# Why does the French language sound so different from Spanish (and other neighboring languages)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 15, 2015, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-french-language-sound-so-different-from-spanish-and-other-neighboring-languages/717757 "2015-04-15T18:15:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2015, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-french-language-sound-so-different-from-spanish-and-other-neighboring-languages/717757/41 "2015-04-21T23:01:02Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Is this the exact same setup as Spanglish here in the border states with Mexico (Calif, New Mexico, TX etc)? I’m not sure. I think US-Mex border-zone Spanglish is more of a sociolect (most speakers also speak standard Spanish and/or English, and use Spanglish in particular settings), while Portuñol is more of a true “language,” with people who use it more or less exclusively – but the difference is probably one of emphasis, with Portuñol also having some sociolexical aspects, and Spanglish also having some “true language” aspects. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2015, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-french-language-sound-so-different-from-spanish-and-other-neighboring-languages/717757/42 "2015-04-21T23:30:21Z")
> [@Ramira](#): > > Recall the modern standard French is from the north dialects of old Francia. This is important. There was much more of a language continuum across France and into Spain until relatively late standardization in the 20th century. Graham Robb discusses this in\* The Discovery of France.\* It’s not the best source for this topic, but the only one I’ve read recently enough to remember the title. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2015, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-french-language-sound-so-different-from-spanish-and-other-neighboring-languages/717757/43 "2015-04-29T01:08:03Z")
Supposedly you could go from the Strait of Gibraltar on the west to the Strait of Messina in the east, along the Mediterranean coastline, and in every locality along the way they can understand the dialect of the next villages on either side of them. Regardless of the official name of the language at any point along that itinerary. And yet people from Andalusia, on one end, and Calabria, on the other end, cannot understand people from Montpellier in the middle all that well—let alone each other. That is a dialect continuum. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2015, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-french-language-sound-so-different-from-spanish-and-other-neighboring-languages/717757/44 "2015-04-29T02:35:15Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Supposedly you could go from the Strait of Gibraltar on the west to the Strait of Messina in the east, along the Mediterranean coastline, and in every locality along the way they can understand the dialect of the next villages on either side of them. Regardless of the official name of the language at any point along that itinerary. And yet people from Andalusia, on one end, and Calabria, on the other end, cannot understand people from Montpellier in the middle all that well—let alone each other. That is a dialect continuum. I’ve heard that claim, but could it be due to bilingualisms rather than a true continuum? BTW, I spent time in Barcelona and always spoke French when I was there. Many were very conversant, others could understand me, but one oldish woman in the Barcelona market left me confused: “Yo no hablo español.” Could she have known so little Spanish that she thought I was trying to speak Spanish? Was it just a polite way to tell me that I was speaking no comprehensible language? ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2015, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-french-language-sound-so-different-from-spanish-and-other-neighboring-languages/717757/45 "2015-04-29T04:24:43Z")
Was there absolutely no trace of the Vandal language when they were overthrown by the Muslims? The Reconquista replaced a Germanic language with a Romance language, apparently? ---
**Author:** ![Baffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dec6dc/32.png) [@Baffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baffle)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2015, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-french-language-sound-so-different-from-spanish-and-other-neighboring-languages/717757/46 "2015-04-29T11:48:25Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Was there absolutely no trace of the Vandal language when they were overthrown by the Muslims? The Reconquista replaced a Germanic language with a Romance language, apparently? The Vandals were first defeated in Iberia by the Visigoth, and were pushed into North Africa, around 500. By the end of the 7th century the Visigoth had adopted Latin language and religion. There may have been some Gothic language speakers left in the 8th century but no later. The Reconquista didn’t really replace any language since the Latin speakers kept their culture throughout the Islamic rule (which only lasted a few years in some places). ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2015, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-french-language-sound-so-different-from-spanish-and-other-neighboring-languages/717757/47 "2015-04-29T14:20:53Z")
I’ll pile on. I’ve had formal language training in Portuguese, French and Spanish and agree that Portuguese sounds very little like either of the other two. There are some similarities because of the romance roots, of course, but of the three, Portuguese was the more difficult for me to learn. The only resemblance to French is the nasality in vowel pronunciation. I always thought of Portuguese as Spanish that’s been edited with a meat cleaver. Bom dia! ---
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2015, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-french-language-sound-so-different-from-spanish-and-other-neighboring-languages/717757/48 "2015-04-29T16:58:49Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > That may be because you are understanding it (or at least listening for meaning). To hear what a language sounds like, you need to somehow “tune out” the meaning and hear it as just a stream of sound. I think it is next to impossible, for example, for any of us to hear what our own native language sounds like, because we hear it as words rather than sounds. > > For me, the “5 pure vowels” and lack of [zh] and [sh] sounds in Spanish and standard Italian give them a clear and bright sound, in contrast with Portuguese, French and southern dialects of Italian. Some dialects of Spanish do have the ‘zh’ sound (Argentinian Spanish, for example). ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2015, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-french-language-sound-so-different-from-spanish-and-other-neighboring-languages/717757/49 "2015-05-02T04:16:27Z")
> [@dstarfire](#): > > I’ve been watching a bit of British tv lately, which includes a good sprinkling of French. > > It sounds very different from what Spanish and German I remember from school, and (in the case of Spanish) have heard on tv/radio). In particular, the focus on vowel sounds and subjugation of consonants, seems rather uncommon. It almost feels as if somebody, at some point in time, redesigned French to sound more snobbish and/or artistic. If the shows you are watching simply show ordinary French people speaking that language as they go about their business, I’m surprised you can sustain the notion that it seems artistic or snobbish. As with “guttural” German, that idea is more or less a caricature-like imagined phenomenon. > [@](#): > > Could somebody enlighten me about this apparent discrepancy? It could just be a misperception, but, if so, it’s oddly consistent. It’s certainly not a misperception when comparing French and German, as the two languages are about as different as two Indo-European languages can be, notwithstanding a few early borrowed words that today still betray their common origin–e.g. French _fenêtre_ and German _Fenster_ which both mean “window”. I don’t remember offhand which language borrowed from which. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-french-language-sound-so-different-from-spanish-and-other-neighboring-languages/717757.md?page=2)