To non-native English speakers

drew   Tue Mar 10, 2009 12:55 am GMT
I'm curious how English sounds to you in comparison to other Germanic languages or other Euro languages as a whole.

Is English generally pleasant sounding? Is it smooth and easy on the ears? What do you like about it as a spoken language? Or not? Maybe you think it has a neutral sound that is neither beautiful nor rough sounding? Thanks for your opinions.

I think English is a nice sounding langauge, but I'm a native speaker, so my perspective is different.
Guest   Tue Mar 10, 2009 12:57 am GMT
Yes, English sounds relatively pleasing for a Germanic language. Icelandic sounds very nice too.
San326   Tue Mar 10, 2009 1:08 am GMT
I am quite fond of the English language as a whole. I think it rather sound very much like the German and it quite pleasant in this regard.

Thank you.
Voila.   Tue Mar 10, 2009 2:34 am GMT
The reason why English is somewhat pleasent sounding is because it was influence by Latin which is Romantic, unlike the other Germanic languages.

it is also the reason why Romace languages sound so nice.
Carvin   Tue Mar 10, 2009 12:34 pm GMT
English cannot be confused with or compared to any other family of languages.

PRO:
Standard British English is usually a quite nice language, with a rich variety of sounds and pleasant rythmic contrasts between short and long vowels.
Mainstream American English is a tad duller but still alright though.
Even Irish, Scottish, Geordie working class English have some charm of their own.

CONTRA:
Often too trebly and effeminate.
Southern U.S. English is sometimes very questionable (poorly articulated, confusing all vowels into one blurred neutral sound, actually rather obnoxious)

English is a linguistic category of its own!
op   Tue Mar 10, 2009 1:27 pm GMT
English sounds very nice,French sounds ugly.
to voila   Tue Mar 10, 2009 2:02 pm GMT
English sounding has nothing common with Latin or other Romance languages.It is true Germanic sounding. French sounding is heavily influenced by Germanic Frankish language (French "eu"= Dutch "eu",German,Swedish "ö"). True Latin type sounding is Italian.
Leasnam   Tue Mar 10, 2009 3:17 pm GMT
<<The reason why English is somewhat pleasent sounding is because it was influence by Latin which is Romantic, unlike the other Germanic languages.
it is also the reason why Romace languages sound so nice. >>

Not true.
Even the words of Romance outspring in English do not have a ROmance "sound" to them. In English, they sounds distinctly Germanic (eg. English 'Nature' sounds like "Neitcher", not "na-tur")

Besides, ROmance languages don't sound nice at all. They either sound like some east Asian language: Thai or Japanese (for Spanish & Italian), Russian (Portuguese) or like the speaker has snot in their throat (French)

What's nice about that?
Carvin   Tue Mar 10, 2009 3:39 pm GMT
<< In English, they sounds distinctly Germanic (eg. English 'Nature' sounds like "Neitcher", not "na-tur") >>

Hey, this pronunciation ("Neitcher") is not specifically Germanic.
But English it is for sure.

<< French sounding is heavily influenced by Germanic Frankish language (French "eu"= Dutch "eu",German,Swedish "ö"). >>

Yep, but this sound (as well as the 'y' and 'ø' sounds) is unknown in English.


So let's summarize:
- English is VERY Germanic as for the strong aspiration after fortis consonants, just as much or even stronger than in German (but not in Dutch BTW)
- English is pretty UNIQUE thanks to two distinctive features that are not Germanic:
. general diphtonguation of all vowels,
. their idiosyncratic 'r' sound.

My point is: English is a (dominant) alien!
Leasnam   Tue Mar 10, 2009 4:18 pm GMT
<<Hey, this pronunciation ("Neitcher") is not specifically Germanic. >>

Sure it is. Frisian 'neitsje' sounds almost the same as English 'nature'



<<Yep, but this sound (as well as the 'y' and 'ø' sounds) is unknown in English. >>

Unknown in Modern Standard English, not unknown in Modern English dialects (Scottish), Middle English and Old English.




<<- English is pretty UNIQUE thanks to two distinctive features that are not Germanic:
. general diphtonguation of all vowels,
. their idiosyncratic 'r' sound. >>

The two features you list ARE germanic if they are English characteristics. Germanic languages, like all other languages, change over time, and therefore their characteristics also change over time and become redefined.
blanc   Wed Mar 11, 2009 1:54 am GMT
English speaking nymphs sound very gravely voiced and 'chirpy' which is not at all sexy. Especially ones from the Antipodes. Disgusting!
guest   Wed Mar 11, 2009 2:39 am GMT
<<- English is pretty UNIQUE thanks to two distinctive features that are not Germanic:
. general diphtonguation of all vowels,
. their idiosyncratic 'r' sound. >>

The two features you list ARE germanic if they are English characteristics.>>


What a beautiful circular syllogism.
A fine instance of orbital thinking.