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What language do you like most and least?


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Hey guys!  Was wondering what language you like most and least!  For me the language I like the most is Norwegian, that's a language I'd be so eager to learn.  I like the way it sounds, spelling it is so easy and the grammar couldn't be easier!  I love it!  If I could chose a language to learn it would be Norwegian.

Sadly this language is only spoken in Norway, unlike English and Spanish that is spoken in so many places.  So learning it could be seen as kinda useless by many!  Useless for me as well, because I know if  I don't use it often I'll start forgetting it.

As for the language I like least I'd say I'd have a hard time between Dutch and Icelandic, lol. I don't like Dutch so much because it's so hard to know for sure what the spelling of most words are, because they sound so different!  In my language things are are written almost as closely as the way they sound, so it's confusing. 

What language do you like most and least?

All languages I know sound kinda the same. The languages I don't know, but familiar with sound different ( Arabic which I spoke when I lived in Syria for about 2 years) . All languages(Russian, German) I know are just the same. The languages I can get by in sound appealing,howbeit once you have settled into a language usually by using it continuously for about 9 years it loses its allure(I'd even go so far as to say that you stop seeing it as a "language" and start seeing as an especial part of your life). Whence I'm standing all the languages seem the same. They all have the same descriptive ability which is limited only by abilities of its speakers. Their sounds convey information and the way sounds are per se don't seem to matter much.

And by the way there's no such thing as forgetting a language you have properly learned (as in used it on a daily basis for at least 6 years). I haven't used some of my languages (Russian my native tongue, German 9 years of living in Germany) for over a decade on end with no deterioration to them and I don't have any plans on using any language other than English for the rest of my life except for when I'm traveling. 

Well, I even registered to post this.

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The language I like the most is Italian because I think it sounds so beautiful and I'd love to learn it but I don't know if I should because I'm afraid of ruining its beauty. Anyone know what I mean? When I don't understand it I only listen to the beauty of the words instead of hearing actual words I can understand and then ruining the listening experience for me.

The language I like the least might be Finnish. There is no language that I really hate but Finnish just sounds like jibberish and I cannot find any pattern at all. I do know a few words though because of an internship I was on four years ago with three Finnish girls. I understand all the other Nordic languages (Danish, Faroese, Swedish, Norwegian and Icelandic) because I speak Faroese and Danish fluently and hence the other languages are very similar but Finnish doesn't belong with them because it has NOTHING in common with the Scandinavian languages unlike German that is similar to Danish in a lot of aspects.

Church, once you understand the words they never sound the same. I agree Finnish sounds weird,but not as weird as some Baltic languages like Estonian. It simply sounds "broken" to me.

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I'll start off with my least favorite language, it's got to be anything from the northern part of Asia. Chinese (or Mandarin I don't know), Japanese and Korean. It's really hard to learn, I came and went to Japan and for the life of me I can't figure out how things work with the language.

My most favorite is English. I just love it. It's universally recognized and you can pretty much go to places and not have to worry that much about communication if you know how to speak English. I also love Italian, it has that musical string when you speak the language it's really flowy, kinda like pasta (no pun intended)

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All languages I know sound kinda the same. The languages I don't know, but familiar with sound different ( Arabic which I spoke when I lived in Syria for about 2 years) . All languages(Russian, German) I know are just the same. The languages I can get by in sound appealing,howbeit once you have settled into a language usually by using it continuously for about 9 years it loses its allure(I'd even go so far as to say that you stop seeing it as a "language" and start seeing as an especial part of your life). Whence I'm standing all the languages seem the same. They all have the same descriptive ability which is limited only by abilities of its speakers. Their sounds convey information and the way sounds are per se don't seem to matter much.

And by the way there's no such thing as forgetting a language you have properly learned (as in used it on a daily basis for at least 6 years). I haven't used some of my languages (Russian my native tongue, German 9 years of living in Germany) for over a decade on end with no deterioration to them and I don't have any plans on using any language other than English for the rest of my life except for when I'm traveling. 

Well, I even registered to post this.

Sorry, but that's not the case with everyone. Most people I know have noticed their ability to speak, write or understand their mother language has deteriorated after years of not using it. It happened to me. If you don't use it you lose it. That's the reality in most cases.

Of course, you might be an exception and I'm sure there might be many others, but I'd not go as far as saying that a language can stay fresh in your memory even if you don't practice it at all. It happens if you have been living abroad for years, like I have and that's why I'm trying to practice.

Just an observation. As I said this has been my experience, yours might vary a lot.

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My favorite languages are Korean and Japanese. I love most Asian languages, and I wanna try and at least be fluent in Korean by the end of this year so I'm trying pretty hard.

Least favorite would be French. No offence to anyone but I can't stand French and the way words are pronounced, and written. I find it so hard because most words are different depending on your/other person's gender. That's just me though.

Hi there! It seems you are one of the few folks on here who share the same (as me) opinion on the French language. I just don't understand what the big fuss is, most people seem so fascinated by it. I guess it just isn't my thing.

Btw, kudos on learning Korean!

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I'm fluent in English, but I'm not very happy with the whole "things are not spelled out the way they sound" aspect of it. It's so... random! Sometimes I have to help my (American) stepson with his spelling exercises and I have to give up saying "I don't know any way that will help you learn this!". On the other hand, I begrudgingly had to take Portuguese lessons for work reasons, and I ended up loving. Something about that language that makes you think every one you talk to is your lifelong friend.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I like English a lot and would like to be perfect in it. As a writer, I need it to get the best work. Swahili is our national language yet I struggle expressing myself in a long conversation. Some places of employment in my region require someone to be very fluent in Swahili, that locks me out.

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In terms of the way a language sounds, I'd probably have to say German. It's such an interesting sounding language and I'm fascinated by the words used. It's probably from seeing so many WWII movies and television shows.

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I love speaking German, and would love to learn Dutch. When I was in the Netherlands, Dutch sounded like a fast melding of German and English. I swear I understood what was being said, but it's as if my brain couldn't figure out WHY. After taking several other languages, I'd have to say my least favorite is (so sorry for this) French and Italian. They both were too "sing-songy" for me. It was very hard to get over the confidence necessary to speak something that "melodious." I don't know how else to explain it. Has anybody ever felt similar when comparing languages you've learned?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey guys!  Was wondering what language you like most and least!  For me the language I like the most is Norwegian, that's a language I'd be so eager to learn.  I like the way it sounds, spelling it is so easy and the grammar couldn't be easier!  I love it!  If I could chose a language to learn it would be Norwegian.

Sadly this language is only spoken in Norway, unlike English and Spanish that is spoken in so many places.  So learning it could be seen as kinda useless by many!  Useless for me as well, because I know if  I don't use it often I'll start forgetting it.

As for the language I like least I'd say I'd have a hard time between Dutch and Icelandic, lol. I don't like Dutch so much because it's so hard to know for sure what the spelling of most words are, because they sound so different!  In my language things are are written almost as closely as the way they sound, so it's confusing. 

What language do you like most and least?

Both of the languages I am fluent with which are Spanish and English I really like them both, I think Spanish might be prettier. On the other hand I hate french, it's so yucky at least to me, I dont like how it's pronounced.

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I can't say there's any language I hate because they're all beautiful in their own way. I love the Chinese language, it's so artistic and the characters are quite beautiful, even if they don't mean anything to native speakers. I like English because it's so dynamic, and even when it's littered with mistakes you can still understand what they other person is communicating. I like French because it's made to sound good, as you study it more you'll see how many things are changed just so it sounds better.

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With incredible bias, I must say that my favorite language is English. I find it to be the most expansive, flexible, and easy-to-twist language of them all. That's probably a wildly ignorant statement to make considering it's the only language I'm actually fluent in.

As for least favorite, I'd have to say Spanish. It never actually sounded beautiful to me as I'm sure it does to billions out there. That, and the fact that my grades were always terrible in Spanish class. I just couldn't get the gender assignment thing right for objects, and when I had questions about it, no one was ever able to really explain to me the whys and hows. I'm the type of person where if I don't understand an equation reasonably well, I won't get it at all.

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Both of the languages I am fluent with which are Spanish and English I really like them both, I think Spanish might be prettier. On the other hand I hate french, it's so yucky at least to me, I dont like how it's pronounced.

Same here, I feel the same way for french and have no idea why people like it so much!  I don't understand what the big fuzz is about to be honest. But I guess it's all about icons and romanticism linked to France and the french language and culture.  I'm not totally against it or anything like that, it's just I just don't find it that attractive at all.

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I love speaking German, and would love to learn Dutch. When I was in the Netherlands, Dutch sounded like a fast melding of German and English. I swear I understood what was being said, but it's as if my brain couldn't figure out WHY. After taking several other languages, I'd have to say my least favorite is (so sorry for this) French and Italian. They both were too "sing-songy" for me. It was very hard to get over the confidence necessary to speak something that "melodious." I don't know how else to explain it. Has anybody ever felt similar when comparing languages you've learned?

Oh my, I actually have to learn Dutch but I'm not that happy or even motivated about it.  I wish I felt the same way you do about that language, but I don't.  Maybe it's because I barely have any time to dedicate it to learning the language or maybe because deep down I might be a bit afraid of failure... or maybe because I just don't like the way it sounds and how difficult it is for me to spell most words right, hehehehe! 

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With incredible bias, I must say that my favorite language is English. I find it to be the most expansive, flexible, and easy-to-twist language of them all. That's probably a wildly ignorant statement to make considering it's the only language I'm actually fluent in.

As for least favorite, I'd have to say Spanish. It never actually sounded beautiful to me as I'm sure it does to billions out there. That, and the fact that my grades were always terrible in Spanish class. I just couldn't get the gender assignment thing right for objects, and when I had questions about it, no one was ever able to really explain to me the whys and hows. I'm the type of person where if I don't understand an equation reasonably well, I won't get it at all.

Hi there!  I'm a native Spanish speaker and let me tell you I don't take offense at your comment, in fact I agree with what you said, lol.  I just don't understand why some people think Spanish sounds so incredibly beautiful, to me it doesn't at all. I very much prefer English, I feel much better when speaking English than Spanish.

When I speak Spanish I feel weird, I feel like even my voice sounds so weird when I speak it, but when I speak English it sounds so nice and natural to me.  I have no idea why, but I find it easier to communicate deep and complex ideas in English than in Spanish, I can do it in a more concise way!

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I like English a lot and would like to be perfect in it. As a writer, I need it to get the best work. Swahili is our national language yet I struggle expressing myself in a long conversation. Some places of employment in my region require someone to be very fluent in Swahili, that locks me out.

I honestly like English a lot and have always had.  I like the fact it sounds so natural, no weird accents or sounds, English can be such a neutral language!  But my mother language (Spanish) really isn't.  I dislike the way it sounds! I just don't like the way it sounds, those weird accents and sounds.  It's hard to write a perfect Spanish, but it is possible to write in perfect english.  Spanish is so full of ambiguity... English not so much!

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  • 3 weeks later...

I like Italian the most. I think it's a beautiful language. Of course, having a lot of beautiful women associate with the language doesn't hurt either. As far as my least favorite, I'm not sure I have one. I guess if I had to pick I'd say German. No real reason other than the fact that it doesn't seem to be romanticized as much as other languages such as Spanish, French, and Italian. Seems kind of a boring language to learn.

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I love French. I like the sound of it, but I doubt if I'll be able to learn it.

As for the least liked language, I've never considered to not liking a language. I've always thought language to be the most beautiful thing as it's the very thing that allow people to communicate. So, however different our languages may be, none I believe should be least liked (but that's just me).

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My favourite language is Italian because I am Italian and it is so expressive! I also like French and my worst I think would be Russian or German because it is difficult and also sounds a little less attractive than the others.

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Hey guys!  Was wondering what language you like most and least!  For me the language I like the most is Norwegian, that's a language I'd be so eager to learn.  I like the way it sounds, spelling it is so easy and the grammar couldn't be easier!  I love it!  If I could chose a language to learn it would be Norwegian.

Sadly this language is only spoken in Norway, unlike English and Spanish that is spoken in so many places.  So learning it could be seen as kinda useless by many!  Useless for me as well, because I know if  I don't use it often I'll start forgetting it.

As for the language I like least I'd say I'd have a hard time between Dutch and Icelandic, lol. I don't like Dutch so much because it's so hard to know for sure what the spelling of most words are, because they sound so different!  In my language things are are written almost as closely as the way they sound, so it's confusing. 

What language do you like most and least?

Well I really can't stand the sound of Arabic, Hebrew(Yiddish), German, all of it sounds really phlegm-y and harsh. I also have a big dislike of Afrikaans(sp?), it makes my skin crawl. Mandarin and Cantonese I could do without also, because it's so tonal and to my ears extremely shrill.

The languages I enjoy hearing are Japanese, Danish, Swedish, Celtic and some of the African click languages.

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