Fun Words

Just for Fun   Tue Jan 13, 2009 2:45 am GMT
I like Dutch. I know, it's absurd, but how can you not like a language with such fun words like "zonk"? What words do you like in another language and what do the words mean?
held   Tue Jan 13, 2009 8:15 am GMT
Dutch is one of the harshest language I've ever heard and it'll be a very cold day in hell when I decide to learn it, all in all I'm not interested in it at all
I'd learn Icelandic, Frisian, Swedish first
12345   Tue Jan 13, 2009 1:58 pm GMT
«Dutch is one of the harshest language I've ever heard and it'll be a very cold day in hell when I decide to learn it, all in all I'm not interested in it at all
I'd learn Icelandic, Frisian, Swedish first »

So you think Frisian is less harsh than Dutch? maybe I should help you out of that dream? Frisian is even worse than Dutch to my opinion.
Loris   Tue Jan 13, 2009 2:04 pm GMT
Spoken Dutch is nice, it may sound harsh at occasions, but has a lot of swing. And it's not difficult to learn, at least if you know some English.
Namenlos   Tue Jan 13, 2009 2:41 pm GMT
I absolutely love the Dutch language - the way it looks and the way it sounds! I started learning it just for fun, and for a German native speaker like me, it's rather easy.

Tot ziens!
eastlander   Tue Jan 13, 2009 2:55 pm GMT
Dutch language is beautiful ,especially Belgian Dutch (Flemish).Words like "Westmalle Dubbel" or "Gulden Draak" sound impressively.
xixi   Tue Jan 13, 2009 4:24 pm GMT
Tastes differ....
Mariolino   Tue Jan 13, 2009 4:55 pm GMT
I find whole Italian Language funny.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9TVYCffHEE
Just for Fun   Tue Jan 13, 2009 5:26 pm GMT
I think many of you missed the point. I like Dutch because it sounds "funny"-I never said that it sounded beautiful. It's like sledding-bumpy, but fun. I also like it because it's between English and German.
The reason I started the thread was to see what words others find amusing or interesting in other languages. I could have given words like "brouhaha" that some people use in English, but which probably comes from another language. I'll say "French" because they say it in French too, but I don't know its origin.

Japanese has a lot of fun words for onomatopoeia (which is a strange-looking word in itself.) Here are some of them to sample below:

beta beta (sticky)
pera pera (fluent)
chara chara (dress up too much)
musha kusha (angry, vexed, lose compose)
Entbark   Tue Jan 13, 2009 5:45 pm GMT
I think "aujourd'hui" from French and "mulţumesc" from Romanian sound fun.
Just for Fun   Tue Jan 13, 2009 5:51 pm GMT
I think those are interesting words in French and Romanian as well.

I made a mistake in my previous post. I should have written "lose composure."
Entbark   Tue Jan 13, 2009 6:54 pm GMT
I think most Romanian words sound fun, and are fun to say. When I speak Romanian, I feel like I'm flicking my tongue around a lot.
Üser   Tue Jan 13, 2009 7:19 pm GMT
I think the Dutch word "balzak" is overly funny!
mallorqui   Tue Jan 13, 2009 7:22 pm GMT
balaclava is an English funny word, it doesn't even sound English
hormx   Tue Jan 13, 2009 10:32 pm GMT
The English word "that" is a screamer.