My favorite would be english and chinese(i really like quite a few of its dialects)
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My favorite would be english and chinese(i really like quite a few of its dialects)
I love Latin and Spanish (I can speak both of those and think that they sound really nice). But I'm not too keen on French; I think that it often sounds very harsh. I also love the sounds of gaelic and welsh... There is a guy at my school who speaks Russian, and that sounds really cool (and also quite hot).
I am currently trying to learn Swahili, because I'm going to Tanzania in the summer... so if anyone knows any, I would really apprecialte some help... I am also trying to learn how to read hyrogliphics (sorry, I can't spell today).
Why Chinese is birdlike and not beautiful? I am deeply fascinated by the chinese poems. To those people who don't like chinese, i suggest you reading some original ancient poems, then you can get some real musicality of chinese.
I like Finnish and English the most. Finnish, because it's my mother tongue and English because I studied it many years and it's the one language you can use almost everywhere.
I've also studied Swedish, but I've never really liked it. I don't like the way it sounds, though sometimes reading Swedish aloud is quite fun. (Can't really make up my mind, can I? :D)
Annamariah, I was under the impression that finnish and swedish were very much alike, or at the very least, that two people speaking one and the other could understand themselves with ease. Would you consider this a misconception?Quote:
Originally Posted by Annamariah
Talking much about oneself can also be a means to conceal oneself.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Read not to contradict and confute, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider.
SIr Francis Bacon
Maybe Annamariah can answer better than me, because I can't speak finnish and swedish. But I know that swedish is a Germanic language (so Indo-European) while Finnish belongs to the Finno-Ugric languages, which are not Indo-European. So there isn't any relation between them.Quote:
Originally Posted by crisaor
Quote:
Originally Posted by crisaor
I don't speak either fluently, but have studied both a bit. They are not languages one could understand in an interchangeable way. As somebody pointed out, Finnish and Swedish do not belong to the same language families. Also, Finnish is particularly isolated. It is very unlike almost every language on earth except with a few distant exceptions within its language family, but it is rather different even from those. It's one of those languages that frequently shows up on "hardest to learn" lists because of its noun declensions, also. But it has a lovely, beautiful sound.
As ranzy and Cien already said, Finnish and Swedish are not related, even though Finland and Sweden are neighbours. The only language which reminds Finnish quite a bit is Estonian. On the other hand, the rest of the Scandinavian languages are very much alike (Swedish, Norwegian, Danish), so maybe you were remembering that :)Quote:
Originally Posted by crisaor
Swedish is a compulsory subject in Finnish schools, so every Finn should be able to speak it ;)
I see, thank you Annamariah, you're probably right, perhaps I was remembering the other scandinavian languages. I've only heard a bit of bokmål (norwegian), and it sounded nice, if that's any indication for the others. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Annamariah
Good to know about swedish teaching in finnish schools, that's also another explanation, even if there isn't any language compatibility.
And thanks to ranzy and cien also, you've been very helpful too.
I really like Japanese, German, Arabic, korean, French and English because they're really beautiful and unique. Although I really love all the languages except.....
I detest Latin-- mostly because of my current latin teacher who can't teach it correctly, and the last part because the Romans were crazy and had to make exceptions to everything. You can't even speak it or know if you're pronounciating it correctly as they are no audio files online or affordable audio tapes >.<
What a nice thread indeed! I enjoyed reading all the inputs, it’s a nice way to learn more about you fellow LitNetters. And of course, being Austrian, I blushed and positively beamed with joy when I saw some of you mention that you liked Austrian German. It’s a funny version of German which some Austrian authors have recently started to explore (and exploit, for the pleasure of many Austrian readers). And just for the record, no, neither Nena's songs nor the "Ode to Joy" are in Austrian German but very much in German "Made in Germany".
As for my own favourite languages, I simply love all of them, I guess (even Latin, which I’ve been studying for six years and read rather fluently back when I was a teenager). I’ve learned English and French at school, Spanish at university, and have tried to self-teach me Italian (only the swear words and the odd sentence stuck), Arabic, Russian and Greek, with not so much success, alas. I think I particularly love modern Greek, though; surely because I’m very much in love with the country itself.
There’ve been many languages I disliked, for example Arabic, which I found harsh, and Turkish. But what can I say? Went to Arabic countries and to Turkey, listened to people talk, bought music CDs and came to love both of them. So today, it’s only the Asian languages I don’t like that much. But not because I don’t like how they sound; only because I know they’re too difficult to learn for someone as old as I ;-)
I could not agree with the above. Reading encourages thinking and ultimately chatting. Weighing and considering is for problem solving.Quote:
Originally Posted by sumalan monica
My favourite language out of those I've attempted was Italian. It's a pretty language, but it's easier to make out the words than French. Like German, the spelling is regular with few inconsistencies. It's a pity not more countries speak it. With apologies to Kiki, my least favourite language was Dutch. It sounds very guttural. There are too many z's in it. The best thing about it is that the grammar is relatively simple.
The languages I prefer the most are French and English, though I'm not a native speaker in neither of them. I'd even say I would choose these languages above Dutch, my native language, which also means I rather read in French and English than in Dutch. This goes for any text, whether it's a huge novel or just a tiny paragraph in the newspaper
I don't have any least favourites, but English is my most favourite.
My favourites have to be English, which is my second language, and Bahasa Malaysia, which is my native tongue.
I have to admit, I hated Latin at school. One of our teachers told us that learning Latin would be very helpful with our study of English and other modern languages. The problem with Latin is the grammar is so much harder than languages like French. It does not use pronouns. You have to work it all out by the word endings. If you don't keep on top of the word endings then you're lost.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mugwump101
These days I am fascinated with Hindi/Urdu (Bollywood movies are getting very good!), plus in descending order Pali, Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, Bengali. Unfortunately, I don't know any of these languages, and trying to start learning at a snail pace, so slow that I probably loses what I learnt faster than the rate I pick new things up.
Isn't there a large minority of Swedish living in Finland? But indeed, Finnish is not a Scandinavian language. It belongs to one group with Hungarian, but allegedly those two can't understand each other either (not surprising, seeing as they are so far away from each other and have probably developed on their own for most of the time). What we were probably thinking of was Danish and Swedish which are so similar that the two can just talk to each other. Danish people also crop up in Swedish dramas without being subtitled (such as Wallander). I'm not sure whether Norwegian is similar or understandable, although Sweden and Norway were one kingdom for a long time (but that's saying nothing, I mean, look at Hungarian and German...).Quote:
Originally Posted by Annamariah
Dutch, my MT, is my least favourite language, because in its standard form you can't express anything because of fashion issues. Basically anything is outdated or inadequate.
English, French and German are on a pretty equal level in terms of favoritism, although I know far better English than I do French. My understanding of German is pretty similar to English, but not my active output. French is down the list, although I like its style, it's different to either one of the former two.
I would like to learn more Russian. Seems interesting and different altogether, but sadly the time is lacking due to having a freelance translation business. :(
Swedish, Danish and Norwegian are all very much alike (Icelandic too, though it's the most different among the bunch). I can understand both Danish and Norwegian in their written form quite well, since I know Swedish. Hungarian is related to Finnish, but the similarities are mostly in structures and grammar, not really in the vocabulary, so I wouldn't understand any Hungarian.Quote:
Originally Posted by kiki1982
About five percent of Finland's population are Swedish-speaking Finns. That means that they have Swedish as their mother tongue, even though they are Finnish (not Swedish immigrants). And because of that five percent, all the rest of us have Swedish as a compulsory subject at school even in universities. (That five percent also has to learn Finnish, but at least to me that makes more sense, since Finnish IS the language of the huge majority.)
One of my favorites is spanish. I heard it most of my life, even if I am only a mediocre speaker. I grew up hearing Mexican spanish, but I do love to hear the spaniards speak with their cute accents and vosotros familiarity.
But the best ones must be native American languages - Nahuatl and Quechua especially. (I know they are totally unrelated, I'm just listing them together). Maya is nice too, but I have only heard it a few times.
There are no languages I dislike, though Tagalog (I think I spelled it right) comes pretty close.
My favorite is definitely English. Direct, uncomplicated and full of echoism. Just beautyful!
"Favorite: Austrian German. There is something about a light and flowy form of such a guttoral dialect that just hits the spot and is beautiful so much. Listen to Ode to Joy or 99 Luftballons by Nena, and you can see for yourself."
Well, 99 Luftballons and Ode an die Freude are not Austrian German or do you know a special Austrian Version?
By the way: Is there anyone who could tell me how to get this "Originally Posted by-frame" to mark the quotes I´m referring to?
My favorite is Spanish, but that's because I can speak it. I think I like it more than English, even though that's my first language.
I can't really think of any languages I don't like, but if I had to choose, I'd probably go with Russian.
At the bottom right of the post you want to respond to you can click the "Reply With Quote" button, or you can just use the QUOTE /QUOTE start tag and end tag. If you want to quote multiple people or multiple times I would suggest using copy and paste.Quote:
Originally Posted by kaethe
Thanks a lot, Sea! That should help...Quote:
Originally Posted by Sea
My favorite languages are French and Russian. I speak Russian as well, and I agree, it sounds so intense and cool. French is just such a gorgeous language, and though I don't speak it I love to hear it.
My least favorite languages are Chines and Japanese. I really don't like hearing the fast, staccato-type languages they have.
My favourite is Italian.
Least favourite is Ibo (and various other languages found in Nigeria).
My favourite are Spanish and English.
I like Sindarin.
My favourite is Spanish. Don't have a least favourite.
Oh dear, I pop a favorite something every few hours. As for languages, where do I start? I've been really obsessed with Gaelic sounds these days. I heard this song called bothan airigh am braigh raithneach recently and been trying to get a feel of how to pronounce gaelic sounds ever since. I can speak only one and a half language myself (my first language is bengali, then of course there's english), but I'm fascinated by sounds and languages. I try to sing in languages I don't speak, by hearing them over and over again.
So while we're at it, anyone here know any gaelic to help this poor soul learn some of it? :(
Favorite: French.
Least favorite: Also French, because I have no patience for learning it.
https://soundcloud.com/symphonied/my-gaelic-attempt
Can't anyone see just how desperate I am? Someone just teach me the damned language already!