# Ugliest language on the face of the earth **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 9, 2013, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-language-on-the-face-of-the-earth/665836 "2013-08-09T21:16:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-language-on-the-face-of-the-earth/665836/61 "2013-08-11T03:41:31Z")
Ghetto English. Ok, guys, I’m off to a 4-week vacation. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-language-on-the-face-of-the-earth/665836/62 "2013-08-11T04:34:01Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztGBF7WzzsI](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztGBF7WzzsI) > > Tell me the language the women are speaking in this excellent film isnt beautiful. For the best results, fast forward to 44:20 ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-language-on-the-face-of-the-earth/665836/63 "2013-08-11T05:13:19Z")
Русский язык. Я взял в год русского языка в средней школе, и я съежился на некоторые из звуков. Конечно, это было еще во времена холодной войны, так что все России была уродлива. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-language-on-the-face-of-the-earth/665836/64 "2013-08-11T05:13:50Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Русский язык. Я взял в год русского языка в средней школе, и я съежился на некоторые из звуков. Конечно, это было еще во времена холодной войны, так что все России была уродлива. Bless you. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-language-on-the-face-of-the-earth/665836/65 "2013-08-11T05:59:10Z")
Breast warts! ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-language-on-the-face-of-the-earth/665836/66 "2013-08-11T08:15:49Z")
> [@Arrendajo](#): > > When I was in China, all the music videos and music I saw on television were subtitled with Chinese characters. I thought it odd and asked my Chinese friend about it and he told me it was difficult to understand sung Chinese because the tones were obscured by the melody. Some common phrases and such could be understood without tones, but a song that’s telling a story sort of needs the characters to help it along. I would think tones could be incorporated into rap music. I haven’t listened to much Chinese rap though. It’s actually pretty common to subtitle _all_ television here. Not everyone speaks and/or understands Mandarin. The written language is common, though. (The local Chinese call all of the different dialects “accents” – even Cantonese.) ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-language-on-the-face-of-the-earth/665836/67 "2013-08-11T10:13:43Z")
I would say that the ugliest languages, to me, are the ones that allow for unholy consonant clusters. Yes, I know that certain types of “L” and “R” are technically considered to be vocalic, but nonetheless! The champion here has to be Georgian: Behold _ **ɡvbrdgvnis** _ (= “he’s plucking us”) or _ **mc’vrtneli** _ (= “trainer”). Czech is not far behind – The iconic sentence is actually rather artificial --a tongue-twister: _ **Strč prst skrz krk** _ (= “stick your finger through your throat”), but there are some ‘beauties’ in Czech like _ **scvrknls** _ (= past tense form of the verb _scvrknout_, which means “to flick away”). And then there is the relatively obscure Nuxálk language, spoken in Western Canada by 20 to 30 elderly native speakers (although there are energetic efforts being made to revive it). This language challenges what even constitutes a **syllable**. For instance, the following utterance (written with an alphabet developed for the language) can be said, from some points of view, to constitute a single syllable: _ **xłp̓x̣ʷłtłpłłskʷc̓** _ (phonetically “[xɬpʼχʷɬtʰɬpʰɬːskʷʰt͡sʼ]” = “he had had in his possession a bunchberry plant”). Other fine examples from the same language (written phonetically): _**[kʼxɬɬtʰsxʷ sɬχʷtʰɬɬtʰs (t͡s?)]**_ (= “you had seen that I had gone through a passage”). _**[t͡sʰkʰtʰskʷʰt͡sʰ]**_ (= “he arrived”). _**[st͡sʼqʰt͡sʰtʰx]**_ (= “that’s my animal fat over there”). (and the two last ones do not even have any ‘vocalic’ “L” or “R” in them!!) So… Yeah. Languages that allow enormous consonant clusters are the (potentially) ugliest, in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-language-on-the-face-of-the-earth/665836/68 "2013-08-11T11:43:11Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > For the best results, fast forward to 44:20 which shows a different language from the rest of the film. ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-language-on-the-face-of-the-earth/665836/69 "2013-08-11T12:19:29Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I think Dutch sounds less pretty than Danish ([here’s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C06wH2e68g) a good video in which to compare them - it’s a Dutch TV article about the Danish show _Borgen_ - containing segments of both languages) - Dutch always sounds a bit goofy to me - like everything that’s said is the buildup to a punchline. Ha ha! That announcer is audibly from a place just outside my hometown. I think northern and central Dutch are both brutal and his Dutch is “neutral” (i.e. I speak _exactly_ like this - but we can still be friends). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-language-on-the-face-of-the-earth/665836/70 "2013-08-11T13:54:43Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > [Hard to argue](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_xUIDRxdmc). > > [Even if you try](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YQAYEmwBvs). > > [And try](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDWw_0deJ3c). Lol…Even though, in fact, I rather like the sound of German (along with other languages people usually don’t like much like Russian and Arabic). ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-language-on-the-face-of-the-earth/665836/71 "2013-08-11T15:12:08Z")
[**How English sounds**](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt4Dfa4fOEY) to non-English speakers. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-language-on-the-face-of-the-earth/665836/72 "2013-08-11T15:27:38Z")
I’m going to kill you all. Anyway the most ugly languages are Arab and Hebrew. Portuguese and Thai sounds like a constant whine party. American English sounds goofy, like awkward pimpled teenage boys trying to make conversation. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-language-on-the-face-of-the-earth/665836/73 "2013-08-11T15:50:46Z")
BBC Received Pronunciation. Afrikaans runs a distant second in “no matter what I’m saying, what I’m meaning is that I’m superior.” ---
**Author:** ![Chicken\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Chicken\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicken_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-language-on-the-face-of-the-earth/665836/74 "2013-08-11T19:02:12Z")
Dutch sounds like someone speaking backwards while choking back a phlegmy laugh. Vietnamese sounds like someone speaking backwards, angrily, while swallowing a cat. Please don’t tell my in-laws I said this. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-language-on-the-face-of-the-earth/665836/75 "2013-08-12T08:58:15Z")
I think it’s a tie between Arabic and Hebrew. I actually like German. Spoken German is actually pretty soft to my ears, with Germans having what sounds like a lisp when speaking. It’s only when they get angry does the horror come out. My German office mate sometimes gets confused what language he is speaking when angry and rants at me in German. ---
**Author:** ![Virgil\_Tibbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c4cdca/32.png) [@Virgil\_Tibbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Virgil_Tibbs)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-language-on-the-face-of-the-earth/665836/76 "2013-08-12T14:54:32Z")
Six years in Hong Kong says Cantonese. It’s by turns nasal and harshly throaty, and constantly switches between a lumpy rattle of single syllables and the elongated, slangy laaaas and ahhhhhs that are hung on the end of every sentence. It doesn’t help that it’s always delivered at a vacuum cleaner level of loudness. ---
**Author:** ![Animastryfe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Animastryfe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Animastryfe)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-language-on-the-face-of-the-earth/665836/77 "2013-08-12T15:00:04Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > For those of you saying Mandarin, I think it was a typo and you meant Cantonese. Mao on a pogo stick, that’s an awful sounding language. Famous throughout China as being a loud nasty language. I agree. As a Mandarin speaker, I cannot stand Cantonese. ---
**Author:** ![Virgil\_Tibbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c4cdca/32.png) [@Virgil\_Tibbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Virgil_Tibbs)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-language-on-the-face-of-the-earth/665836/78 "2013-08-12T15:38:55Z")
To be honest, Mandarin’s quite ugly too, with all of those pinched mews crashing into the occasional hard K-sound, covered with a heavy frosting of shh-shh - how poetic of me! Still miles better than Cantonese though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-language-on-the-face-of-the-earth/665836.md?page=3)