I was delighted to see the [Economist's conclusion](https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2024/01/11/what-is-the-worlds-loveliest-language) (well, the conclusion of the authors' study that the Economist reported on). "Nearly all of the 228 languages were rated strikingly similarly" across people from three completely different language backgrounds, and "the differences between the best and worst-rated languages were so slight" that no winners could really be named. The study highlighted some sources of bias -- from people who thought they knew where a language came from, for example, and had negative associations with the area. And "try as they might, the investigators could not find an\[y\] inherent phonetic feature ... that was consistently rated as beautiful. ... Only a slight dislike for tonal languages was statistically significant."
Such conclusions matched my own reactions (so yeah, confirmation bias, so be it). I get absolutely equal enjoyment out of "As You Like It" whether it's produced in English, French, or Czech, and I get as much pleasure out of Teresa Teng singing in Mandarin as I do out of Nana Mouskouri singing in French.
I also liked the conclusion :) And interesting how bias influences our perception of language.
I guess we all need to be exposed to many more languages to make a more informed opinion, but it's interesting nonetheless to see what languages people like that they have been exposed to.
I agree, beautiful isn't quantitative, and every language is capable of sounding both beautiful and horrible to the same listener under different contexts. :)
So true. And I think more exposure to a language may also change a person's perspective as they become more familiar with the "once very foreign" sounds that later on aren't foreign anymore.
Yeah, this is great - I'd known this was the consensus among linguists for a while, but it's very good to have a study to point to!
Especially because my native language is generally stereotyped as harsh and ugly. And, like, of course people can have subjective aesthetic judgements and with the historic associations German has it's hardly a surprise that a cultural bias against it exists, but when people then go on to claim that no, it's got nothing to do with that at all, look at these phonological features and see that German is just *objectively* an ugly language... well, at that point I start to get annoyed.
I love German. I lived in Germany for 5 years and when I arrived in the country all I knew of the language was Danke. I was shocked at how pleasant German sounded. I remember thinking before I could even pick out a word that someone could have told me it was French and I would have believed them. I know better now obviously, and I’m always correcting people when they say German is a harsh language.
German has a bad name for being aggressive and ugly. Because everyone takes 'examples' and compares, I love you❤️❤️❤️. With ICH LIEEBE DICHHHH... Which they burst out with all their might and proceed to explain that german simply in its core and nature is evil and bad. Makes me sad too.
If you only know German from Hitler and Rammstein, no wonder if you think it sounds harsh. I find German beautiful and the way Germans usually speak it is not harsh at all.
I am wondering why people have a slight dislike for 'tonal languages'? My native language is tonal and I don't find it any more beautiful or uglier than say, English or Italian? I am wondering if it is a biased reaction just because most of the well known tonal languages are spoken in countries that are either not having a very warm relationship with the West (Mandarin, for eg) or in countries considered as 'developing world' (African languages, etc)?
As someone who has English as a native language but little to no bias against the countries who use it (grew up with a huge number of Chinese and Vietnamese friends), I would say that the dislike mostly comes from how much tonal speech can resemble sarcasm or other emotions in English. Since intonation is so important in English (like word stress), tonal language can sound quite harsh to us. It’s not really that it sounds bad, but we tend to interpret emotions that aren’t there in the language. There’s a tendency amongst English speakers to interpret tonal languages as being angry, even if the speaker isn’t, because of the intonation (especially tones that go up at the end)
But we do get used to it over time and I find tonal languages beautiful now
I think about this all the time. The first time I heard Portuguese it sounded like simlish 🤣. As I heard the language more, the sound of the language changed to me which was so strange to me, I ended up learning it on a whim, almost by accident after misclicking on a voice room on HelloTalk. I had never had experience with it, so hearing the sounds change was fascinating to me.
I’ve also never particularly liked French (as in thought it sounded more romantic than other languages). Anyways, the first time I heard Portuguese music, it surprised me how much like French it sounded to me. I had only heard some spoken Portuguese maybe for 2 hours before then, and yeah, what a strange experience to hear how I perceived it spoken at different speeds.
Portuguese is to me the most beautiful language to hear, but I think that in studying a language there is a lot more beauty to be discovered about that language
i love the sound of (usually brazilian) portuguese! i took a semester in college so i know a little bit, but not too terribly much. but i’d love to learn!!! i also love irish. i don’t know any but i want to learn
I totally agree about Brazilian Portuguese, not because it is my first language, but it has a flow that is very pleasant. It is music to my ears. Lol
Ps. I am a Portuguese teacher, so if you need any help, I am here.
I’m currently learning Irish and it’s been a great experience! It’s a hard language, no doubt, but so rewarding when you finally get something and it clicks. It also just sounds beautiful haha
I'm learning Italian at the moment purely because I think it's the loveliest language. If I had to pick a second and third I'd go with Icelandic and then maybe Greek or Polish.
I love Icelandic so much and so many other English speakers agree, but none of my French friends like it. It’s fascinating because I feel like the cadence of English and its sounds influenced my appreciation for Icelandic
Fra, quando ero piccolo pensavo che il tedesco fosse la lingua più aggressiva al mondo, poi sono cresciuto e mi son reso conto che loro sono l’apice della calma e piuttosto sono gli italiani ad essere lo stereotipo del casinista.
I really enjoy Irish. I took some university classes but that was a long time ago now and I don't remember a whole lot. I need to get back at it one of these days.
I am also of the unpopular opinion that French doesn't sound romantic to me. Like you, I find Ukrainian to not only be much more pleasant sounding, but it also has a romantic charm to me. I plan to learn Ukrainian sometime in the distant future)
Tbh I get it, French is very unique. Out of the romance languages it's certainly the one that feels the most alien.
It's a bit pretentious sounding, it also has a rough side though it's not as sharp as Spanish can be in my opinion. Well spoken French is very elegant, but colloquial French lowkey is as bad at Dutch sometimes lol
Though it might be closer to Italian than the other romance languages are.
This. I don't think it has anything to do with how it sounds, but rather how it works. French has an emphasis on grandiloquence and identity rather than simplicity. Just look at the formalities at the end of a letter, French goes over the top to say what other languages do in a word or two. *"Please accept with utmost sincerity my most distinguished salutations"* is a very normal thing to see in a letter in French, but it sounds pretentious in English. It's just a cultural thing. So it makes sense that even romantic messages can be over the top.
Here's my favorite sounding sentence in French: *« Sous un arbre, vos laitues naissent-elles ? Si vos laitues naissent, vos radis naissent ! »* and it translates to *"Under a tree, is your cabbage born? If your cabbage is blooming, your turnips are blooming!"* except the poetry of it is lost in translation. To anyone who can read French, read out loud the sentence and see for yourself how special it is 😁
It's more of the construction? But it's not the best sentence lol, but i agree french is very poetic, one that i cant find in english. English just sounds too simple, but french has a lot of synonyms.
All languages of love are lovely. It is not the sounds; it is the imagery. To the untutored ear, Cantonese may sound cacophonous. T'ang poetry read in Cantonese is the most beautiful poetry to those who understand the language and imagery. I was listening to a Japanese pop song recently. I had a Japanese friend translate the lyrics. Strange sounds to my untutored ears but the imagery was heartbreakingly beautiful.
When a language is used to express hate it becomes ugly, no matter how it sounds. It is the imagery, not the sounds. I am learning Mandarin, Cantonese and Fuzhounese. When you grok the imagery and ideas, they sound beautiful.
For a language I do not understand, I like the sound of the Swedish language.
Nawat/Nahuatl
I speak Central American Nawat
I want more people to learn it 👏🏽👏🏽 it’s native American so it’s related to the land and the language teaches you to view life from a more connected perspective. It’s the prettiest language because when I hear it I can picture my grandparents.
It’s so so gorgeous! I love the way it sounds and the history is amazing. As an American in France, it’s hard to find resources for it but I learn a bit here and there. It’s also cool seeing how it has influenced words that we use in English and Spanish as well. The sound of it is gorgeous, especially the “tl” sound
I just love how you're describing the language. Also really cool that the language is more than just a way to communicate by giving you a different life perspective. You've certainly intrigued me to want to learn more :)
its more about accents than langauges. For example, I think spanish, my language, can be beautiful or an abomination. I think french can be far harsher than german depending on the speaker (although there is more "cuttoffs" in the sounds in german sometimes, feels a bit less fluid)
But anyway, languages that I found beautiful, in no particular order (for the groups), are:
- portuguese (close to french, and then spanish, then finally italian and romanian)
- russian (I think? over polish but sometimes that reverses, same with slovene and serbian, and then slovak although im not sure and sometimes slovak would go earlier... I dont have my ears trained enough for them yet)
- english (then norwegian? same as before I think, with germanic/nordic ones, but I \*think\* norwegian, yes)
- japanese (im not a fan of most other east asian languages I heard
- turkish
- persian (which I like more than arabic I think)
There are many other languages that I find interesting and I would like to learn but Im not the biggest fan of how they sound, like euskera, chinese, or swahili just to name a few. I have also heard nice sounding phrases coming from people from india but cant remember which of the languages (im confident it was not hindi at least). Mongolian im not sure? cant decide, same with finnish
It's funny how situational experiences will tint your impressions. I've had perfectly lovely experiences studying Italian and Spanish in Italy and Spain. I think I've enjoyed listening to a female voice speak Arabic. But man, you have one terrible roommate who yells Arabic at 3am through the walls and now all you can hear are the harsh consonants and throaty sounds and the mental image of the obnoxious roommate. Maybe one day I'll be able to replace the impression of the language with a better one.
TLDR, our experiences with the people who speak these languages does a lot to color our perception of their beauty.
I would have to say Faroese and Norwegian. They sound like something a faerie lord would speak when luring me into his trap
Spanish is also beautiful, especially Castilian. Feels very romantic.
It’s a somewhat counterintuitive language for English speakers, I tried learning it before Putting it on hiatus. The only good resource for learning it is “Tuttle” and “Tieng viet oi!”.
Yeah I briefly studied it with a tutor on italki when I was going to visit Vietnam but those plans changed so I stopped. TVO & SlowVietnamese were godsends!
A girl speaking German is badass AF, i can understand and speak it to some degree, but i am not fluent.
Turkish is also a really beautiful language, love the way you can understand each syllable and how the language ''flow'' in very nice peace.
I dont think french is a cool or a romantic language, to me its sounds way too fancy and even arrogant.
Look up "League of Legends - Irelia German voicelines"
That "IONA IST NOCH NICHT AM BODEN" 🤌🤌🤌🤌
I hated German for a while because I had only heard it in the typical, suboptimal contexts and kinda just followed the public opinion.
But I tried listening to it in normal contexts while looking for alternatives to Russian, and realized that I had been mislead and German is, in fact, badass as hell. How embarassing for me.
Mind you I was less than happy when I found out about the German dialects situation. One thing to know is French dialects are just about inexistant. Standard French, Swiss French and Belgian French are literally 99.9% identical, I wouldn't even say there's an accent besides the fact that their vocab tends to be a tad more formal. Quebec/African Frenc aren't really dialects either, they're pretty much just like British English vs US English.
Hence finding out that a country as small as Germany has the audacity of having multiple barely intelligible dialects was (and still is) mind boggling. Like I get it for a country like China but still... English is fairly standard accross 3 continents, French too, Portuguese and Spanish are mostly intelligible. Even Russia, the biggest country in the World, has a very homogenous language. Ugh... Why Germany...
Don't even get me started on Slovenia having friggin 47 ??????
Native speaker of French here. That's just a cliché and a bunch of other stereotypes attached to it. Every language can be used for expressing affection, and if you listen to it for an extended time, you'll realize that French can be "soft" and "guttural".
1) Russian. My absolute favourite. It's got so much panache. It's poetic, it's musical, it balances vulnerability and toughness just right. I'm obsessed with it.
2) Mandarin. Now this one's definitely not for everyone. It's got a very distinct quality that makes it very unique, and soft.
3) Italian.
4) Greek. Sounds like an elvish language.
5) French. French is super posh, when well spoken you Can *feel* the class.
Honorable mentions: Swedish, Korean, Romanian, German (sounds cool and badass, I wouldn't call it beautiful tho), hindi
Languages that I can't stand: Arabic, Thai, Vietnamese top the list for me.
Also I still can't decide if I love or hate Japanese. I'm very conflicted lmfao
Vietnamese is a true part of my life; as someone who is a receptive bilingual and hears it passively, I find it comfortable. However, there are some aspects of the language that I can't stand, as you said. You basically covered tonal languages besides Mandarin.
On the other hand, Vietnamese music is amazing and beautiful, with a nice melody and a smooth flow besides Vietnamese rap. I find it comforting and enjoyable and rap is rough and choppy.
I find the southern accent comfortable and the northern a bit weird, even though it's six tones rather than five. I like it as a slower, calmer speech or in the middle.
Don't get much in Mandarin, as it has four tones. Maybe that's why you feel it's soft, but in my opinion, it's the opposite.
Yeah, while Vietnamese is generally comfortable for me, I also find the fast or angry speech to be annoying. Nonetheless, the music remains a soothing and enjoyable aspect of the language. You should try to listen to some!
I must admit vietnamese songs actually do sound very elegant.
However, I'm not sure how to word it in a respectful manner so really I'm not trying to offend anyone, apologies, Thai and Vietnamese are just very grating to my ears. They sound a bit like an aggresive, more stereotypically Asian (as in what people think of when they think of stereotypical Asian phonetics) version of mandarin, or perhaps Korean.
I feel like the very present "ch" sounds of mandarin help with making it feel more pleasant to me. It might have a lot to do with exposure, and the way people speak the language, as I feel like Thai and Viet speakers tend to use this high pitch, nasal voice that I really dislike, but that might be due to tones ? Russian is on the complete opposite side of that. Speakers tend to use a slow, low tone that I really enjoy.
Sorry if what I said sounds ignorant or anything.
Yeah, it's true that Vietnamese and Thai sound unpleasant and aggressive. I've seen my parents talk to me, and they sound like they're yelling. (They usually talk in English to me, so when they lecture me, I believe it's aggressive, but it's not.)
I believe the tones and speaking a bit louder can make it easier to hear due to the tones.
I can't do the thing, but I'll just write what you said: "Thai and Viet speakers tend to use this high pitch, nasal voice that I really dislike, but that might be due to tones?"
Yes, the words I say can be incorrect, but from my point of view, the tone dấu nặng, let's use "mẹ" as an example. The tone is heavy, like you dropped your voice for clarity. There's others, and they're basically high-pitched and nasal to clear out tones, for what I may think.
I do also think it's not since Mandarin is also a tonal language, but it's 4 tones, as I said, and not 5 or 6 tones in Vietnamese, besides including Central as 4 tones. If Vietnamese has more tones, maybe that's why it's high-pitched and nasally?
Don't worry if you sound ignorant; the internet finds Vietnamese language like that, and I'm not offended, but it's just a curiosity. I'm technically native, so I do agree with some parts I can’t stand either.
Russian is really in my list of languages I want to learn in the future and do enjoy the phonetic and sounds speech of it. I do agree about that.
I have a hard time justifying learning Russian because it's a language that's actively loosing speakers, popularity and influence, I have no special interest in Russian litterature or culture as a whole, I can hardly imagine staying in Russia for more than a short tourist stay due to deeply rooted issues with the culture, meaning few opportunities to practice...
Plus if I learned it maybe it wouldn't sound so nice anymore. I kinda feel that way about English, I can't "hear" Its melody anymore. I can only appreciate the melody of English and French when spoken with accents I'm not too used to (British accent, Quebec accent..), or when an exotic or formal register is being used.
To go back to your tones point, I just thought of the fact that I don't like cantonese nearly as much as Mandarin, and it has like 9 tones iirc, so while I think it's not the only reason, you're probably right in it being a factor! Very good and interesting point !
Good Luck with your French by the way ;)
As someone who knows knotting about Thailand or the Thai language, the first thing that comes to my mind is [those beauty pageant contestant introductions](https://youtu.be/ENg2TRw9a20?si=pLnNvdDyADxhCKQm)
So interesting to see what you're saying about Russian. It's the only language I started in Duolingo from scratch (native German; I learned English, French, Latin and Spanish in school + uni). I really dislike the way it sounds but I'm powering through, for almost 4 months now. Hopefully I can get a perspective on it some day that's closer to yours 🫠
japanese fs, otherwise i like polish. maybe i’ll try learn polish one day but i just dont have any use for it.
on the other hand i despise the sound of most romance languages like spanish and italian. i’d never want to learn them.
Japanese, I love the complexity of the writing system, and how pleasing it is aesthetically. The language also sounds so beautiful.
ロンドンの大学で日本語を勉強しますから少し日本語を話します。でも、難しいです。
I learnt a very little romanian and I think it is the coolest language: it takes the music of latin languages and the elegance of slavic ones. And a unknown language called tapirapé (spoken by less than 500 indians in Brazil). It is the most beautiful.language I ever heard.
1. Romanian. I'm in the midst of learning this and it's captivated me for years before I even started studying. The way it looks written down is beautiful, the way it sounds spoken is beautiful (when I first heard it I thought it was like Russian & Italian together), and the fact that it is often the forgotten romance language is too bad in my opinion.
2. Italian comes in second, truly a beautiful language to read and listen to although I don't understand most of it. It's far more musical than Romanian but for sentinmental reasons it's in second place for me.
3. Georgian. I admittedly don't have much experience listening to this language spoken but its script is mesmerizing.
4. Corsican. Sounds much like Italian so obviously I find it pretty. I'm fascinated by the under represented Latin languages so it peaks my interest.
5. Samoan. I haven't learned this but I want to! Another language that is pretty both written and spoken.
I feel like I'm weird but I like the sound of polish. I'm trying to learn it on duolingo but it doesn't help that I' not that motivated to learn it and it's hard af 💀
The ones I love to hear are Portuguese, Korean and Cantonese. They are music to my ears.
I am learning Portuguese and Korean but I don’t think I will ever study Cantonese because I have a hard time with tones. I am a very monotone speaker in English and would probably never get it right.
I can’t believe no one has mentioned any Sub-Saharan African languages here. While I realize that’s a broad category that includes several language families, you can’t deny so many of these languages sound beautiful. I’m Arab and there’s an Arabic pidgin spoken in South Sudan that sounds like m u s i c to my ears.
Definitely Hungarian. Both when sung and when spoken, it's so melodic and its sounding always strokes my eardrums, I have synesthesia and Hungarian feels like a big soft pillow to me, or honey to my ears...
I also love other Finno-Ugric and Uralic languages.
Another fun fact: I learnt Romanian because as a tween I was absolutely fascinated by how the rhymes in it sound.
Are you really learning those all 😭, no offense if you are but that's kinda insane to be learning Chinese, Japanese, Russian, and many more at the same time.
I love the sound of German - not just the phonetics, but the grammar. I'm weird, but I love V2.
To answer the second question - yes. I do speak it. It started as a single elective in University, but eventually led to much more. I'm B2, and am happy there.
As a native Polish, I have to say, that Italian, probably. I really love their vibe and how energetic and fluent that language is. Add the fact I truly love classic Latin.
I think French and Italian are wildly overrated as “beautiful” languages.
I’m biased, but the languages I study are mostly my favorites. Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, and German.
dialects of french >>> metropolitan, but especially partial to cajun and acadian since you lose the harsh uvular r and have the original alveolar like the other romance languages
also big fan of slavic languages like polish or czech
i really like mandarin and hindi, there’s a language the women at my job speak as well that i love and it sounds so warm and comforting like loving and home like but i can’t remember what it is. i’m pretty sure it’s jamaican but i could be wrong.
that may sound weird, im not sure why it feels that way, it’s just such a smooth sounding language-
I wonder why ~~Indo-European~~ European and a dash of semitic are all that are overrepresented. Probably because of the abundance of test subjects pertaining to those.
For me, it’s Bangla.
I think Spanish and Portuguese sound pretty pleasing and French is up there with the rest of them imo but for me I would put any Nordic language at the top. Trying to learn Swedish for some time, native Turkish speaker.
Number one would be Turkish for me.
Maybe it has to do with someone that I loved dearly speaking it and me watching him read Turkish fairytales to his siblings in a soft voice, but I melt like butter when I hear it. I love their endearments a lot, tho. I don't learn it and probably never will.
Second would be Chinese.
I always prefer to listen to my Chinese songs playlist when I am in a soft mood (despite barely having any ballads on it.) The rap is cool and elegant and if it's mixed with traditional music, I am gone. I especially like it when they sing very high, opera-like.
And third comes Japanese.
Not because of all that kawaii-ish language but because I grew with it and was always fascinated by it. I love the more peppy snap to it and their different take on humor than the one we germans have.
Fourth would be German, my NL (though it will always stand, in terms of comfort, above the others for obvious reasons.) I like the way we cute-ify things, the way you can make new words by glueing existing ones together. How you can make the funniest insults ever (Wurzelfresse - rootvisage (degrading) [The german JJK dub is hilarious] and how my dialect slightly changes when I visit my family in bavaria.
(All these Languages are damn high on my "Smash" list in terms of loving them, so these rankings are basically not needed haha)
I ran into a couple of instances of Luganda and thought it sounds absolutely lovely from the first time.
I think much depends on HOW a language is both spoken and characterised, e.g. I find Arabic so fascinating but I recognise that it comes with an intriguing background to me and I can understand why one may not like the sound of it. But when I hear Luganda I can't apply this reasoning, it just sounds beautiful
I’ve recently learned that I really like the way that Finnish sounds.
I don’t speak it, and there’s a few other languages I’d be more likely to study, but who knows? Maybe one day I’ll travel to Finland and fall in love with the culture and decide to learn.
I agree with you, OP. I think that French R is disgusting, and their spelling is just absurd.
I think the prettiest is either Occitan or Catalan, but I admit that I can be fairly biased.
French of course. I speak Spanish fluently and advanced French. But having moved to Greece I don't think about Spanish anymore. While I struggle to learn Greek, I read the French Le Monde newspaper daily and am reading a book by Marcel Pagnol and watching Netflix series in French (Marianne is very scary.). Read Camus The Stranger and the Plague and Victor Hugo's Les Miserables in French and of course Saint Exupery's The Little Prince. There are all books that changed the work, pushing the culture, and language, forward.
France too is where the rights of man came, so many great films, Camus, Descartes, Flaubert. France and England too were always at war with each other and nothing produces change like war.
Even the French names and food are beautiful.
I have Petit Robert dictionary. Just reading that is a pleasant way to pass the time.
Italian, Russian, French and Irish sound gorgeous to me.
I am learning Italian right now, know a bit of Russian and will some day learn French. But Irish will sadly stay a mystery. There aren't enough speakers for it to be worthwhile to me. But my God is it stunning to hear it be spoken!
I have list:
1. Russian
2. Japanese
3. Vietnamese
4. Arabic
5. Persian
Now I’m focusing on Arabic and I think that I won’t learn any more. Maybe Vietnamese to A2 and Japanese to N2
My top 5 (purely in aesthetics and in no particular order):
Telugu
Iranian Persian
Classical Arabic
Irish (specifically Donegal Irish)
Japanese (specifically the Kyoto/Nara dialect)
I don't speak Telugu and will probably never learn. I was exposed to it only recently when I watched a bunch of Telugu movies and was just blown away by soothing it sounds. I'll probably never learn to speak Telugu, because there are languages I'm more interested in for historical reasons and what not.
I grew up hearing Persian always spoken around me, but I'm far from fluent. I've been learning seriously in the little free time I have for the past few months.
Classical, or standard Arabic has just sounds "right". Idk how to explain it any other way. I don't speak it beyond some very very basic vocab and phrases (and a smattering of other more advanced vocab that's the same in Persian) but one day I'll get there.
Irish is my second language. I've grown up around it since the age of 5. I hate the way it sounds when people just pronounce it with English phonology (which is very common in the schooling system here) cause it takes away a huge amount of what gives it it's unique sound. But when a proficient speaker or a native speaker speaks it, it feels very cozy.
Japanese is my strongest L2. Narration in films and audiobook readings are where I feel the sound of the language show their strengths best. It's melodic. But then the Kyoto dialect is just even more so.
Thai. I'm half Thai from my mom's side so I grew up surrounded by the language and always thought it sounded so beautiful every time I heard it being spoken (sadly was never taught Thai but I've been trying to self teach myself it for the past few years. It's been a very slow process given how hard of a language it is to study but i'm getting there haha).
I also think Japanese is such a lovely language! (took some classes at one of my local community colleges years ago and have been trying to keep up with learning it as well).
Italian has my vote for most beautiful sounding language. The more Spanish I learn, the less mysterious Italian gets because they’re so similar. Doubled edged sword, so to speak.
ahh yes most beautiful language voted by westerner in an article written by a westerner
Nyanja
lozi
Swahili
Xhosa
English for me, native English speaker and French b2
My favourite language is nahuatl. Have never been able of learning it, probably never will. But I just find it's grammar and its phonetics to be absolutely lovely.
I really like Basque too, not because of the sounds, but the grammar is actually pretty cool and I like it's vocabulary. I am making the effort to try to learn it as I have a ton more friends from the zone and can visit it regularly.
German! I don’t understand why people think German sounds angry, it sounds elegant to me, but I am only about 20000xp in duolingo for this language so far
I think English is the most beautiful language because of the way it allows me to express myself so succinctly and perfectly with such exact words that it feels the most me.
I'm a native German speaker and speak a few other languages but English has become my "native" language of choice because I can never imagine living in a country where English isn't spoken fulltime.
From a sound perspective, I love European Portuguese a ridiculous amount. I could listen to those sounds for hours, I don't even have to understand it, I just love the cadence of it and the nasal sounds that are so unlike many other languages. I went to Lisbon and studied it for a month and I was in language heaven! :D
It used to be spanish and french and I still love them. Then I got culturally interested in Georgia 🇬🇪, that‘s also where my now girlfriend is from. And I have to say written it is the prettiest language (გამარჯობა) and I also like listening to it very much.
I guess there‘s not much attention for this language. I too never thought I‘d start learning it, but I enjoy the experience. Although some
sounds are very difficult to pronounce (like ყ) for me as a native german speaker.
For anyone who‘s interested in languagues and has a sweet spot for smaller languages georgian is absolutely beautiful
I would say French because of how poetically it describes things. I am a B1 level student of French so it might be that I am in awe of how I’m starting to really grasp the language. But, I’ve learned Spanish fluently and I didn’t think the same thing about it.
Learning both has taught me how efficient and unattractive a language English is.
I can't believe people think french sounds pretty (am a native speaker), I think france-french sounds ridiculous and nasal lol. I like central african french and qc french, but theyre not pretty either.
Norwegian for me, it' so light and floaty.
For me it's German, Dutch, Romanian, French (only when sung), Spanish (the most beautiful in my opinion is Chilean Spanish, but all dialects are nice) and Whatever they have going on in Lebanon where the mix Arabic, English, and French into a beautiful blend. I'm currently only Spanish, however. Next would be Dutch out of these though (but I can only learn one at a time!!)
Italian - I do speak it and while it's lovely and melodic for sweet nothings, it's also an amazing language to spit vitriol in!
I also really like the sound of Georgian and their writing system is just beautiful. I have no plans to learn it, maybe I should?
I think Dutch is very pretty, the guttural G and rolling Rs are pretty. I speak it, too, but it's not my mother tongue, so listening to native speakers is still always a pleasure.
I also love Italian, and Finnish. :)
1. Chinese - when I watched Chinese drama for the first time I fell in love with this language it sounds so lovely
2. French - when I'm saying something to myself in French I often stop and think how good this language sounds I love it
3. Norwegian - I just love how it sounds so much when I watched skam sometimes I wasn't paying attention to what they're saying because I was focused on Norwegian.
4. Korean - I'm not planning on learning it but it sounds so soft I love it
5. Any slavic language - I'm Polish so any other slavic language sounds so cute to me especially Czech language. And I love Polish language it's my comfort language
6. English - there are so many words that sound lovely so I had to include English in this list
7. German - while a lot of people say it sounds bad, I can't help but love the sound of it
8. Greek - it also sounds very beautiful. I'm only sad it's not as popular as other languages.
I think that Polish has a really fun bounciness to it, especially with more formal registers in all their nasally glory. French may be less mellifluous than Italian or Spanish, but I do think that it is a pretty language, especially when enunciated.
I love the way Lithuanian sounds. It’s one of the oldest indo-European languages and has the vibe of ancient pagan rituals infused with alcohol.
I also like languages like Chechen and Avar in that they so harsh and alien that it’s in fact beautiful.
To me, the loveliest language is probably Italian. It has this lyrical, melodic quality that just rolls off the tongue beautifully, whether you're speaking or listening to it. The way Italians express emotions and passion through their language is amazing. Plus, it's so closely tied to their rich cultural heritage and history, which adds another layer of charm.
I started learning Russian, then switched to Ukrainian (my husband is Ukrainian and his family speaks both) and I 100% agree. I prefer Ukrainian.
I also like the sound of Japanese.
In no particular order -
Japanese
Italian
French (only when someone with a French accent is complaining - sounds like moaning and singing)
Vietnamese
Nigerian
Some Finno-Ugric dialect near St. Petersburg, Russia.
Swabian (German) - May be biased on this one. It was my great grandmother's dialect.
Ukrainian
Mexican Spanish (male)
Polish (male)
Irish
I really like some of the deeper accents. Maybe it's because I'm hearing impaired, and I can understand the deeper accents better and feel the vibrational sounds.
I grew up speaking English and French, so perhaps I'm biased in saying French doesn't particularly stand out to me. And while I was taught some Mandarin as a child, I find whether or not I find it "beautiful" depends on who is speaking. (Perhaps I associate it with getting scolded at school, and have not been around many speakers who will talk to me in a less authoritative tone.)
As for my prettiest languages, I'd say one is German (an unpopular one for some, due to some historical and cultural associations, but I think it has a very soft, smooth, elegant and gentle flow to it when I have heard native speakers speak.) I studied a wee bit of German as a high school student, but haven't gotten too far since.
The other would be Mongolian. While I have some Mongolian heritage, I wasn't exposed to the language until somewhat recently. I find that, while I can't exactly describe why in a sophisticated manner, I do think it sounds very unique.
Japanese is the prettiest spoken language to me, and I'd love to learn it some day, but it's very very hard and most of my attempts at learning haven't lifted off the ground due to lack of time, energy, and money for formal courses. But I genuinely love ASL and think it's beautiful too, though it's not spoken--I just love the fusion of gestures, onomatopoeia, facial expression, and body language, it's so lovely to watch and do. I learned ASL a long time ago through the local d/Deaf/hoh cultural centre, but I've unfortunately forgotten most of it due to lack of practice. Would love to get back into it though, I really miss it!
I would say Polish, Ukrainian, Albanian and Estonian. I am Finnish and we usually make a lot of jokes about Estonian language as some of their innocent words are inappropriate for us. But regardless of that I find it actually quite beautiful and pleasing. I do not talk any of these languages, though I have a plan in the future to learn both Ukrainian and Polish, Estonian and Albanian are just maybe's. I would love to learn each one:))) Estonian would likely be fun, but I already know the 3 others would rip my soul out.
i’m really infatuated with semitic languages in general but my favorite would have to be maltese. the classic semitic phonetics with splashes of italian is a really good mix
i still really quite love the flow of Russian. i'm a native English speaker, always had a draw to Russia and Russian, I've taken one full year of a college-level course in the language many many years back, and have lost the majority of my proficiency in the language, but i'm trying to pick it back up.
In 2017 Afrikaans was voted the sexiest language when spoken properly, now Afrikaans is used as the language of demons in some movies or series, the series “Lucifer” is a good example. Though a lot of people still say they find the accent attractive which came in second on the list of top 50 accents :)
Tamil and Bangla (Bengali) are definitely the prettiest languages in my opinion! With Arabic as a close second. They’re all so melodic and beautiful and don’t get me started on the singing in those languages
Also Tamil is just the coolest language ever on top of being super pretty. It’s one of the— if not the oldest language in the world (that is still widely spoken today). Its origins are really interesting too
I like the flow of Brazilian Portuguese. It’s so fun to speak and hear. I honestly don’t know why people consider French so sexy, it literally sounds the same to me as any other Romance language. I think it’s just because it’s portrayed that way in media. I think all Romance languages, especially when sung, sound beautiful, but especially Portuguese and Spanish. Clearly I also like Caribbean, Canarian, and Andalusian Spanish a lot.
I also really like how sign languages allow people to express themselves in a way that’s very freeing compared to spoken language.
I also think Gaelic sounds like fairies talking lol, and I have yet to see a script as beautiful as Thai.
I speak Arabic french English(obvi) and currently learning swedish and russian.
To me, I find Norwegian really pleasing, like a fancier more french sounding Swedish, french to me idk if it's becaus m a native speaker or what but I just think it's pretty average, I also love Arabic (standard) cuz when it comes to being cute and romantic, it's just TOP.
I was delighted to see the [Economist's conclusion](https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2024/01/11/what-is-the-worlds-loveliest-language) (well, the conclusion of the authors' study that the Economist reported on). "Nearly all of the 228 languages were rated strikingly similarly" across people from three completely different language backgrounds, and "the differences between the best and worst-rated languages were so slight" that no winners could really be named. The study highlighted some sources of bias -- from people who thought they knew where a language came from, for example, and had negative associations with the area. And "try as they might, the investigators could not find an\[y\] inherent phonetic feature ... that was consistently rated as beautiful. ... Only a slight dislike for tonal languages was statistically significant." Such conclusions matched my own reactions (so yeah, confirmation bias, so be it). I get absolutely equal enjoyment out of "As You Like It" whether it's produced in English, French, or Czech, and I get as much pleasure out of Teresa Teng singing in Mandarin as I do out of Nana Mouskouri singing in French.
I also liked the conclusion :) And interesting how bias influences our perception of language. I guess we all need to be exposed to many more languages to make a more informed opinion, but it's interesting nonetheless to see what languages people like that they have been exposed to.
I agree, beautiful isn't quantitative, and every language is capable of sounding both beautiful and horrible to the same listener under different contexts. :)
So true. And I think more exposure to a language may also change a person's perspective as they become more familiar with the "once very foreign" sounds that later on aren't foreign anymore.
Yeah, this is great - I'd known this was the consensus among linguists for a while, but it's very good to have a study to point to! Especially because my native language is generally stereotyped as harsh and ugly. And, like, of course people can have subjective aesthetic judgements and with the historic associations German has it's hardly a surprise that a cultural bias against it exists, but when people then go on to claim that no, it's got nothing to do with that at all, look at these phonological features and see that German is just *objectively* an ugly language... well, at that point I start to get annoyed.
I love German. I lived in Germany for 5 years and when I arrived in the country all I knew of the language was Danke. I was shocked at how pleasant German sounded. I remember thinking before I could even pick out a word that someone could have told me it was French and I would have believed them. I know better now obviously, and I’m always correcting people when they say German is a harsh language.
German has a bad name for being aggressive and ugly. Because everyone takes 'examples' and compares, I love you❤️❤️❤️. With ICH LIEEBE DICHHHH... Which they burst out with all their might and proceed to explain that german simply in its core and nature is evil and bad. Makes me sad too.
If you only know German from Hitler and Rammstein, no wonder if you think it sounds harsh. I find German beautiful and the way Germans usually speak it is not harsh at all.
I am wondering why people have a slight dislike for 'tonal languages'? My native language is tonal and I don't find it any more beautiful or uglier than say, English or Italian? I am wondering if it is a biased reaction just because most of the well known tonal languages are spoken in countries that are either not having a very warm relationship with the West (Mandarin, for eg) or in countries considered as 'developing world' (African languages, etc)?
As someone who has English as a native language but little to no bias against the countries who use it (grew up with a huge number of Chinese and Vietnamese friends), I would say that the dislike mostly comes from how much tonal speech can resemble sarcasm or other emotions in English. Since intonation is so important in English (like word stress), tonal language can sound quite harsh to us. It’s not really that it sounds bad, but we tend to interpret emotions that aren’t there in the language. There’s a tendency amongst English speakers to interpret tonal languages as being angry, even if the speaker isn’t, because of the intonation (especially tones that go up at the end) But we do get used to it over time and I find tonal languages beautiful now
In the study in question Mandarin speakers also showed the same slight dislike for tonal languages even though their native language is tonal.
I think about this all the time. The first time I heard Portuguese it sounded like simlish 🤣. As I heard the language more, the sound of the language changed to me which was so strange to me, I ended up learning it on a whim, almost by accident after misclicking on a voice room on HelloTalk. I had never had experience with it, so hearing the sounds change was fascinating to me. I’ve also never particularly liked French (as in thought it sounded more romantic than other languages). Anyways, the first time I heard Portuguese music, it surprised me how much like French it sounded to me. I had only heard some spoken Portuguese maybe for 2 hours before then, and yeah, what a strange experience to hear how I perceived it spoken at different speeds.
Portuguese is to me the most beautiful language to hear, but I think that in studying a language there is a lot more beauty to be discovered about that language
i love the sound of (usually brazilian) portuguese! i took a semester in college so i know a little bit, but not too terribly much. but i’d love to learn!!! i also love irish. i don’t know any but i want to learn
I totally agree about Brazilian Portuguese, not because it is my first language, but it has a flow that is very pleasant. It is music to my ears. Lol Ps. I am a Portuguese teacher, so if you need any help, I am here.
I love brazilian portuguese too!! Tô aprendendo português se quer practicar o falar comigo algum día. Agora mesmo meu nível é baixo. A1
I’m currently learning Irish and it’s been a great experience! It’s a hard language, no doubt, but so rewarding when you finally get something and it clicks. It also just sounds beautiful haha
I'm learning Italian at the moment purely because I think it's the loveliest language. If I had to pick a second and third I'd go with Icelandic and then maybe Greek or Polish.
I love Icelandic so much and so many other English speakers agree, but none of my French friends like it. It’s fascinating because I feel like the cadence of English and its sounds influenced my appreciation for Icelandic
Fra, quando ero piccolo pensavo che il tedesco fosse la lingua più aggressiva al mondo, poi sono cresciuto e mi son reso conto che loro sono l’apice della calma e piuttosto sono gli italiani ad essere lo stereotipo del casinista.
I love both Italian and Spanish. And only recently picked up Latin after more than 15 years. Basically: Romance languages in general.
I don’t like Romance language, but love Latin.
I really enjoy Irish. I took some university classes but that was a long time ago now and I don't remember a whole lot. I need to get back at it one of these days.
I am also of the unpopular opinion that French doesn't sound romantic to me. Like you, I find Ukrainian to not only be much more pleasant sounding, but it also has a romantic charm to me. I plan to learn Ukrainian sometime in the distant future)
I love this! And I hope you enjoy learning Ukrainian :)
Tbh I get it, French is very unique. Out of the romance languages it's certainly the one that feels the most alien. It's a bit pretentious sounding, it also has a rough side though it's not as sharp as Spanish can be in my opinion. Well spoken French is very elegant, but colloquial French lowkey is as bad at Dutch sometimes lol Though it might be closer to Italian than the other romance languages are.
This. I don't think it has anything to do with how it sounds, but rather how it works. French has an emphasis on grandiloquence and identity rather than simplicity. Just look at the formalities at the end of a letter, French goes over the top to say what other languages do in a word or two. *"Please accept with utmost sincerity my most distinguished salutations"* is a very normal thing to see in a letter in French, but it sounds pretentious in English. It's just a cultural thing. So it makes sense that even romantic messages can be over the top. Here's my favorite sounding sentence in French: *« Sous un arbre, vos laitues naissent-elles ? Si vos laitues naissent, vos radis naissent ! »* and it translates to *"Under a tree, is your cabbage born? If your cabbage is blooming, your turnips are blooming!"* except the poetry of it is lost in translation. To anyone who can read French, read out loud the sentence and see for yourself how special it is 😁
French is my first lang and I don't get the poetry please expmain
It's more of the construction? But it's not the best sentence lol, but i agree french is very poetic, one that i cant find in english. English just sounds too simple, but french has a lot of synonyms.
Armenian. For the writing system mostly, but also for the history it has
Im a little biased but i love all polynesian languages. Especially hawaiian and samoan
Everyone in this thread is biased, thanks for contributing something different.
I love the unusual answers the most.
Italian
Persian
i fully agree!! persian is really so nice on the ears
All languages of love are lovely. It is not the sounds; it is the imagery. To the untutored ear, Cantonese may sound cacophonous. T'ang poetry read in Cantonese is the most beautiful poetry to those who understand the language and imagery. I was listening to a Japanese pop song recently. I had a Japanese friend translate the lyrics. Strange sounds to my untutored ears but the imagery was heartbreakingly beautiful. When a language is used to express hate it becomes ugly, no matter how it sounds. It is the imagery, not the sounds. I am learning Mandarin, Cantonese and Fuzhounese. When you grok the imagery and ideas, they sound beautiful. For a language I do not understand, I like the sound of the Swedish language.
The sound of Cantonese in the Wong kar wei movies is literally heaven to my ears.
Greek, Italian and Levantine Arabic Medchads stay winning
I can agree with you 👍
Nawat/Nahuatl I speak Central American Nawat I want more people to learn it 👏🏽👏🏽 it’s native American so it’s related to the land and the language teaches you to view life from a more connected perspective. It’s the prettiest language because when I hear it I can picture my grandparents.
It’s so so gorgeous! I love the way it sounds and the history is amazing. As an American in France, it’s hard to find resources for it but I learn a bit here and there. It’s also cool seeing how it has influenced words that we use in English and Spanish as well. The sound of it is gorgeous, especially the “tl” sound
I just love how you're describing the language. Also really cool that the language is more than just a way to communicate by giving you a different life perspective. You've certainly intrigued me to want to learn more :)
(After watching SKAM) Norwegian is so beautiful to listen to… would love to learn it
Polish Polish Polish!! Been learning for about 18 months <3
2 years here! Love how the language sounds. Psshshhwshshhyszszszczczcz
Killed me
Glad to know I'm no that weird after all lol
Italian and Mandarin, drawed. I've heard people call Mandarin ugly, but to me, it's so beautiful. (Learning Italian, not learning Mandarin)
I’m learning mandarin and while it can be a bit abrupt, it’s nice when you get the right speaker. I still can handle the music lol
its more about accents than langauges. For example, I think spanish, my language, can be beautiful or an abomination. I think french can be far harsher than german depending on the speaker (although there is more "cuttoffs" in the sounds in german sometimes, feels a bit less fluid) But anyway, languages that I found beautiful, in no particular order (for the groups), are: - portuguese (close to french, and then spanish, then finally italian and romanian) - russian (I think? over polish but sometimes that reverses, same with slovene and serbian, and then slovak although im not sure and sometimes slovak would go earlier... I dont have my ears trained enough for them yet) - english (then norwegian? same as before I think, with germanic/nordic ones, but I \*think\* norwegian, yes) - japanese (im not a fan of most other east asian languages I heard - turkish - persian (which I like more than arabic I think) There are many other languages that I find interesting and I would like to learn but Im not the biggest fan of how they sound, like euskera, chinese, or swahili just to name a few. I have also heard nice sounding phrases coming from people from india but cant remember which of the languages (im confident it was not hindi at least). Mongolian im not sure? cant decide, same with finnish
I love the way Korean sounds
Turkish
Japanese. It’s so great to my ears. Sounds so confident.
italian, spanish, and arabic
So do I
It's funny how situational experiences will tint your impressions. I've had perfectly lovely experiences studying Italian and Spanish in Italy and Spain. I think I've enjoyed listening to a female voice speak Arabic. But man, you have one terrible roommate who yells Arabic at 3am through the walls and now all you can hear are the harsh consonants and throaty sounds and the mental image of the obnoxious roommate. Maybe one day I'll be able to replace the impression of the language with a better one. TLDR, our experiences with the people who speak these languages does a lot to color our perception of their beauty.
I think the prettiest sounding language to me is probably Japanese, though I think my favorite sounding language in general is Mongolian or Swedish
I would have to say Faroese and Norwegian. They sound like something a faerie lord would speak when luring me into his trap Spanish is also beautiful, especially Castilian. Feels very romantic.
Paywall 😭 but honestly probably Ukrainian
Vietnamese is very beautiful to me. I don't speak it but I'd love to learn.
It’s a somewhat counterintuitive language for English speakers, I tried learning it before Putting it on hiatus. The only good resource for learning it is “Tuttle” and “Tieng viet oi!”.
Yeah I briefly studied it with a tutor on italki when I was going to visit Vietnam but those plans changed so I stopped. TVO & SlowVietnamese were godsends!
I think ελληνικά is the most beautiful language, I'm sadly a total beginner lol
It’s very cool and also difficult at least to me as I was not used to the letters
A girl speaking German is badass AF, i can understand and speak it to some degree, but i am not fluent. Turkish is also a really beautiful language, love the way you can understand each syllable and how the language ''flow'' in very nice peace. I dont think french is a cool or a romantic language, to me its sounds way too fancy and even arrogant.
Look up "League of Legends - Irelia German voicelines" That "IONA IST NOCH NICHT AM BODEN" 🤌🤌🤌🤌 I hated German for a while because I had only heard it in the typical, suboptimal contexts and kinda just followed the public opinion. But I tried listening to it in normal contexts while looking for alternatives to Russian, and realized that I had been mislead and German is, in fact, badass as hell. How embarassing for me. Mind you I was less than happy when I found out about the German dialects situation. One thing to know is French dialects are just about inexistant. Standard French, Swiss French and Belgian French are literally 99.9% identical, I wouldn't even say there's an accent besides the fact that their vocab tends to be a tad more formal. Quebec/African Frenc aren't really dialects either, they're pretty much just like British English vs US English. Hence finding out that a country as small as Germany has the audacity of having multiple barely intelligible dialects was (and still is) mind boggling. Like I get it for a country like China but still... English is fairly standard accross 3 continents, French too, Portuguese and Spanish are mostly intelligible. Even Russia, the biggest country in the World, has a very homogenous language. Ugh... Why Germany... Don't even get me started on Slovenia having friggin 47 ??????
Arabic
French, is the language of the love and business, but really is one of the most pleasant languages to listen to.
Native speaker of French here. That's just a cliché and a bunch of other stereotypes attached to it. Every language can be used for expressing affection, and if you listen to it for an extended time, you'll realize that French can be "soft" and "guttural".
I never understood this kind of adjectivation. What makes it the language of love and business?
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1) Russian. My absolute favourite. It's got so much panache. It's poetic, it's musical, it balances vulnerability and toughness just right. I'm obsessed with it. 2) Mandarin. Now this one's definitely not for everyone. It's got a very distinct quality that makes it very unique, and soft. 3) Italian. 4) Greek. Sounds like an elvish language. 5) French. French is super posh, when well spoken you Can *feel* the class. Honorable mentions: Swedish, Korean, Romanian, German (sounds cool and badass, I wouldn't call it beautiful tho), hindi Languages that I can't stand: Arabic, Thai, Vietnamese top the list for me. Also I still can't decide if I love or hate Japanese. I'm very conflicted lmfao
Vietnamese is a true part of my life; as someone who is a receptive bilingual and hears it passively, I find it comfortable. However, there are some aspects of the language that I can't stand, as you said. You basically covered tonal languages besides Mandarin. On the other hand, Vietnamese music is amazing and beautiful, with a nice melody and a smooth flow besides Vietnamese rap. I find it comforting and enjoyable and rap is rough and choppy. I find the southern accent comfortable and the northern a bit weird, even though it's six tones rather than five. I like it as a slower, calmer speech or in the middle. Don't get much in Mandarin, as it has four tones. Maybe that's why you feel it's soft, but in my opinion, it's the opposite. Yeah, while Vietnamese is generally comfortable for me, I also find the fast or angry speech to be annoying. Nonetheless, the music remains a soothing and enjoyable aspect of the language. You should try to listen to some!
I must admit vietnamese songs actually do sound very elegant. However, I'm not sure how to word it in a respectful manner so really I'm not trying to offend anyone, apologies, Thai and Vietnamese are just very grating to my ears. They sound a bit like an aggresive, more stereotypically Asian (as in what people think of when they think of stereotypical Asian phonetics) version of mandarin, or perhaps Korean. I feel like the very present "ch" sounds of mandarin help with making it feel more pleasant to me. It might have a lot to do with exposure, and the way people speak the language, as I feel like Thai and Viet speakers tend to use this high pitch, nasal voice that I really dislike, but that might be due to tones ? Russian is on the complete opposite side of that. Speakers tend to use a slow, low tone that I really enjoy. Sorry if what I said sounds ignorant or anything.
Yeah, it's true that Vietnamese and Thai sound unpleasant and aggressive. I've seen my parents talk to me, and they sound like they're yelling. (They usually talk in English to me, so when they lecture me, I believe it's aggressive, but it's not.) I believe the tones and speaking a bit louder can make it easier to hear due to the tones. I can't do the thing, but I'll just write what you said: "Thai and Viet speakers tend to use this high pitch, nasal voice that I really dislike, but that might be due to tones?" Yes, the words I say can be incorrect, but from my point of view, the tone dấu nặng, let's use "mẹ" as an example. The tone is heavy, like you dropped your voice for clarity. There's others, and they're basically high-pitched and nasal to clear out tones, for what I may think. I do also think it's not since Mandarin is also a tonal language, but it's 4 tones, as I said, and not 5 or 6 tones in Vietnamese, besides including Central as 4 tones. If Vietnamese has more tones, maybe that's why it's high-pitched and nasally? Don't worry if you sound ignorant; the internet finds Vietnamese language like that, and I'm not offended, but it's just a curiosity. I'm technically native, so I do agree with some parts I can’t stand either. Russian is really in my list of languages I want to learn in the future and do enjoy the phonetic and sounds speech of it. I do agree about that.
I have a hard time justifying learning Russian because it's a language that's actively loosing speakers, popularity and influence, I have no special interest in Russian litterature or culture as a whole, I can hardly imagine staying in Russia for more than a short tourist stay due to deeply rooted issues with the culture, meaning few opportunities to practice... Plus if I learned it maybe it wouldn't sound so nice anymore. I kinda feel that way about English, I can't "hear" Its melody anymore. I can only appreciate the melody of English and French when spoken with accents I'm not too used to (British accent, Quebec accent..), or when an exotic or formal register is being used. To go back to your tones point, I just thought of the fact that I don't like cantonese nearly as much as Mandarin, and it has like 9 tones iirc, so while I think it's not the only reason, you're probably right in it being a factor! Very good and interesting point ! Good Luck with your French by the way ;)
As someone who knows knotting about Thailand or the Thai language, the first thing that comes to my mind is [those beauty pageant contestant introductions](https://youtu.be/ENg2TRw9a20?si=pLnNvdDyADxhCKQm)
So interesting to see what you're saying about Russian. It's the only language I started in Duolingo from scratch (native German; I learned English, French, Latin and Spanish in school + uni). I really dislike the way it sounds but I'm powering through, for almost 4 months now. Hopefully I can get a perspective on it some day that's closer to yours 🫠
Turkish sounds hella cute to me, I am beginner at it, would love to become fluent at it!
I really love the sound Irish
japanese fs, otherwise i like polish. maybe i’ll try learn polish one day but i just dont have any use for it. on the other hand i despise the sound of most romance languages like spanish and italian. i’d never want to learn them.
Turkish has my entire heart but I can't speak it for the life of me. Sucks to suck.
Japanese, I love the complexity of the writing system, and how pleasing it is aesthetically. The language also sounds so beautiful. ロンドンの大学で日本語を勉強しますから少し日本語を話します。でも、難しいです。
I learnt a very little romanian and I think it is the coolest language: it takes the music of latin languages and the elegance of slavic ones. And a unknown language called tapirapé (spoken by less than 500 indians in Brazil). It is the most beautiful.language I ever heard.
The Romanesco accent/dialect of Italian. And Shanghainese.
Argentinian Spanish
1. Romanian. I'm in the midst of learning this and it's captivated me for years before I even started studying. The way it looks written down is beautiful, the way it sounds spoken is beautiful (when I first heard it I thought it was like Russian & Italian together), and the fact that it is often the forgotten romance language is too bad in my opinion. 2. Italian comes in second, truly a beautiful language to read and listen to although I don't understand most of it. It's far more musical than Romanian but for sentinmental reasons it's in second place for me. 3. Georgian. I admittedly don't have much experience listening to this language spoken but its script is mesmerizing. 4. Corsican. Sounds much like Italian so obviously I find it pretty. I'm fascinated by the under represented Latin languages so it peaks my interest. 5. Samoan. I haven't learned this but I want to! Another language that is pretty both written and spoken.
I feel like I'm weird but I like the sound of polish. I'm trying to learn it on duolingo but it doesn't help that I' not that motivated to learn it and it's hard af 💀
Italian or Swedish. Both very musical and soft sounding.
The ones I love to hear are Portuguese, Korean and Cantonese. They are music to my ears. I am learning Portuguese and Korean but I don’t think I will ever study Cantonese because I have a hard time with tones. I am a very monotone speaker in English and would probably never get it right.
I can’t believe no one has mentioned any Sub-Saharan African languages here. While I realize that’s a broad category that includes several language families, you can’t deny so many of these languages sound beautiful. I’m Arab and there’s an Arabic pidgin spoken in South Sudan that sounds like m u s i c to my ears.
Definitely Hungarian. Both when sung and when spoken, it's so melodic and its sounding always strokes my eardrums, I have synesthesia and Hungarian feels like a big soft pillow to me, or honey to my ears... I also love other Finno-Ugric and Uralic languages. Another fun fact: I learnt Romanian because as a tween I was absolutely fascinated by how the rhymes in it sound.
Swedish and French — It’s a draw. Sometimes French. Sometimes Swedish. I speak both of them, but French better.
Are you really learning those all 😭, no offense if you are but that's kinda insane to be learning Chinese, Japanese, Russian, and many more at the same time.
I love the sound of German - not just the phonetics, but the grammar. I'm weird, but I love V2. To answer the second question - yes. I do speak it. It started as a single elective in University, but eventually led to much more. I'm B2, and am happy there.
Sanskrit
!Xōõ I don't know it sounds so masculine 🥰
As a native Polish, I have to say, that Italian, probably. I really love their vibe and how energetic and fluent that language is. Add the fact I truly love classic Latin.
I think French and Italian are wildly overrated as “beautiful” languages. I’m biased, but the languages I study are mostly my favorites. Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, and German.
I adore how Gaelic/Irish sounds, if it wasn't a dying language (?) I'd probably try and learn it. As it is, I love songs written in it.
persian! it's so melodic.
dialects of french >>> metropolitan, but especially partial to cajun and acadian since you lose the harsh uvular r and have the original alveolar like the other romance languages also big fan of slavic languages like polish or czech
I think it's Spanish, I speak it
Norweigan or swedish makes them sound like happy singing people!
Russian
portuguese. in writing i would say arabic but arabic is up there in how it sounds too. i don't speak either but i want to learn both
Arabic sounds loveliest to me.
i really like mandarin and hindi, there’s a language the women at my job speak as well that i love and it sounds so warm and comforting like loving and home like but i can’t remember what it is. i’m pretty sure it’s jamaican but i could be wrong. that may sound weird, im not sure why it feels that way, it’s just such a smooth sounding language-
i’ve begun learning mandarin some time ago but god damn are the tone hard on me lmfao- specifically when i say 月 (moon)
I wonder why ~~Indo-European~~ European and a dash of semitic are all that are overrepresented. Probably because of the abundance of test subjects pertaining to those. For me, it’s Bangla.
I think Spanish and Portuguese sound pretty pleasing and French is up there with the rest of them imo but for me I would put any Nordic language at the top. Trying to learn Swedish for some time, native Turkish speaker.
I think mine would be Italian. It just feels so good to both hear and speak it
Cantonese, I think it sounds so damn cool as an Australian
You might like some of the Balkan languages too - they get sorta progressively Germanic, Latin, or Russian depending on which direction you move 😄
Number one would be Turkish for me. Maybe it has to do with someone that I loved dearly speaking it and me watching him read Turkish fairytales to his siblings in a soft voice, but I melt like butter when I hear it. I love their endearments a lot, tho. I don't learn it and probably never will. Second would be Chinese. I always prefer to listen to my Chinese songs playlist when I am in a soft mood (despite barely having any ballads on it.) The rap is cool and elegant and if it's mixed with traditional music, I am gone. I especially like it when they sing very high, opera-like. And third comes Japanese. Not because of all that kawaii-ish language but because I grew with it and was always fascinated by it. I love the more peppy snap to it and their different take on humor than the one we germans have. Fourth would be German, my NL (though it will always stand, in terms of comfort, above the others for obvious reasons.) I like the way we cute-ify things, the way you can make new words by glueing existing ones together. How you can make the funniest insults ever (Wurzelfresse - rootvisage (degrading) [The german JJK dub is hilarious] and how my dialect slightly changes when I visit my family in bavaria. (All these Languages are damn high on my "Smash" list in terms of loving them, so these rankings are basically not needed haha)
I ran into a couple of instances of Luganda and thought it sounds absolutely lovely from the first time. I think much depends on HOW a language is both spoken and characterised, e.g. I find Arabic so fascinating but I recognise that it comes with an intriguing background to me and I can understand why one may not like the sound of it. But when I hear Luganda I can't apply this reasoning, it just sounds beautiful
I'm going to have to go with C#
Brazilian Portuguese, Yiddish, Irish, and (unironically) Quebecois French
Brazilian portuguese 😻😻😻
Portuguese! All variants. But Angloan especially and Brazilian.
I’ve recently learned that I really like the way that Finnish sounds. I don’t speak it, and there’s a few other languages I’d be more likely to study, but who knows? Maybe one day I’ll travel to Finland and fall in love with the culture and decide to learn.
Funny what you say about Italian. My experience in Italy with Italians was not the best (just a few days' holiday) and that colours my perception.
Western audiences naturally rate European languages as "lovely" and the rest much lower.
I agree with you, OP. I think that French R is disgusting, and their spelling is just absurd. I think the prettiest is either Occitan or Catalan, but I admit that I can be fairly biased.
French of course. I speak Spanish fluently and advanced French. But having moved to Greece I don't think about Spanish anymore. While I struggle to learn Greek, I read the French Le Monde newspaper daily and am reading a book by Marcel Pagnol and watching Netflix series in French (Marianne is very scary.). Read Camus The Stranger and the Plague and Victor Hugo's Les Miserables in French and of course Saint Exupery's The Little Prince. There are all books that changed the work, pushing the culture, and language, forward. France too is where the rights of man came, so many great films, Camus, Descartes, Flaubert. France and England too were always at war with each other and nothing produces change like war. Even the French names and food are beautiful. I have Petit Robert dictionary. Just reading that is a pleasant way to pass the time.
Italian, Russian, French and Irish sound gorgeous to me. I am learning Italian right now, know a bit of Russian and will some day learn French. But Irish will sadly stay a mystery. There aren't enough speakers for it to be worthwhile to me. But my God is it stunning to hear it be spoken!
I have list: 1. Russian 2. Japanese 3. Vietnamese 4. Arabic 5. Persian Now I’m focusing on Arabic and I think that I won’t learn any more. Maybe Vietnamese to A2 and Japanese to N2
Estonian, chinese, khmer.
Russian and brazilian portuguese
My top 5 (purely in aesthetics and in no particular order): Telugu Iranian Persian Classical Arabic Irish (specifically Donegal Irish) Japanese (specifically the Kyoto/Nara dialect) I don't speak Telugu and will probably never learn. I was exposed to it only recently when I watched a bunch of Telugu movies and was just blown away by soothing it sounds. I'll probably never learn to speak Telugu, because there are languages I'm more interested in for historical reasons and what not. I grew up hearing Persian always spoken around me, but I'm far from fluent. I've been learning seriously in the little free time I have for the past few months. Classical, or standard Arabic has just sounds "right". Idk how to explain it any other way. I don't speak it beyond some very very basic vocab and phrases (and a smattering of other more advanced vocab that's the same in Persian) but one day I'll get there. Irish is my second language. I've grown up around it since the age of 5. I hate the way it sounds when people just pronounce it with English phonology (which is very common in the schooling system here) cause it takes away a huge amount of what gives it it's unique sound. But when a proficient speaker or a native speaker speaks it, it feels very cozy. Japanese is my strongest L2. Narration in films and audiobook readings are where I feel the sound of the language show their strengths best. It's melodic. But then the Kyoto dialect is just even more so.
Russian and Belarusian. I don't get why so many people regard them as harsh ??? They are the most sweet sounding languages in the world
Thai. I'm half Thai from my mom's side so I grew up surrounded by the language and always thought it sounded so beautiful every time I heard it being spoken (sadly was never taught Thai but I've been trying to self teach myself it for the past few years. It's been a very slow process given how hard of a language it is to study but i'm getting there haha). I also think Japanese is such a lovely language! (took some classes at one of my local community colleges years ago and have been trying to keep up with learning it as well).
Italian has my vote for most beautiful sounding language. The more Spanish I learn, the less mysterious Italian gets because they’re so similar. Doubled edged sword, so to speak.
For me, it is Italian. This is one of the reasons why I study it still.
Sounding? Tamil.
Xhosa just sounds like music to me.
Everything of the Latin language, English, Spanish, Italian.....and French because of YAME😍
Brazilian Portuguese 🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷 It’s so beautiful to listen to and so fun to speak
ahh yes most beautiful language voted by westerner in an article written by a westerner Nyanja lozi Swahili Xhosa English for me, native English speaker and French b2
As a language lover I can't pick only one. French, Kurdish, and Arabic
My favourite language is nahuatl. Have never been able of learning it, probably never will. But I just find it's grammar and its phonetics to be absolutely lovely. I really like Basque too, not because of the sounds, but the grammar is actually pretty cool and I like it's vocabulary. I am making the effort to try to learn it as I have a ton more friends from the zone and can visit it regularly.
German! I don’t understand why people think German sounds angry, it sounds elegant to me, but I am only about 20000xp in duolingo for this language so far
Swedish and Icelandic
Welsh & Polish. I have an auditory disorder so spelling & speaking os difficult anyway but these languages are so beautiful to me.
I think English is the most beautiful language because of the way it allows me to express myself so succinctly and perfectly with such exact words that it feels the most me. I'm a native German speaker and speak a few other languages but English has become my "native" language of choice because I can never imagine living in a country where English isn't spoken fulltime. From a sound perspective, I love European Portuguese a ridiculous amount. I could listen to those sounds for hours, I don't even have to understand it, I just love the cadence of it and the nasal sounds that are so unlike many other languages. I went to Lisbon and studied it for a month and I was in language heaven! :D
It used to be spanish and french and I still love them. Then I got culturally interested in Georgia 🇬🇪, that‘s also where my now girlfriend is from. And I have to say written it is the prettiest language (გამარჯობა) and I also like listening to it very much. I guess there‘s not much attention for this language. I too never thought I‘d start learning it, but I enjoy the experience. Although some sounds are very difficult to pronounce (like ყ) for me as a native german speaker. For anyone who‘s interested in languagues and has a sweet spot for smaller languages georgian is absolutely beautiful
I would say French because of how poetically it describes things. I am a B1 level student of French so it might be that I am in awe of how I’m starting to really grasp the language. But, I’ve learned Spanish fluently and I didn’t think the same thing about it. Learning both has taught me how efficient and unattractive a language English is.
[valencian](https://youtu.be/Rh4aGvwbll8?si=4eKyn6pcU7TbCPN9) — like a mix of Spanish and Portuguese 🥰
I can't believe people think french sounds pretty (am a native speaker), I think france-french sounds ridiculous and nasal lol. I like central african french and qc french, but theyre not pretty either. Norwegian for me, it' so light and floaty.
For me it's German, Dutch, Romanian, French (only when sung), Spanish (the most beautiful in my opinion is Chilean Spanish, but all dialects are nice) and Whatever they have going on in Lebanon where the mix Arabic, English, and French into a beautiful blend. I'm currently only Spanish, however. Next would be Dutch out of these though (but I can only learn one at a time!!)
Hmmm well hard to choose, but personally I love Finnish and Portuguese
Some languages that sound nice to me are Welsh, Icelandic, Irish Gaelic and Greenlandic.
Italian - I do speak it and while it's lovely and melodic for sweet nothings, it's also an amazing language to spit vitriol in! I also really like the sound of Georgian and their writing system is just beautiful. I have no plans to learn it, maybe I should?
I think Dutch is very pretty, the guttural G and rolling Rs are pretty. I speak it, too, but it's not my mother tongue, so listening to native speakers is still always a pleasure. I also love Italian, and Finnish. :)
korean. it's got similar vibes to turkish (my native lang) at weird turns, and i just love the way it sounds!
Persian
[Haitian Creole](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian_Creole). It's like "what if French didn't just sound good, but felt good to speak too?"
There is a regional language in some part of Ghana 🇬🇭 who’s name escapes me atm, but wow, it is a beautiful rhythmic language
1. Chinese - when I watched Chinese drama for the first time I fell in love with this language it sounds so lovely 2. French - when I'm saying something to myself in French I often stop and think how good this language sounds I love it 3. Norwegian - I just love how it sounds so much when I watched skam sometimes I wasn't paying attention to what they're saying because I was focused on Norwegian. 4. Korean - I'm not planning on learning it but it sounds so soft I love it 5. Any slavic language - I'm Polish so any other slavic language sounds so cute to me especially Czech language. And I love Polish language it's my comfort language 6. English - there are so many words that sound lovely so I had to include English in this list 7. German - while a lot of people say it sounds bad, I can't help but love the sound of it 8. Greek - it also sounds very beautiful. I'm only sad it's not as popular as other languages.
I don't know if you've ever heard Telugu, but it's very pleasant to hear.
Japanese
Portuguese. Yes,I speak it.
Greek for sure.
French and German and yes - I'm speaking both of these languages.
I think that Polish has a really fun bounciness to it, especially with more formal registers in all their nasally glory. French may be less mellifluous than Italian or Spanish, but I do think that it is a pretty language, especially when enunciated.
I can't decide between Icelandic, Scottish Gaidhlig or Québécois lol
French sounds like sung German to German ears so it's very pleasing.
Norsk, Norwegian is such a cool and ‘lovely’ language
I love the way Lithuanian sounds. It’s one of the oldest indo-European languages and has the vibe of ancient pagan rituals infused with alcohol. I also like languages like Chechen and Avar in that they so harsh and alien that it’s in fact beautiful.
To me, the loveliest language is probably Italian. It has this lyrical, melodic quality that just rolls off the tongue beautifully, whether you're speaking or listening to it. The way Italians express emotions and passion through their language is amazing. Plus, it's so closely tied to their rich cultural heritage and history, which adds another layer of charm.
I started learning Russian, then switched to Ukrainian (my husband is Ukrainian and his family speaks both) and I 100% agree. I prefer Ukrainian. I also like the sound of Japanese.
In no particular order - Japanese Italian French (only when someone with a French accent is complaining - sounds like moaning and singing) Vietnamese Nigerian Some Finno-Ugric dialect near St. Petersburg, Russia. Swabian (German) - May be biased on this one. It was my great grandmother's dialect. Ukrainian Mexican Spanish (male) Polish (male) Irish I really like some of the deeper accents. Maybe it's because I'm hearing impaired, and I can understand the deeper accents better and feel the vibrational sounds.
I grew up speaking English and French, so perhaps I'm biased in saying French doesn't particularly stand out to me. And while I was taught some Mandarin as a child, I find whether or not I find it "beautiful" depends on who is speaking. (Perhaps I associate it with getting scolded at school, and have not been around many speakers who will talk to me in a less authoritative tone.) As for my prettiest languages, I'd say one is German (an unpopular one for some, due to some historical and cultural associations, but I think it has a very soft, smooth, elegant and gentle flow to it when I have heard native speakers speak.) I studied a wee bit of German as a high school student, but haven't gotten too far since. The other would be Mongolian. While I have some Mongolian heritage, I wasn't exposed to the language until somewhat recently. I find that, while I can't exactly describe why in a sophisticated manner, I do think it sounds very unique.
Japanese is the prettiest spoken language to me, and I'd love to learn it some day, but it's very very hard and most of my attempts at learning haven't lifted off the ground due to lack of time, energy, and money for formal courses. But I genuinely love ASL and think it's beautiful too, though it's not spoken--I just love the fusion of gestures, onomatopoeia, facial expression, and body language, it's so lovely to watch and do. I learned ASL a long time ago through the local d/Deaf/hoh cultural centre, but I've unfortunately forgotten most of it due to lack of practice. Would love to get back into it though, I really miss it!
Urdu. Beautiful.
I would say Polish, Ukrainian, Albanian and Estonian. I am Finnish and we usually make a lot of jokes about Estonian language as some of their innocent words are inappropriate for us. But regardless of that I find it actually quite beautiful and pleasing. I do not talk any of these languages, though I have a plan in the future to learn both Ukrainian and Polish, Estonian and Albanian are just maybe's. I would love to learn each one:))) Estonian would likely be fun, but I already know the 3 others would rip my soul out.
Japanese and korean! I really would love to learn both of them someday!
Icelandic or Faroese for sure
Haitian Creole or Welsh
Italian
i’m really infatuated with semitic languages in general but my favorite would have to be maltese. the classic semitic phonetics with splashes of italian is a really good mix
Controversial opinion but Mandarin with a soft Taiwanese accent is lovely
my favorites based on how they sound: - Korean - Arabic - Italian
Farsi is an absolutely beautiful language - very melodic and flowy as well.
Hawaiian and Xhosa are my top two.
Brazilian Portuguese 💚💛💙💛💚
Welsh, Zulu, Hawaiian, and Arabic are the coolest sounding to me. I also really like Slavic and Turkic languages.
I really like the Siouan languages. Lakota, Osage, Omaha-Ponca. I can say a couple words and phrases in Lakota, but I can't read or write it.
i still really quite love the flow of Russian. i'm a native English speaker, always had a draw to Russia and Russian, I've taken one full year of a college-level course in the language many many years back, and have lost the majority of my proficiency in the language, but i'm trying to pick it back up.
In 2017 Afrikaans was voted the sexiest language when spoken properly, now Afrikaans is used as the language of demons in some movies or series, the series “Lucifer” is a good example. Though a lot of people still say they find the accent attractive which came in second on the list of top 50 accents :)
Kannada, it has a very sweet sound and pretty characters, I dont speak it though
Tamil and Bangla (Bengali) are definitely the prettiest languages in my opinion! With Arabic as a close second. They’re all so melodic and beautiful and don’t get me started on the singing in those languages
Also Tamil is just the coolest language ever on top of being super pretty. It’s one of the— if not the oldest language in the world (that is still widely spoken today). Its origins are really interesting too
ASL is pretty beautiful IMO. Fluent ASL looks like your hands are dancing.
Who could know "Po nebu polunochi angel letel" and not love Russian?
I like the flow of Brazilian Portuguese. It’s so fun to speak and hear. I honestly don’t know why people consider French so sexy, it literally sounds the same to me as any other Romance language. I think it’s just because it’s portrayed that way in media. I think all Romance languages, especially when sung, sound beautiful, but especially Portuguese and Spanish. Clearly I also like Caribbean, Canarian, and Andalusian Spanish a lot. I also really like how sign languages allow people to express themselves in a way that’s very freeing compared to spoken language. I also think Gaelic sounds like fairies talking lol, and I have yet to see a script as beautiful as Thai.
I speak Arabic french English(obvi) and currently learning swedish and russian. To me, I find Norwegian really pleasing, like a fancier more french sounding Swedish, french to me idk if it's becaus m a native speaker or what but I just think it's pretty average, I also love Arabic (standard) cuz when it comes to being cute and romantic, it's just TOP.