What's your favourite language and why?

[thetrooper]

German, Spanish, French, even Dutch. But nothing beats the Swedish language.

 

[FreeTerminus]

Hi Of the languages I've taken a class in...I'd say Russian was the best, though German wasn't bad. I hated French though (sorry) - I essentially have to memorize how a word is spelled and how it is pronounced, since they are completely different

Of all the languages I've heard, I like the sound of Japanese.

 

[Pyrite]

I love arabic. I have friends from lebanon and I make them talk to me in arabic. It's so nuanced, and so descriptive in ways that invoke (at least to me) a sense of an entire culture. I know it's my own mind creating things (or i think it is) but it just seems so, identifying. Like it had the entire history of a people hidden in it.

 

[Zuffox]

Japanese, simple verb conjugations. You'd know why if you were in french immersion (most work was conjugation verbs.)

They might be simple, but it's made up by the plethora of tenses that exist - I took Japanese lessons the two last years and it wasn't all that easy, perhaps our so-so teacher didn't make up for it.

The most beautiful existing language today is in my opinion French; the synthax and sounding of the language is particularly enthralling. An affection for a language is in many case pretty inexplicable - besides with English, which, by the way, is one of my three favourites. It is one of the most easy and eloquent languages to express yourself in, especially in writing.

Lastly, there is Latin. It should be obvious why this is such an interesting language. There is the etymological function of the language - as with (Ancient) Greek - since a lot of the European languages are derived from Latin. This means that by knowing Latin you are predisposed to understanding a lot of foreign words in Spanish, Italian, French, English et al due to this. Furthermore, the language sounds amazing and has this aura of former glory and mythical eras.

I like languages.

 

[Hitro]

As English is the only foreign language of which I can speak more than just a few languages it's gotta be the one.

I think the main advantage of English is the simple grammar, which makes it quite easy to learn to a degree where you can have fluent conversations.

 

[Syntherio]

My favourite is Japanese. I like the sound and find it curious, how a simple moderate sentance can sound like an insult, if you pronounce it correctly.

 

[sysyphus]

Deutsch! It's great for getting anrgy with people.

 

[BlizzardGR]

Deutsch! It's great for getting anrgy with people.

Tell me about it! When i was really young and i couldn't understand the language, i thought that people around me who spoke German were actually fighting!

 

[Bozo Erectus]

What's your favourite language and why?

Hard to say really. English is my primary language, I think in English, do all my reading in English, my primary culture is rooted in the English language, etc. However I dont really have strong feelings about it. Its just like the air I breathe. But Spanish I associate with warm, homey feelings. Its my language of intimacy, secrecy (I always switch to Spanish when possible, when passing on gossip or something like that) love, family, friendship, the home. Among Spanish speakers, speaking Spanish creates an instant bond. I suppose its the same for all bilingual people who grew up speaking a different language in the home, regardless of what that language might be.

 

[Rossiya]

someone should make a poll of this post, it would give clearer results.

 

[Fox Mccloud]

I speak a fair amount of Arabic, and I happen to think it's wonderful, correctly spoken. Unlike most languages, it has a better tone to it when spoken by men--it's a language that comes from the throat. It's also quite possibly the nicest language to look at--Arabic calligraphy is wonderful. Written Arabic has this wonderful quality to it; it's flowing one letter into the next, and it looks like the letters are dancing into one another.

I love the Arabic writting too. It's much more beutiful to western script. It's a shame Turkey got rid of it.

 

[Quinzy]

just a little fact:
in Gaelic/Irish, the word for "The Wind" is "An Ghaoth", pronounced "On Gwee"
i have a frien who speaks Arabic and he said that the word in Arabic sounds almost identical to the word in Irish. He even spoke the word, and it did sound nearly identical! its amazing how similar cultures so far appart are, and how the languages are related..

 

[Chukchi Husky]

Silence is not a language, so that doesn't count.

I'm sorry.

 

[Rossiya]

just a little fact:
in Gaelic/Irish, the word for "The Wind" is "An Ghaoth", pronounced "On Gwee"
i have a friend who speaks Arabic and he said that the word in Arabic sounds almost identical to the word in Irish. He even spoke the word, and it did sound nearly identical! its amazing how similar cultures so far apart are, and how the languages are related...

wow, that really is amazing, i can believe it too though.

 

[Sidhe]

just a little fact:
in Gaelic/Irish, the word for "The Wind" is "An Ghaoth", pronounced "On Gwee"
i have a frien who speaks Arabic and he said that the word in Arabic sounds almost identical to the word in Irish. He even spoke the word, and it did sound nearly identical! its amazing how similar cultures so far appart are, and how the languages are related..

Oddly enough all our languages derive fromn a common language, or seem to, people have spent centuries looking at the grammar of every language and they have related them back to many languages and back to many and back to many more, but they all seem to stem from a simillar construction. In modern times we do seem to be moving towards a common language, on the internet at least as far as my blinkered Anglo Saxon eyes can see, maybe one day we'll all speak the same language, who knows? And I mean that quite figuratively

 

[Rossiya]

I remember something from a recent Wikipedia trip, not sure if what i remember is totally correct but i think Arabic and the Gaelic, as well as many other languages from regions in between Arabia and Scotland )), derive from the original ancient "Indo-European" language spoken by people living along the Danube a few thousand years ago.

Amazing how so many languages and dialects can spring from one language.

P.S. EDIT: Really, is anyone going to make a poll to go with this?

 

[Fox Mccloud]

I remember something from a recent Wikipedia trip, not sure if what i remember is totally correct but i think Arabic and the Gaelic, as well as many other languages from regions in between Arabia and Scotland )), derive from the original ancient "Indo-European" language spoken by people living along the Danube a few thousand years ago.

Amazing how so many languages and dialects can spring from one language.

P.S. EDIT: Really, is anyone going to make a poll to go with this?

No, Arabic is not an Indo--European language. You may be thinking of Persian. Arabic is a Semitic Language.

 

[Rossiya]

No, Arabic is not an Indo--European language. You may be thinking of Persian. Arabic is a Semitic Language.

erm, yes, i was.

You know your stuff.

EDIT: Im glad you didnt take the mick about that, some people would have snapped at me immediately, winging how i was so stupid to have got that wrong.

 

[Esox]

Hawaiian is a beautiful-sounding language, and I like the way they string words together to create new words. And it's unusual in that it has only 12 letters (plus spoken glottal stops).

OT: I've heard that a Portuguese speaker can understand a Spanish speaker, but not vice versa. Is that true, or possible?

 

[Fox Mccloud]

EDIT: Im glad you didnt take the mick about that, some people would have snapped at me immediately, winging how i was so stupid to have got that wrong.

I wouldn't do that. It's mean.