Spanish is the most beautiful of all languages

Joey   Thu Aug 31, 2006 10:55 pm GMT
The 'r' in Portuguese is probably the most differentiated sound Portuguese has.

Lisbon uses a very throaty uvular 'r' in the begining of words and when 'rr' is present.
OPorto uses a more rounded uvular 'r' in the begining of words and when 'rr' is present.
Coimbra dosn't use a uvular 'r' but rather a alveolar 'r' stressing it more and carring it over to the next syllable when 'rr' is present.
Menga   Fri Sep 01, 2006 6:12 am GMT
Campinas and Sorocaba [SP] and Mato Grosso use american-sounding retroflex R in ''porto'', ''sorte''; São Paulo uses italian-sounding R in these words (as well as South); Rio, Minas Gerais, Espirito Santo and rest of Brazil use [h], similar to American [h] in hero...
Ben   Fri Sep 01, 2006 10:31 am GMT
French has a very pleasing cadence that qualifies it as one of the most beautiful languages in the world.

I'd also plumb for Italian, if not for the fact that Italian speakers have a predilection for wild gesticulations when speaking. It's hard to take someone seriously when he's being so earnestly flamboyant.

Spanish does nothing for me. It's vastly overrated by its supporters. When spoken in rapidfire pace, it even sounds a little like Malay spoken with a Javanese accent.
JR   Sun Sep 03, 2006 8:39 pm GMT
Heh, I have noticed that many African and tribal languages sound more like Spanish than any European language because of Spanish's open vowels. But that's a quality I favor over nasalized tounges. I especially like Zulu out of the African languages. Very much like spanish, except for the English-like J and hard T.
Jose Luis   Mon Sep 04, 2006 3:26 pm GMT
Ben:

1: Not all Italian speakers gesticulate

2: If they gesticulate, they often do it to help the understanding. IN FACT, they do it most of all with foreigners, because they don't demand the foreigners to talk their language and want to help them

3: A lot of non-Italian people gesticulate, but only Italians admit they do it
LAA   Wed Sep 06, 2006 9:01 pm GMT
Ben,

I love Italian for its phonology is very similar to Spanish, but with a sing tone additive which is very appealing to me.

Spanish is right up there with Italian for me. The 'j's and the 'g's are unique, and the 'z's are soft. Spanish, like Italian, is very melodious and romantic to me.

French lacks the same rythm that Italian and Spanish have, because they drop most of the vowel endings of words. This, along with the uvular 'r's, tends to make French sound somewhat like a northern language to me. The nasal features of French also sound more cacophonous.

And Portuguese is just Portuguese.

Spanish and Italian are definitely my favorite.

Oh, and I forgot about Romanian. But, don't we all! lol
Spinning round and round   Wed Sep 06, 2006 9:25 pm GMT
Getting back to the topic I don't think "Spanish is the most beautiful of all languages", this must the most stuped statment I have ever seen.
Spiting in your face with the ci's and ce's. The r's are so rolled your head spins.
No there are with out a doubt nicer languages.
Joey   Wed Sep 06, 2006 9:30 pm GMT
Jr
(Heh, I have noticed that many African and tribal languages sound more like Spanish than any European language because of Spanish's open vowels. But that's a quality I favor over nasalized tounges. I especially like Zulu out of the African languages. Very much like spanish, except for the English-like J and hard T.)

I have heard both Spanish and Zulu in person and I can't see the similarity.
fab   Wed Sep 06, 2006 9:31 pm GMT
" I love Italian for its phonology is very similar to Spanish "

LAA, the Italian phonolgy has big differences with Spanish.
a lot of sounds of spanish doesn't exist in Italian, and reciproquely.



" French lacks the same rythm that Italian and Spanish have, because they drop most of the vowel endings of words. This, along with the uvular 'r's, tends to make French sound somewhat like a northern language to me. The nasal features of French also sound more cacophonous. "

Northern French accent and pronounciation is not the only one. the southern accents traditionally have less nasal "an, en, in, on, etc.", and the "a/e/i/o" and "n" is pronounced independently. The southern French rythm is much more singing than Spanish (which is a quite flat language comparated to Italian or s
As for the "uvular r", it is a modern characteristic of modern French that was not traditionally pronounced in most French countryside places until recently.
Lance   Wed Sep 06, 2006 9:46 pm GMT
Spanish is right up there with Italian for me. The 'j's and the 'g's are unique, and the 'z's are soft.

UNIQUE IN WHAT? YOU ARE SAYING NO OTHER LANGUAGE HAS J G AND Z SOUNDS LIKE SPANISH. NONSENSE . NOT EVEN THE J , G AND Z ARE UNIQUE.
LAA   Wed Sep 06, 2006 10:32 pm GMT
How are the "J"s not unique? There is no "J" in Italian, and in French, the "J" in French makes a 'g' sound. And the 'g's, as in "colegio" or "guerito". The "g" makes a sharp breath/wisp sound, as does the 'j'. If you pronounce them exactly as you do an English 'h', then you are wrong. There is a subtle difference. And I have noticed that other languages will pronounce the 'z' much more strongly, while in Spanish, the 'z' is very soft, nearly the same as an 's'.

<<Spiting in your face with the ci's and ce's.>>
This is something which exists in Castille. But, Latin American Spanish does not have this feature, and nor do other regions of Spain.

<<As for the "uvular r", it is a modern characteristic of modern French that was not traditionally pronounced in most French countryside places until recently.>>

It doesn't matter if it is a relatively new characteristic of French or not. What matters is how people speak now. And now, throughout France, in 2006, most people use the uvular 'r'.

"LAA, the Italian phonolgy has big differences with Spanish.
a lot of sounds of spanish doesn't exist in Italian, and reciproquely."

They are still very similar in pronounciation. Italian phonology resembles Spanish much more so than it does French. You cannot argue that Fab. Don't even try.

And for those of you who hate Spanish, what languages do you like? And do you happen to have a language in particular which you favor?
greg   Thu Sep 07, 2006 2:17 am GMT
LAA : « French lacks the same rythm that Italian and Spanish have, because they drop most of the vowel endings of words. »


Ce que tu viens d'écrire n'a aucun sens : l'absence d'un son, par définition, ne saurait influencer la prononciation (rythmée ou pas) de ceux qui existent !
D'autre part, ce que tu qualifies de «rythme» n'a rien à voir avec le nombre de syllabes (et donc de voyelles) d'un mot : un mot de 10 syllabes peut être moins accentué qu'un mot de 2 syllabes.


Mais peut-être pensais-tu aux voyelles graphiques, et non aux voyelles phoniques ?


Dans ce cas, prends par exemple le mot Fr <couvent>.
Si tu le prononces [kuv] c'est un verbe : 3e personne pluriel indicatif présent du verbe <couver> [kuve].
Si tu le prononces [kuvÃ], alors tu fais référence à substantif masculin singulier désignant un {bâtiment religieux}.


Si je suis ton raisonnement, [kuv] a moins de «rythme» que [kuvÃ] parce que <ent> ne se prononce pas dans le premier cas et se prononce [Ã] dans le second.
C'est spécieux.
greg   Thu Sep 07, 2006 2:27 am GMT
<<As for the "uvular r", it is a modern characteristic of modern French that was not traditionally pronounced in most French countryside places until recently.>>

LAA : « It doesn't matter if it is a relatively new characteristic of French or not. What matters is how people speak now. And now, throughout France, in 2006, most people use the uvular 'r'. »

Au contraire, c'est très important de savoir si le <r> actuel est ancien ou pas : ça permet savoir s'il y a eu des évolutions (diachronie), si ces évolutions se sont propagées partout (diatopie) et si des valeurs socialement connotées sont affectées à ces évolutions (diastratie).

Pour toutes ces raisons, la remarque à laquelle tu repondais (à côté, comme d'hab) était totalement pertinente.
Guest   Thu Sep 07, 2006 4:11 am GMT
LAA : « It doesn't matter if it is a relatively new characteristic of French or not. What matters is how people speak now. And now, throughout France, in 2006, most people use the uvular 'r'. »

So if you don't seem to care about the past of this language, in this Forum on *languages*, why should you care about "France deserving its name" or not, which is also a matter of the past, and by the way, does not have anything to do with languages at all?........
Aldo   Thu Sep 07, 2006 2:22 pm GMT
I agree with LAA, Spanish in its neutral way sounds more similar to the neutral Italian than to any other romance language at the first sight and much more to the untrained ear no matter of the extra sounds that Italian or Spanish could have/lack but when we talk about accents the thing changes. If one compares f.e. Spain or Cuba accents with Italian accent of course this similarity gets lost.