nicest language in the world

<<If that is "real Scots" then it is definitely not another language. No less understandable for me than Ebonics. Is Ebonics a "language"? I think not.>>

The ability and/or inability to understand scots has nothing to do with its status as a language.

Danes can understand Swedes, yet no one will argue with you that their leids are distinct.

From Flaubert's Dictionnaire des idées reçues:

« LIBYA. A truly asonishing country, in many ways. »

***How was Libya, by the way? It seems you mis-aimed a bit on your return journey if you're in Surrey!***

Caspian - I flew from Heathrow Terminal 5 direct to Tripoli - 3.5 hours flight....the next day an internal flight from Tripoli to Benghazi (1.5 hours). I was with a mate accompanying a group of people belonging to the Royal Association for Roman Archaeology, of which my mate and I are members. It was quite exhausting visiting the truly magnificent Roman sites in both the Cyrenaica and Tripolitania regions of Libya - such as the huge Leptis Magna site literally on the shores of the blue Mediterranean - the remains are just amazing, dating back to the 1st and 2nd centuries. Then into the mountains to visit the famous site at Cyrene, just as vast, just as impressive.

Later on we flew back to Tripoli and went to the equally impressive site at Sabratha, close to the border with Tunisia...again right on the shores of the Med.

All these sites were very badly damaged by the massive earthquake of July 365 AD which had its epicentre just south of Cyprus and which devasted must of the coastal regions of the Med on all of its shores from Tunisia and present day Libya to Turkey and the Holy Land and up to Greece and Italy.

Libya is strictly Islamic, alcohol is illegal and totally banned from the country, it is very much male dominated - for every one single female you see out and about on the streets you will see about 50 males, and of the females you actually do see they are invariably covered up from head to foot - occasionally you see soe heavily veiled in black. You hardly ever see any females dong jobs, either in hotels, restaurants or in shops...always males only. In the evenings all the outside cafes or parks or on the streets generally appear to be men only...very few women as I say.....either men in pairs or just groups of men generally either sitting about or walking about.

We met a number of Libyan men in the course of our stay there (either guides or just casual encounters) and these guys only shook hands with, or even did the double kiss from one cheek to the other, with the males in our group - they virtually ignored the females apart from a cursory verbal greeting. It's just their culture, that's how their society is.

English is spoken or understood to any decent level of competence by hotel and restaurant staff, and in most shops to a generally lesser degree of competence.....that is the case in th capital city Tripoli, anyway.

When in Libya it is essential that you refrain from discussing politics with Libyans, and that you excercise discretion at all times even amoung yourselves as tourists. There are huge hoarding displaying political slogans and pictures of You Know Who all over the place....it is 40 years since he came to power.

If the Libyans wish to develop their tourist industry it is essential that they use the English Language in all their public signs and notices, and not just Arabic, which is totally incomprehensible to 99% of Brits, who are now visiting Libya in increasing numbers simply because of the wonderful ancient Roman sites out there....we have plenty of our own here in the UK but those in Libya, and their location right on the shores of the lovely Mediterranean, are really something else.

They also need to improve their public toilets......yuk is the operative word on that one! Any other things as well, but maybe they will get round to it all in due course.....things seem to take time to get done and dusted in Libya, like those Englishmen lovers I mentioned elsewhere.

I'm in Surrey staying with a friend who is in the Metropolitan Police...he is out on night duty right now. I fly back to Edinburgh from Heathrow in the morning.

Does Libya seem "third-world" infrastructure-wise?

In some ways yes....it does seem to be. For instance Tripoli Airport made one of the guys in our group say that it looked like what Heathrow Airport might well have looked like when it first opened up to commercial air transport way back in 1946!

Many of their public loos (toilets) truly are "third world" I can vouch for that. Holding one's breath and restricting your line of vision is the order of the day!

"Cantonese is second nicest"
"Chinese and English are equally beautiful"

What?? Hahaha, I feel flattered, as Cantonese/Chinese is my native language, but I just find that hard to believe =p

I'd say Korean is the nicest language, though very few will agree with me!
Korean is perfect for shouting down people and insulting your enemies (especially in a North Korean newsreader's accent), but also for confessions of love and dramatic monologues. In my very biased opinion, it can express a much broader spectrum of emotions and personalities than any other Asian language.

Korean girls sound sexy (<3 <3!!) and Korean men sound masculine.

Etruscan is the most beautiful one.

Spanish is beautiful when spoken properly. My second favourite would be Russian.

Old Castilian probably was the finest language ever. It had many more sounds than it has nowadays, for example sh, ds, ts, ss, etc. Like Italian but withouth affected intonation.

"Spanish is beautiful when spoken properly."

The only ones who think Spanish is beautiful are the natives themselves.

"The only ones who think Spanish is beautiful are the natives themselves."

There are over 20 accents in Spanish. Some of them are really nice.

I think that my native language (french) is one of the most attractive language in the world. Italian sounds very romantic and singing it's so nice. I learn german and I think it's so cool, it's such an interesting language. I also learn spanish and I think it's very boring and ugly. Finally I learn english at school and I think that it's really really nice and attractive moreover it's so much easy

I think that my native language (Spanish) is one of the most attractive language in the world. Italian sounds very romantic and singing it's so nice. I learn german and I think it's so cool, it's such an interesting language. I also learn French and I think it's very boring and ugly. Finally I learn english at school and I think that it's really really nice and attractive moreover it's so much easy

1° Italian
2° French
3° British English