# All Languages Are About Equally Beautiful? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 12, 2024, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-languages-are-about-equally-beautiful/996016 "2024-01-12T19:38:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-languages-are-about-equally-beautiful/996016/1 "2024-01-12T19:38:39Z")
… Or so says this interesting study in _The Economist_, which took a film recorded in many languages and asked people from many countries to rate them. Most had similar scores, a finding that may surprise you if you have your preferences. > **[What is the world’s loveliest language?](https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2024/01/11/what-is-the-worlds-loveliest-language)** > > Johnson, our language columnist, reviews the attractiveness of speech ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-languages-are-about-equally-beautiful/996016/2 "2024-01-12T19:39:41Z")
_no one has carefully studied the touchy question of which ones are seen as beautiful or ugly._ _That is until three scholars—Andrey Anikin, Nikolay Aseyev and Niklas Erben Johansson—published their study of 228 languages last year. They hit upon the idea of using an online film about the life of Jesus, which its promoters have recorded in hundreds of languages. Crucially, most recordings had at least five different speakers, as the film has both exposition and dialogue. The team recruited 820 people from three different language groups—Chinese, English and Semitic (Arabic, Hebrew and Maltese speakers)—to listen to clips and rate the languages’ attractiveness…_ People preferred female voices and did not like breathy ones. These films all used the same script with five different speakers so lacked spontaneity, which might make a… HEY! SQUIRREL! Five speakers is not a big number and if one was particularly mellifluous or mealymouthed… **(Excerpt. If this is paywalled and someone could post a shareable version then that would be appreciated. I can’t tell and likely reached my quota in any case.)** ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-languages-are-about-equally-beautiful/996016/3 "2024-01-12T19:51:47Z")
Beautiful language? Does this not 100% depend on the class of poets writing in that language? There is a story that a translator of Halldór Laxness subsequently retired, saying no other task would measure up. I will grant that each language tends to have its own inimitable style. “Most had similar scores” — if it’s all Greek to you, then it’s all Greek, right? No big surprise there! ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-languages-are-about-equally-beautiful/996016/4 "2024-01-12T19:56:52Z")
Who is doing the writing in each language? And then isn’t that writer’s skill a great part of the result when evaluating the _beauty_ of a language based on listening to a common story? ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-languages-are-about-equally-beautiful/996016/5 "2024-01-12T20:00:09Z")
I once got into an argument on the subject of Quebec language policies with a French-speaking Quebecois who insisted that the most beautiful language in the world is French. I don’t agree, but there are worse. To paraphrase the great philosopher and linguist Dave Barry, those would be the languages that, in order to enunciate them correctly, you have to sound like you’re about to hork up some major bodily fluids onto the sidewalk. But I’m sure that the English language sounds equally brutal to the other side. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-languages-are-about-equally-beautiful/996016/6 "2024-01-12T20:01:35Z")
Quite. I meant to suggest that is it writers who make something beautiful out of language, not something inherent in the language. > [@wolfpup](#): > > But I’m sure that the English language sounds equally brutal to the other side. Sounds like dog sounds, is one way I have heard it described. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-languages-are-about-equally-beautiful/996016/7 "2024-01-12T20:05:38Z")
I assume this is about the sound of the language and, having listened to a fair amount of German and Italian, I’m pretty sure Italian is prettier sounding. I can’t tell what English sounds like, since it just sounds right to me. Anyway, [obligatory Simpsons clip](https://youtu.be/04l7TAj9LBg?si=IorVfhUmdGYKA5CU&t=240). Wanda [likes Russian](https://youtu.be/N6QUFqiJx9k?si=VtkkMeMDcSCmgBDs&t=24), though. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-languages-are-about-equally-beautiful/996016/8 "2024-01-12T20:13:08Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > I can’t tell what English sounds like It sounds like this: > **[Adriano Celentano - Prisencolinensinainciusol](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VsmF9m_Nt8%2F)** > > Rare, Complete! ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-languages-are-about-equally-beautiful/996016/9 "2024-01-12T20:23:25Z")
Hahaha! That’s excellent. Doesn’t sound as pretty as Italian. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-languages-are-about-equally-beautiful/996016/10 "2024-01-12T20:28:06Z")
That’s legitimately one of the most astonishing things I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-languages-are-about-equally-beautiful/996016/11 "2024-01-12T20:29:56Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > which ones are seen as beautiful or ugly “Seen as,” or heard as? ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-languages-are-about-equally-beautiful/996016/12 "2024-01-12T20:39:57Z")
English also sounds like this. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Vt4Dfa4fOEY/maxresdefault.jpg "How English sounds to non-English speakers") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt4Dfa4fOEY) ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-languages-are-about-equally-beautiful/996016/13 "2024-01-12T20:41:09Z")
I also guess that the study was about the _sound_ of the different languages, that has nothing to do with the craft or skill of the writer or his fluency in matters of style, gramar, syntax or semantics. And further, that the movies were played to people who did not know or understand the languages being analyzed to minimize previous bias and preconceptions. So being in that study must have been a pretty boring exercise, the attention probably wandering around after a couple of miracles (Jeez! A movie about the life of Jesus? Really?). I wish the participants that they only had to endure one linguistic version or two, because 228… Anyway: The only valid conclusion I think that can be drawn is that all languages are more or less at the same level of internal phonetic coherence. That makes them about equally pleasant to our ears when we don’t understand them. Call that beauty if you wish, I am not convinced you can deduce much more from this experiment. > [@RitterSport](#): > > […] having listened to a fair amount of German and Italian, I’m pretty sure Italian is prettier sounding. Speaking of previous bias and preconceptions to me as native Spanish and German speaker Italian, with its frequent "i"s (pronounced “ee”), can sound childish and effeminate. I wonder whether Klingon was included in the sample. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-languages-are-about-equally-beautiful/996016/14 "2024-01-12T20:41:44Z")
I love this comparison of other languages to the beauty of German. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/NcxvQI88JRY/hqdefault.jpg "German Language Compared to other Languages") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcxvQI88JRY) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-languages-are-about-equally-beautiful/996016/15 "2024-01-12T20:44:44Z")
What, no love for the Black Speech? {{Grumble, grumble, grumble, stupid Elf-Hobbit biases …} ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-languages-are-about-equally-beautiful/996016/16 "2024-01-12T20:48:33Z")
Sure. I knew a (French) guy who insisted that French was the language of science and precision, while German was the language of philosophy, dreams, and the unconscious. Don’t know what he thought about Portuguese. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-languages-are-about-equally-beautiful/996016/17 "2024-01-12T20:48:33Z")
How do they do that? It really sounds like English to me. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-languages-are-about-equally-beautiful/996016/18 "2024-01-12T20:50:38Z")
I know, right? I keep feeling like I just missed a word or two, and it would make sense if I heard it again. The phonology and prosody is spot on, even though the vocabulary is nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-languages-are-about-equally-beautiful/996016/19 "2024-01-12T20:51:53Z")
Amazingly well done. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-languages-are-about-equally-beautiful/996016/20 "2024-01-12T20:52:07Z")
_They_ don’t do it, it’s _your_ brain that does it. Humans want to make sense. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-languages-are-about-equally-beautiful/996016.md?page=2)