Whats your favorite Germanic language?

LAA   Thu Jul 27, 2006 8:12 pm GMT
Yeah, and maybe the accents of Spain are much more harsh than that which is found in Latin American variants. The "th" pronounciation of zeta in Castille is very ugly in my opinion. But it is not pronounced the same in Latin America.

As far as the major Romance language go, I see Italian as the most "pure". Spanish and Portuguese seem to be polluted with much Arabic vocabulary, while French and Portuguese seem to be diluted with much Celtic influence on the phonology. Romanian sounds similar to how Tiffany described it, as if Latin and Slavic produced offspring.

Spanish and Italian are still, and most likely will be, my most favorite languages. But I like Portuguese in written form, because I can understand much of it. When spoken, it becomes a totally different story.

Sander and the other Germanics are probably going to get pissed off, because once again, we have found ourselves talking about Romance languages, even in a Germanic language thread, lol.
Sergio   Thu Jul 27, 2006 9:48 pm GMT
Fab,

"asperidades"= aspereza
*CaRLoS*   Thu Jul 27, 2006 10:10 pm GMT
Italian and Spanish (and their dialects) are the best known languages to be considered the closest to Latin.
LAA   Thu Jul 27, 2006 11:55 pm GMT
Well, French and Portuguese are not that far removed from Latin themselves. They are probably just as close to Latin as Spanish is, and arguably, almost as much as Italian. But French and Portuguese seem more alienated because of their drastic turn from conservative Latin phonology. That's what makes the difference, not the vocabulary.
fab   Fri Jul 28, 2006 1:08 am GMT
" The "th" pronounciation of zeta in Castille is very ugly in my opinion. "


Oh, no, a mi me gusta mucho la zeta, especialmente cuando es prononciado por una bella y joven mujer...



" But it is not pronounced the same in Latin America. "

Si, yo se. Mi novia habla espanol con un accento venezolano. A mi me gusta menos esta prononciacion donde muchas letras no son prononciadas (las "s", las "d" en "ado" vien "ao"), y el ritmo me parece faltar la energia tipica del Castellano.
JR   Fri Jul 28, 2006 1:49 am GMT
Mucha gente dice que no le gusta el accento español, pero a mi se me hace que suena con comparable belleza que los otros variantes de la lengua Española. En español la claridad es muy importante, y aúnque la varidedad Española del lenguaje se pronuncie la J (como en 'joven') y la G (como en 'Virgen') mas 'dura' que en las otras versiones del español en Latinoamerica, aún no se me hace que el accento sea feo. También la pronunciación de la Z y la C se me hace que suena 'bonita', pero en una manera diferente. Aún que yo é escuchado muchas veces en televisión española que la pronunciación de la S a veces es cambiada como la Z, y eso no me agrada, se me hace que hay demasiados 'th's porque la C, S, y Z son usadas muchas veces en una conversación regular.

Pero también yo soy una de esas personas que se les haga el accento del Portugués Europeo feo comparado con el Brasileño, aún que esto es lo contrario con la mayoria de las personas en éste foro (Y también fuera de éste foro). Pero si me gusta mas el Brasileño porque lo puedo entender mejór ^_^

And to answer the main forum question, I am currently leaning towards Dutch as my favorite. I like the way the R is pronnounced, sounding something of a halfway between the Spanish R and the German R. Although I'm fond of Danish as well.
Tòng húi   Sun Jul 30, 2006 2:41 pm GMT
None of the Germanic languages is my favourite.I am a Chinese and my favourite language family is Sino-Tibetian and the favourite language of mine is Vietnamese.
LAA - Juaquin en la caja!   Mon Jul 31, 2006 6:10 am GMT
"Oh, no, a mi me gusta mucho la zeta, especialmente cuando es prononciado por una bella y joven mujer... "

Why do those weird sounds seem sexy to you and others, like Frederick? The guttural sound from the back of the throat, and the Castillian lisp?? To me, the lisp sounds like they are inbread, and have suffered some mental retardation.

"Si, yo se. Mi novia habla espanol con un accento venezolano. A mi me gusta menos esta prononciacion donde muchas letras no son prononciadas (las "s", las "d" en "ado" vien "ao"), y el ritmo me parece faltar la energia tipica del Castellano."

Your fiancee is from Venezuela? There are a lot of pretty chicas there, lol. Is she a Spanish/Italian mix, or what? And is that why you learned Spanish.

As long as we're talking about regional accents, I must confess one personal bias. I think I tend to not like languages that I struggle to pronounce, or perhaps it is the other way around, and I don't pronounce them well, because I don't like them enough to practice as much as I should.

I'll give you an example. I like English, naturally. But I LOVE Spanish and Italian. Not conincedentally, I can pronounce Spanish and Italian effortlessly. I have no trouble rolling my "r"s, etc. It comes as natural as English. But, with French, or Portuguese, or German, Dutch, Danish, etc., my accent goes in and out, and if I'm not careful to speak very slowly, my English accent is obvious. In French, I definitely have an English accent, because my pronounciation always slips, especially when I come across a nasal word, or have to speak from the back of my throat. Japanese is normally very natural for me. But Chinese, and south east asian languages, like Thai or Vietmanese, no way Jose.
JR   Wed Aug 02, 2006 9:44 pm GMT
I find it hard to believe that you dislike all Germanic languages equally.
LAA   Tue Aug 08, 2006 7:45 pm GMT
"I find it hard to believe that you dislike all Germanic languages equally."

English is the best of all Germanic languages. Frisian also underwent to some degree, the same evolution that English did in sound systems in ancient times. Frisian is my second favorite. Then, afterwords, it's a toss up between the rest. I like Dutch more than German. German with an Austrian accent is not so harsh.

But nothing beats Spanish and Italian for beauty.
fab   Tue Aug 08, 2006 7:57 pm GMT
" Your fiancee is from Venezuela? There are a lot of pretty chicas there, lol. Is she a Spanish/Italian mix, or what? And is that why you learned Spanish. "


No, she's French. But her mother is a criolla Venezuelian and her father is French. That is not the reason why I learned Spanish, I learned spanish when I was at school, as the second foreign language, like most french people do.
LAA   Tue Aug 08, 2006 8:02 pm GMT
So, she's a Spanish/French mix?

Did you say the majority of French school children learn Spanish in school?
Gringo   Tue Aug 08, 2006 9:29 pm GMT
««As far as the major Romance language go, I see Italian as the most "pure". Spanish and Portuguese seem to be polluted with much Arabic vocabulary,»»

The correct word is enriched not polluted. Although Portuguese does not have has many Arabic words as Spanish you would be more correct if you had said that Portuguese is "polluted" with Greek vocabulary. Portuguese has 10 times more Greek words than Arabic.
LAA   Tue Aug 08, 2006 9:41 pm GMT
I didn't mean to include Portuguese in that statement, although to some extent, it is true. And you can think of it as "enriched" if you want. "polluted/enriched" is the same argument as the "glass is half full" or "half empty", however you wish to look at it. To me, Italian sounds very conservative and "pure" in its relation to Latin. Spanish and Italian have preserved Latin phonology, while French, Portuguese, and others have been corrupted by other influences. I happen to like the Latin phonology. So anything which detracts from that, I view as a pollutant or corruption.

The Latin pronounciation of "'in nomine patris, et filli, et spiritus sancti', are nearly identical to modern day Spanish/Italian phonology.
Sergio   Tue Aug 08, 2006 10:02 pm GMT
Hi LAA,
>English is the best of all Germanic languages
Why do you think so? just out of curiosity.
By the way, I don't mean to be pedantic, but one thing is considering English as your favorite, and other thing is stating English is the best...

>The correct word is enriched not polluted
Gringo, I completely agree with you. Otherwise it would be the same to considere English being polluted by Latin and French. I bet no English speakers consider the Latin/French origin words as "pollution".