What's the most beautiful script?

[XLS]

There definitely is a benefit to being able to write a language as well as speak it.  Do you think there is more complexity to those languages that are not written? 

[3rdeyeguy]

I too am a fan of the Arabic script, Tibetan, and even Gothic calligraphy; but I've also noticed that almost any script can be beautiful depending on who's doing the writing. You can actually find beautiful script in some of the most least likely areas. In several ghettos across the world I've seen some amazing graffiti that left me in awe. This led me to believe that it's not necessarily the script that makes something spectacular, but rather the end result the writer/artist is able to translate on their canvas. 

[capuchin]

I voted Japanese because of the languages I know of it's the one that is most fun to write. Though I think runic alphabets also looks great. I'm actually thinking of getting a tattoo written in old english.

[aleshc]

I've always been intrigued by Blackletter or Gothic script. It's essentially Latin but it looks just so cool! The letters give off a very strong authoritative vibe.

 

[宇崎ちゃん]

I once found a nice universal script called Linephon.
It's a constructed script, so there is no way to type it sadly.

A script I was fascinated about during my childhood was one from Pokémon: Unown.
This one exists as a font type and I still remember the whole alphabet (because it's Latin, but styled).

[rz3300]

I have always thought that Arabic has the most beautiful script, and I am pretty sure that it would be the hardest to learn.  I also really like the Chinese script, and also that one is probably really difficult to learn.  I would be very interested to read a story on the history of the script because I am sure that there are some good stories that we can still relate to these days.

[宇崎ちゃん]

@rz3300
From my experience the Chinese script isn't too hard to learn once you've learnt all the radicals.
However, you can't learn the Chinese script as quickly as the Arabic one due to the differences in the amount of characters (26 in Arabic vs ~3000 in Chinese).

Quite funny you mention both of those scripts, because Arabic is the exact opposite of Chinese; you can learn the Arabic script in just a weekend, but memorising Arabic letters is much harder than memorising Chinese characters.
Because unlike with Chinese, there are no radicals in Arabic you can rely on, not to mention that most Arabic letters have an additional 3 variations besides their isolated versions.
And Arabic must be read from right to left, whereas Chinese can be read from left to right or top to bottom (although the latter one is just for nostalgic reasons).

[KittyReeves]

I really love Hindi! Though I also really love the look of Sanskit and Hangul. Pretty much an language that is not Latin based I love, haha.

[VinayaSpeaks]

I think Urdu (the language not listed above) the language spoken in Pakistan has the most beautiful script. It is often said Urdu is one of the world's most beautiful language.

 

 

[Rumpelstilzli]

I'm going with Sanskrit - I don't know why, but it really gets me! 

[Zhenni]

I always thought Arabic and Sanskrit were the most beautiful alphabets out there. I am a bit biased in choosing Chinese over them, mainly because I currently live in China and I am studying it. I love reading it and learning new characters, and the meaning behind them. I love writing it so Chinese Simplified wins for me. Chinese can be very mundane to study, but I would definitely choose to study it as opposed to Arabic which looks way too difficult.

[Danili]

I voted Arabic... I think it's really elegant and beautiful, looks mystical too. It's actually not too hard to learn either; I tried in the summer and it took me a few days to get the basics down, I know if I had persisted I'd have been reading it well quite quickly. Reading from right to left takes a bit of getting used to though! 

I also really like how Sanskrit looks, I've always wondered how that line above is drawn. Are the main characters written first, then topped off with the line, or the other way round? 

I'm Bulgarian so I can read Cyrillic, but I don't think it's beautiful per se. I think it looks like an alien, strict script, but not "beautiful". Tibetan is just crazy!! 

[Ursus_Spelaeus]

I like the script used in the Thai language, myself. The structure really communicates how the intonations work.

[brooklyn218]

After reading this post, I realized just how plain the English alphabet looks!! I love Hebrew, Japanese and Arabic! They are all so intricate and beautiful! It is hard to pick just one favorite 

[lisasian86]

I'd never thought about this before, but going on the posts in this thread I have to say I think the Tibetan script is beautiful with Hebrew coming in second.

[glreese]

I am slightly biased on this subject. However, I think that the Chinese language is the most beautiful and intricate writing. It becomes all the more beautiful when you learn to read it. I have just finished a year of studying Chinese and I find the writing more beautiful and majestic than before I started learning.

[ailsaurus]

The most beautiful writing script is definitely Arabic! They are so awe-inspiring, and they can form fascinating shapes including animals and people! Here I present you an Arabic calligraphy.... in the form of a horse!

[Norm A]

Not that I'm an expert or anything, but Arabic looks really nice to me. I really know nothing about most of the other scripts in the survey but I've seen a little snippet of Arabic and some Chinese and some Latin. Arabic has an elegance to it that makes me want to learn it. 

[Rooks57]

I'm biased for Japanese because I'm half Japanese.  But I really like the simple Sumi ink on a white piece of paper with some word or poem.  Though I really think that it depends on the calligrapher and how it's presented.  I've seen flags with Arabic script painted in gold in mosques and old scripts carved in pottery.  Even the prettiest script can look hideous in the wrong hands.  

[VinayaSpeaks]

I think Arabic has the most beautiful script. I don't understand Arabic language or script, however, i find it very intersting because the language is written from right to left, unlike most of the script that is written from left to right.

[MissTe]

Chinese for me. It just looks so complicated but so beautiful and elegant. I can't wait until I'm able to start writing Chinese characters with such flourish too...

[Norm A]

Not that I'm an expert or anything, but Arabic looks really nice to me. I really know nothing about most of the other scripts in the survey but I've seen a little snippet of Arabic and some Chinese and some Latin. Arabic has an elegance to it that makes me want to learn it. 

[edmundangelson]

I'd say Devanagari personally. Chinese can be nice when done well, but often in newspapers and online it looks terrible. Sometimes literally unreadable. Devanagari too is most aesthetic in books, but even on low resolution web pages it still maintains is ordered exoticness. I think Arabic works the best in digital form. Overall Devanagari wins.

[WizardX]

Tagalog language has got beautiful scripts. I like Tagalog because I have different books about it's history. The Tagalog language now utilises the Latin script. The Tagalog script is distantly related to some Indian scripts. 

[Lingua Franca]

Even though there are some really nice scripts out there now days, there is nothing that quit gets close to the Egyptian hieroglyphics. The were the real two in one pictures and writing. I think that's why people are still drawn to them.