# Why french is the "language of the love" ?



## jayze

hi i'm new.
I'm wondering why french is named the " language of the love " ??? 
i'm spanish, so sorry for my mistakes.


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## Whodunit

jayze said:
			
		

> hi i'm new.
> I'm wondering why french is named the " language of the love " ???
> i'm spanish, so sorry for my mistakes.



Simply because the pronunciation is romantic, isn't it?


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## Meysha

I think it's the nasal vowels that sound very nice to us. The intonation is very pleasing too. And also it's a very 'lippy' language. Meaning that you really have to stick your lips out to make the right sounds.


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## jayze

thank you. 
Yes it is right it sound beautiful !
I have a friend french native who told me that in france, the most romantic language is italian . I think it is a a beautiful language too !


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## DDT

jayze said:
			
		

> thank you.
> Yes it is right it sound beautiful !
> I have a friend french native who told me that in france, the most romantic language is italian . I think it is a a beautiful language too !



What is amazing is that most French natives told me they consider French as a quite dull language and Italian as one of the most musical ones...I am personally charmed by French...who knows, the grass is always greener on the other side... 

DDT


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## Benjy

DDT said:
			
		

> What is amazing is that most French natives told me they consider French as a quite dull language and Italian as one of the most musical ones...I am personally charmed by French...who knows, the grass is always greener on the other side...
> 
> DDT



jusqu'à ce qu'on s'appercoive que c'est du gazon en plastique!  (ta egueule ) 

i guess its always like that though, your own language never sounds so alluring or whatever because its something you hear every day.


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## valerie

jayze said:
			
		

> hi i'm new.
> I'm wondering why french is named the " language of the love " ???
> i'm spanish, so sorry for my mistakes.



Is it, really?

Ok I've read the other posts, and I agree that Italian is much more beautiful to hear than French, for me...


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## JLanguage

Benjy said:
			
		

> jusqu'à ce qu'on s'appercoive que c'est du gazon en plastique!  (ta egueule )
> 
> i guess its always like that though, your own language never sounds so alluring or whatever because its something you hear every day.


 
That is definitely true for me. I find the General American dialect very flat and boring. BRP (British Received Pronunciation) is the dialect I find most pleasant. But I find many other British and UK dialects hilarious, and find the Australian accent amusing. South African English is pretty nice too.

I like listening to French, and while there are many other languages that I find more pleasant/interesting (to listen to) than (American) English such as reconstructed Ancient Greek and Latin pronunciation, there also some I find harsh and completely unpleasant.

-Jonathan.


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## Outsider

_Quand il me prend dans ses bras,
Il me parle tout bas
Je vois la vie en rose,

Il me dit des mots d'amour
Des mots de tous les jours,
Et ça me fait quelque chose

Il est entré dans mon cœur,
Une part de bonheur
Dont je connais la cause,

C'est lui pour moi,
Moi pour lui dans la vie
Il me l'a dit, l'a juré
Pour la vie.

Et dès que je l'aperçois
Alors je sens en moi
Mon cœur qui bat._

La vie en rose, Edith Piaf.

You need to ask?


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## abc

jayze said:
			
		

> I'm wondering why french is named the " language of the love " ???


 
Visit France then you'll know why. You'll find lots of love there.

Ok, seriously, I've had chances to visit places and hear different languages spoken and I've found that different languages have unique ways of expressing love and I like them all.  French love poems? Just put my heart to a stop.


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## Silvia

jayze said:
			
		

> I'm wondering why french is named the " language of the love " ???


 Actually, I've always heard that Italian is the language of love or considered as such.
As you can see, everything's relative


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## Apus

I can say _je t'aime _ to any girl in the world, and she falls in my arms faster that I can write this !


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## germinal

Apus said:
			
		

> I can say _je t'aime _to any girl in the world, and she falls in my arms faster that I can write this !


 

Attention! Que elles ne finiront pas sur tes bras!


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## Asmodeo

French. _Aimer_: to like, to love.
Spanish. _Querer_: to want, to love.

*That's really worked out ambiguity !!!*


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## Whodunit

Asmodeo said:
			
		

> French. _Aimer_: to like, to love.
> Spanish. _Querer_: to want, to love.
> 
> *That's really worked out ambiguity !!!*



Couldn't I also say "Je t'aime" to a guy? Or is it impolite between same-sex people?


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## timpeac

Whodunit said:
			
		

> Couldn't I also say "Je t'aime" to a guy? Or is it impolite between same-sex people?


 
Depends if you want to say you love him or not! If you just want to say you like him then you would say "je t'aime bien" but I remember that there is a whole long thread already on this topic.


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## Whodunit

timpeac said:
			
		

> Depends if you want to say you love him or not! If you just want to say you like him then you would say "je t'aime bien" but I remember that there is a whole long thread already on this topic.



Okay, that's enough. I only like him.


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## LV4-26

Whodunit said:
			
		

> Couldn't I also say "Je t'aime" to a guy? Or is it impolite between same-sex people?


Outside a romantic context (hence a gay context, in this case), you can't.
However, you could say it inside the family : a father to his son or a son to his father.
In all other circumstances, it would have to be "je t'aime bien" 
Frenchmen are fairly bashful as far as *speech* is concerned.
So even a "je t'aime bien" between guys would be likely to be accompanied with a pat on the shoulder or something to show that you aren't indulging in conspicuous emotion. French guys are just not used to solemn declarations so you could very well embarass somebody.

To a girl, on the contrary, you could say "Je t'aime bien", or even "Je t'aime énormément". Rarely simply "Je t'aime" because it really sounds romantic.


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## Robert Bennie

g'day jayze
greatameetcha


> hi i'm new.
> I'm wondering why french is named the " language of the love " ???
> i'm spanish, so sorry for my mistakes.


I seem to have made the same mistake because every time I tried to whisper French nothings in an aussie ear I got nothing but confused
see ya
robert


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## Whodunit

LV4-26 said:
			
		

> Outside a romantic context (hence a gay context, in this case), you can't.
> However, you could say it inside the family : a father to his son or a son to his father.
> In all other circumstances, it would have to be "je t'aime bien"
> Frenchmen are fairly bashful as far as *speech* is concerned.
> So even a "je t'aime bien" between guys would be likely to be accompanied with a pat on the shoulder or something to show that you aren't indulging in conspicuous emotion. French guys are just not used to solemn declarations so you could very well embarass somebody.
> 
> To a girl, on the contrary, you could say "Je t'aime bien", or even "Je t'aime énormément". Rarely simply "Je t'aime" because it really sounds romantic.



Okay, thanks to you, too.


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## jayze

I ask to a friend who is french and he answer me that you could also say : 
" je t'adore " to a friend. Is it right ?


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## LV4-26

Oh yes, I think you can say almost everything as long as you don't do it in a "solemn" way.


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## tmoore

This is not necessarily my opinion, but someone a longtime ago, expressed it this way:

FRENCH is the language for lovers

ITALIAN is a language to speak to the birds

ENGLISH is the language for diplomats

SPANISH is a language to speak to God

GERMAN is a language to speak to the horses

No intent to offend anybody.


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## ampurdan

Whodunit said:
			
		

> Couldn't I also say "Je t'aime" to a guy? Or is it impolite between same-sex people?


 
Kann ich auf Deutsch "Ich liebe dich" sagen, ohne dass ich etwas Romantisches zu verstehen gebe?


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## Fernando

tmoore said:
			
		

> This is not necessarily my opinion, but someone a longtime ago, expressed it this way:
> 
> FRENCH is the language for lovers
> 
> ITALIAN is a language to speak to the birds
> 
> ENGLISH is the language for diplomats
> 
> SPANISH is a language to speak to God
> 
> GERMAN is a language to speak to the horses
> 
> No intent to offend anybody.



One "someone" was Charles V (1500-58) but the quote (which may be apocryphal) simply wanted to express his preference for Spanish. There are several versions (1). The one I know:

"I speak in Italian with ambassadors, in French with ladies (2), in English with horses (3), in German with soldiers and in Spanish with God."

As I said before, the quote is possibly false. No offence intended.

(1) You guessed it. There is a thread in WR on the topic.
(2) French and Italian are sometimes interchanged. At this particular time, Italian was oftener in diplomat realm than French.
(3) English and German are often interchanged. German and English are good even today for animals since the orders are very short.


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## gian_eagle

by the way... French was mostly used in Courts (with kings and nobles) in the medieval times...


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## KingSix

I really don't understand why French is the language of love, or even a beautifull language for that matter.  I'm not anti-French but I just dont' like the sound or pronunciation.

Not only was French important in medieval times but also in the 18-19th century when France had a lot of colonies.  French was also seen as a language of the higher class, especially in West-Europe (probably except the U.K.).
Belgium, my country, had a long and hard fight to make Dutch a worthy language, before 1960 it was only French that matterd, Dutch was for the "common" people, the low working class and peasents.


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## DearPrudence

Sorry, coming back on 'aimer' et 'adorer' (I'm a bit slow, sorry).



			
				LV4-26 said:
			
		

> Outside a romantic context (hence a gay context, in this case), you can't.
> However, you could say it inside the family : a father to his son or a son to his father.
> In all other circumstances, it would have to be "je t'aime bien"
> Frenchmen are fairly bashful as far as *speech* is concerned.
> So even a "je t'aime bien" between guys would be likely to be accompanied with a pat on the shoulder or something to show that you aren't indulging in conspicuous emotion. French guys are just not used to solemn declarations so you could very well embarass somebody.
> 
> To a girl, on the contrary, you could say "Je t'aime bien", or even "Je t'aime énormément". Rarely simply "Je t'aime" because it really sounds romantic.


 
What's weird is that 'adorer' is supposed to be stronger than 'aimer' but is not. You can say that to your friends (girls to girls, I don't know for men, wait for a specialist to answer that tricky question) while you definitively couldn't say 'aimer'.
ex: Agnès, je l'adore, elle est trop sympa.  (first name that came to my mind, sorry) et pas Agnès, je l'aime, elle est trop sympa (sorry again  ).


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## Outsider

gian_eagle said:
			
		

> by the way... French was mostly used in Courts (with kings and nobles) in the medieval times...


In Britain, yes.


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## JazzByChas

Hey Benj:

What exactly does "egueule" mean...or is that the forera who seems to be rather absent lately?


			
				Benjy said:
			
		

> (ta egueule )


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## KingSix

JazzByChas said:
			
		

> Hey Benj:
> 
> What exactly does "egueule" mean...or is that the forera who seems to be rather absent lately?


 
I'm not Benji but it should be "ta guele".  It can be translated as "your mouth/face" but it really means "shut up".


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## DDT

KingSix said:
			
		

> I'm not Benji but it should be "ta guele".  It can be translated as "your mouth/face" but it really means "shut up".



It was a joke, Benjy was simply making fun of the fact I stated Italian to be one of the most musical languages...he made a pun out of "ta gueule" and "egueule", that's all

DDT


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## zebedee

DDT said:
			
		

> It was a joke, Benjy was simply making fun of the fact I stated Italian to be one of the most musical languages...he made a pun out of "ta gueule" and "egueule", that's all
> 
> DDT


 
The complete reference to the joke being that the sentence which Benjy quoted:



			
				Benjy said:
			
		

> jusqu'à ce qu'on s'appercoive que c'est du gazon en plastique!  (ta egueule )


 
used to be Egueule's signature for a while, but we're veering very off-topic here, guys!


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## Latino

I think is all about what do you like. If you like french is going to be french or if you like Spanish,English,Italian or any other language is going to sound beatiful or romantic. In my case I Like accents and languages.I'm Spanish speaker from Mexico and love to hear the accent of spanish speakers from other countries like Spain,Dominican Republic,Puerto Rico, well all of them. 

If I like the person I don't care what language they speak!


Please help me to correct any errors.


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## Brioche

jayze said:
			
		

> hi i'm new.
> I'm wondering why french is named the " language of the love " ???
> i'm spanish, so sorry for my mistakes.


 
The English thought of French as the _language of love_ because in the 19th century wealthy Englishmen went to France for love (sex, actually). The brothels in France were better than in England. And the French were more alive and passionate than the cold English.

So in English we have _French postcards_ (of naked women), _French letters_ (condoms) and the _French disease_ (sexually transmitted), and _French kisses._


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## geve

Brioche said:
			
		

> The English thought of French as the _language of love_ because in the 19th century wealthy Englishmen went to France for love (sex, actually). The brothels in France were better than in England. And the French were more alive and passionate than the cold English.
> 
> So in English we have _French postcards_ (of naked women), _French letters_ (condoms) and the _French disease_ (sexually transmitted), and _French kisses._


... and _French leave_, when the "love" is gone  

I'll just add one thing to that (rather old) topic of French as the language of love: if it's not seen as such by French natives, it's probably because we actually _understand_ what is being said. And hence, are less likely to hear the music of it... It might have a nice sound, but you can be just as coarse with it as with any other language!


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## Cereth

Latino said:
			
		

> If I like the person I don't care what language they speak!
> 
> 
> I agree with Latino, i indeed believe french is a beautiful language, romantic and sexy, italian is so easy to understand and so musical, German is strong and powerful (i love men speaking german but women don´t). Many asians have told me they think spanish is soft and romantic, i think japanese can be romantic too, they barely have despective words.
> 
> it is said that all the beautiful words have the same energy that goes straightly to our hearts, bad words fall deep in our emotions and make us feel odd even though we don´t understand the accurate meaning.
> 
> Maybe french is the language of love because even if they are mad they sound not so bad.


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## xav

Apus said:
			
		

> I can say _je t'aime _ to any girl in the world, and she falls in my arms faster that I can write this !


 !!! Even Schwyzertütsch ones ??
What a wonderful sesame ! Why doesn't it work with me ???

- Now, have you ever tried without speaking ? I'm sure it works as well ! 



			
				DDL said:
			
		

> What is amazing is that most French natives told me they consider French as a quite dull language and Italian as one of the most musical ones...I am personally charmed by French... who knows, the grass is always greener on the other side...


 For me, I wouldn't say that Italian is the language of love ; musical, certainly, I love it much - but a bit too sonorous. 

I woudn't say it much more about French, but I'm not able to explain why, except maybe because it's my own language... and it doesn't work for me ! 

I've read somewhere that Arabic has one hundred words to say "love"... isn't this the true language of love ? A bit too many gutturals for me, but...


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## germinal

You could say that the true language of love is the one that everyone uses no matter where they come from -
body language.


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