>>I always thought Spanish sounded nasty: harsh and labial, it sounds like a motor. It's a language that sounds especially nasty on a high-pitched woman. <<
Hilarious!
Hilarious!
Does English sound like other Germanic languages?
<<Another reason is the shortening of English words, the scarce pre- and suffixes you can find in German and Dutch:
lost - verloren - verloren
won - gewonnen - gewonnen
This makes German and Dutch sound very similar.>>
Not really, because Dutch is not pronounced the way it is spelt.
English - German - Dutch
lost /lOst/ - /fe6 "lo6 rIn/ - /ver "lo:r e/
won /w@n/ - /ge "von In/ - /h\e "v\on e/
lost - verloren - verloren
won - gewonnen - gewonnen
This makes German and Dutch sound very similar.>>
Not really, because Dutch is not pronounced the way it is spelt.
English - German - Dutch
lost /lOst/ - /fe6 "lo6 rIn/ - /ver "lo:r e/
won /w@n/ - /ge "von In/ - /h\e "v\on e/
<<English - German - Dutch
lost /lOst/ - /fe6 "lo6 rIn/ - /ver "lo:r e/ >>
and a better comparison would be English 'forlorn', which still maintains the basic meaning.
'lost' is from a different, though related verb ('losian')
lost /lOst/ - /fe6 "lo6 rIn/ - /ver "lo:r e/ >>
and a better comparison would be English 'forlorn', which still maintains the basic meaning.
'lost' is from a different, though related verb ('losian')
hi everybody.well, i think that english sound like a smooth style of german and i suppose that it too depends of the nacionality of the speaker; french is more similar at firts, because it has not the strong of german, but i must to say that english is different it has a special and a powerfull touch. Im from spain.
<<Lazy tongue, wet, spitty, “hot potato in your mouth” type of pronunciation is normally associated with English pronunciation.
>>
Very true. I second this opinion.
>>
Very true. I second this opinion.
{<<Lazy tongue, wet, spitty, “hot potato in your mouth” type of pronunciation is normally associated with English pronunciation.
>>
Very true. I second this opinion.}
Well, Spanish sounds nasty to us.
>>
Very true. I second this opinion.}
Well, Spanish sounds nasty to us.
Thats a bit harsh!
I always liked the sound of spanish as a serf refills my beer glass and watches his nation fade into obscurity.
I always liked the sound of spanish as a serf refills my beer glass and watches his nation fade into obscurity.
<<Thats a bit harsh!
I always liked the sound of spanish as a serf refills my beer glass and watches his nation fade into obscurity. >>
I have actually never heard what Spanish sounds like. Usually they just take the keys, smile brightly, then park the car...
I always liked the sound of spanish as a serf refills my beer glass and watches his nation fade into obscurity. >>
I have actually never heard what Spanish sounds like. Usually they just take the keys, smile brightly, then park the car...
<<Lazy tongue, wet, spitty, “hot potato in your mouth” type of pronunciation is normally associated with English pronunciation.
>>
Jeez, I wonder what Danish sounds like to you.
>>
Jeez, I wonder what Danish sounds like to you.
I probably should have explained my comment.
I don't think languages that are too dissimilar to our native tongues can be perceived as pleasant. Spanish, being almost strictly a labial tongue, is dissimilar to English, which is a tongue enunciated further back in the mouth, so it is no surprise that the speakers of the two tongues find the other tongue unpleasant.
Continuing on in this vein of thought, I think a Spaniard would probably find Italian more pleasant than German or Arabic, gutteral tongues, and speakers of both Spanish and English would find some American Indian tongues unpleasant due to a strong tendency to be nasal...
I don't think languages that are too dissimilar to our native tongues can be perceived as pleasant. Spanish, being almost strictly a labial tongue, is dissimilar to English, which is a tongue enunciated further back in the mouth, so it is no surprise that the speakers of the two tongues find the other tongue unpleasant.
Continuing on in this vein of thought, I think a Spaniard would probably find Italian more pleasant than German or Arabic, gutteral tongues, and speakers of both Spanish and English would find some American Indian tongues unpleasant due to a strong tendency to be nasal...
German may not be an extremely pleasant sounding language for a Romance speaker, but at least it sounds quite clear and not like an unintelligible mumbling.
I've always thought German to be a pleasant tongue. I realize that most of my contemporaries do not share this opinion.
"I don't think languages that are too dissimilar to our native tongues can be perceived as pleasant."
Hmmm. I don't know about this. I think this is probably your preference just as some people like a particular type of music. It would be interesting to talk to people at length about why they like or don't like a particular language, but only for the sake of finding out if there happened to be a psychological block that could be loosened in order for them to learn languages more easily.
Maybe it is not the case for you, but usually I find people dislike languages because they have unpleasant memories related to specific languages. I could tell you story after story about this, but I won't.
Hmmm. I don't know about this. I think this is probably your preference just as some people like a particular type of music. It would be interesting to talk to people at length about why they like or don't like a particular language, but only for the sake of finding out if there happened to be a psychological block that could be loosened in order for them to learn languages more easily.
Maybe it is not the case for you, but usually I find people dislike languages because they have unpleasant memories related to specific languages. I could tell you story after story about this, but I won't.
<<Well, Spanish sounds nasty to us. >>
I think Spanish often sounds a bit monotonous to us, with lots of short syllables, usually fairly pure vowels, with consonants that aren't too strong. Of course the various country accents are different, with something like Cuban sounding the most extreme.
Sometimes it sounds like syllables are coming out of a machine gun.
I think Spanish often sounds a bit monotonous to us, with lots of short syllables, usually fairly pure vowels, with consonants that aren't too strong. Of course the various country accents are different, with something like Cuban sounding the most extreme.
Sometimes it sounds like syllables are coming out of a machine gun.
"Maybe it is not the case for you, but usually I find people dislike languages because they have unpleasant memories related to specific languages."
I don't know if I can agree with this, KT. I never once heard Spanish spoken in the rural South of the 1970s, and when I finally did hear it, it sounded like a machine gun—as eeuuian has correctly noted. Being both too explosive and too staccato at the same time, I thought it sounded terrible. In my case, at least, there are no bad memories of Spanish to peg it to my perceptions.
I still believe that this perception is due to the fact that the language is too phonetically different from English, but I admit that this is only a theory.
I don't know if I can agree with this, KT. I never once heard Spanish spoken in the rural South of the 1970s, and when I finally did hear it, it sounded like a machine gun—as eeuuian has correctly noted. Being both too explosive and too staccato at the same time, I thought it sounded terrible. In my case, at least, there are no bad memories of Spanish to peg it to my perceptions.
I still believe that this perception is due to the fact that the language is too phonetically different from English, but I admit that this is only a theory.