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Which language is the most beautiful? Ann Brydon, Boston
Send new questions to nq@theguardian.com.
Readers respond
my father speaks mandarin
My husband says math.
But I say it’s music
And that’s a fact. Michelle Ju
Finnish can be quite sweet. I have a Finnish friend, so I can already recognize people when they speak Finnish – they sound like birds chirping. Japanese women’s speech sounds like a splashing waterfall. nina1414
Japanese. Beautiful undulating intonation. Also a wonderful language to learn to speak like a foreigner. Eatmyhandbag
All languages are beautiful until you can’t understand what is being said. Woolfardisworthy
Tok Pisin. Just listen to it without trying to understand. It is a pidgin largely derived from English, but it borrows enough from the many Indonesian languages, especially its rhythm and tonality. It means “speech of birds”. “Thank you very much” is “Tenk yu tru” – much more beautiful than English. brianmiln
In the Canary Islands there is a local language called Silbo Gomero. All tongue sounds are whistles. Listening to it is like listening to a chorus of birds. It is one of the most fascinating languages. fernlinhealy
Brazilian Portuguese. It contains all the best parts of the other Romance languages without any of the bad parts. While the Portuguese version is no better or worse than the Spanish (Castilian), the Brazilian version just sings and rocks. And those Js! I could listen to someone read the phone book or the entire collection of EU regulations in that language and probably fall head over heels in love with them when they were done. (PS I don’t speak Portuguese or Spanish.) PaulDavisTheFirst
We recently visited Iceland on our honeymoon and Icelandic is a wonderful language. It sounds like water flowing over stones. Banana McFanana
To familiarize yourself visually for a minute, some of the most beautiful languages are Caucasian (eg Georgian and Armenian), Mon/Burmese and ancient Chinese pictographs. But they were preceded by tablets found in Iraq (Uruk) with proto-cuneiform writing and pictographs from about 3300 BC. Breathtaking. This is where writing and history and the ability to share experiences across time and space begins. kaml11
Beauty is in the ear of the listener. It’s no contest, but English doesn’t sound good to me. rerab2
Did ever heard it saidhowever?
When this Aprille with his soot shoures,
The end of March has penetrated to the root,
And bathed every vein in switch liquor
Of which vertú engenred is the flour;
When Zephirus eek with his sweet breath
Inspired is in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes and yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne,
And the little hens make a tune,
That slept all night with his eyes open,
So take both nature in your hands,
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages
And palmeres for to seken strange strands,
For ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;
And specially, of every shires ende
From Engelond, to Caunterbury wende,
The holy blessed martyr for search,
This hem has helped when they were wanted. Book finder
“You haven’t experienced Shakespeare until you’ve read it in the original Klingon.” Chancellor Gorkon, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Sagarmatha 1953
English when spoken as a second language, with an accent. It makes me hear old, familiar words with a new ear. I listen to the speaker more carefully out of respect for the effort they put into communicating with me. Running water
Python has many admirersI understand. MalleusSacerdotum
Italian. kulculan
But who speaks Italian? A northern accent and a southern accent sound so different they’re almost different languages. Probably most people’s idea of what Italian should sound like is based on a northern accent, but not too northern: the further north you go, the singer it gets. To my ear, the Brescia accent is just a joke. Further south, an argument could be made for the Neapolitan accent, which has an extreme sensuality, but I think the most Italian-sounding Italian accent would be that of Emilia-Romagna – warm, melodic and clear. Mr. Bloom
I would vote for click languages in southern and parts of west and central Africa. Since I don’t understand a word when I hear a conversation, I can concentrate on the music of everything. And I feel like I’m listening to something like the music of an amazing post-bop or South Indian drummer. I think that if I understood a conversation, that meaning would only deepen – even if the speakers were discussing root vegetables or tax returns. Invasive squirrel
Whatever Elizabeth Fraser was doing in The Cocteau Twins. ElCommentario
Welsh. stump sheep
Dw i’n hoffi Cymraeg hådt. Etymologically, it’s also fascinating. ethelbrosis
Can anyone really appreciate the beauty of a language if they don’t speak it? I could listen to the sound of dozens of languages being spoken, and some would certainly sound more pleasant than others. But no matter, that’s it. Few of us have more than a small number of languages. (Me – an English monoglot with little understanding of French, German and Welsh.) Which makes the question very difficult to answer. I just listened to Sukiyaki (Ue o Muite Arukou) sung by Kyu Sakamoto. Certain special sound in Japanese. But without the subtitles I would have been completely lost. MyOtherNameIsReal
I think it is not the language, but the mood and soul of the one who speaks. German is amazingly sweet when spoken by a sweet German. On the other hand, Italian – such a wonderful musical language, one of my favorites – sounds terrible to me when spoken by people who are rude to each other. So it’s not the language; it’s the man behind it. Barcelona City
I would say Cornish. It is a language that has survived despite more than a century of extinction. It’s also a language that’s almost entirely meant for speaking, not writing, and it’s meant for community use. Beautiful. Maymaymay
Since my grandson was born profoundly deaf seven years ago, the most beautiful language for me has been learning British Sign Language language. Sign language is so expressive, using facial expressions as well as your hands and body. I love watching my five-year-old hearing granddaughter converse in BSL with her older brother, laughing and giggling together at Grandma’s frequent mistakes. They are my best teachers. Their hearing sister is also being trained to speak and sign. 7 sisters
I think they are all wonderful. I’ve never met a language I didn’t love. mapejrano
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