French interests me somewhat, but it's too tricky to pronounce with all its silent letters and such.

English is easiest to understand, since I'm American

Ditto.

German. It's awesome for yelling, and it's an epic language, but it sounds...gruff.

Yes, it does sound rather harsh and abrasive to me too, but it is relatively intelligible for a foreign language, being of the same language family as English.

The multiquote function just died one day.

As of now (10:45 PM CDT (GMT-6), September 9, 2008), it is back.

I speak English, I find it most comforting if you are abroad, and lost, to hear English =D

I agree with you. I've never been outside of the United States, but I would find it comforting to hear English in a foreign country.

Except the UK; I'd expect to hear it there.

I can't stand the Wisconsin accent. It makes you sound like you've been lobotomized, but not quite well enough to shut you up.


Oh Lord, I know what you're talking about... I went to school in the Milwaukee area, the accent was like nails on a chalkboard. The only accent in America that's worse is the Yooper accent in the UP of Michigan.

Cantonese isn't high pitched at all. I went to a school where about 1/4 of the kids were Cantonese speakers and it wasn't high pitched.

Yeah, same here. And there were a lot of high tones. Maybe it was a Hong Kong thing, I dunno.

I think you might have that confused with the West-Rhine accents... Bavarian pronounces "ich", quite often in places where it should be "ig" instead. It's the West-Rhiners that will call "Kirche" "Kirsche"...

Yes, thank you, I was! I don't like Bavarian accents either. :P But I dislike them less than the West-Rhine accents. I think I just really like the accent I grew up hearing from relatives (my grandmother was from lower Saxony).

Coche, auto, carro= all of these are acceptable terminologies to describe a car. Correction was superfluous.

If I learned one thing from my 10 weeks of Spanish, it's that every Spanish-speaking country has a different preferred word for "car" and "guy". *nod*

Oh Lord, I know what you're talking about... I went to school in the Milwaukee area, the accent was like nails on a chalkboard. The only accent in America that's worse is the Yooper accent in the UP of Michigan.

I must disagree. The Jersey accent beats the pants off all other annoying accents.

I think you might have that confused with the West-Rhine accents... Bavarian pronounces "ich", quite often in places where it should be "ig" instead. It's the West-Rhiners that will call "Kirche" "Kirsche"...
Yeah, that's kinda how I mangle my own native language and I am from the Rhineland.


I am learning Esperanto since a few months. IMHO it sounds great! I also would like to learn Russian, Turkish and sign language (either deutsche Gebärdensprache or ASL depending on where I'll live).

i would say that to survive in the world u need to know how to speak ..
most importantly

english
french
spanish
russian
mandarin ( chinese )
hindi ( indian )
arabic

and perhaps less importantly

korean
japanese
german
afrikaans

i would say that to survive in the world u need to know how to speak ..
most importantly

english
french
spanish
russian
mandarin ( chinese )
hindi ( indian )
arabic

and perhaps less importantly

korean
japanese
german
afrikaans

Oh, wow, and here all the time I've been perfectly contented with English, and a smattering of German, French and Spanish. Who knew I was shortening my life span by not knowing so many languages fluently.

My favorite isn't on here. I like the various forms of Gaelic as far as something just purely euphonius. Arabic or Spanish might make a good second choice.

This is probably apocryphal, but supposedly Charles V, who had to know a lot of languages since he was king of Spain, Austria, Hungary, and Bohemia, and emperor of Germany, Mexico, and Peru, and duke of Lombardy and Burgundy, and count and baron of this and that, said:
"Spanish is for speaking to God. Italian is for speaking to your lover. French is for speaking to your best friend. English is for speaking to your business partner. German is for speaking to your servant. Russian is for speaking to your dog or your horse."