# Can French people tell that their language sounds beautiful?



## Frenchnoob

I just ask because I've heard from non english speakers that english sounds terrible, however, I have no idea because I understand it immediately I don't get a chance to hear how it sounds.

I'm quite curious, is this the same for French to the French people?
Do French people just get repeatedly re-inforced from foreigners of how awesome their language is & therefore believe it to be so?
Or can you tell that it sounds fantastic?

You know I think French is better described NOT as 'sex to the ears' but rather something like a powerful elative drug like ecstasy (or maybe even cocaine ... =) ) because once you hear it we non-french speakers just go "f**********ck that sounds so awesome!" and get absolutely hooked!

I've been so obsessed lately, all my spare time is gone into learning French.
Watching French news, listening to French like Alain Souchon's Foule Sentimentale, Florent Pagny & the drop dead gorgeous Alizee.

I'm so addicted!!!


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## Lezert

unfortunately, that's the same for us, we don't hear how it sounds...


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## calembourde

When I first visited Geneva and didn't know a word of French, _I_ didn't even think it sounded beautiful. It just sounded so alien... well it sort of sounded nice but I was wondering whether it was really possible for humans to make sounds like that! At about that time I started to think German sounded beautiful (and I haven't heard too many English speakers saying that) because I could at least understand a bit of it.

Now that I understand some of it, I really like listening to French but I can't tell whether it's because it sounds beautiful or because of the thrill of understanding it.  I can't imagine how it ever sounded alien though.

P.S, I like Alizée too... and several others, but that would be better discussed on this thread


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## oxd

Hi !
First, i would like to thank you ! Thank you for all this compliments about the French language ! It made me shivered I read it ! I was in England for several months and I met a lot of foreigners from a lot of different countries and they said the same as you....! It's very nice to hear but i can't really understand it! 
So, no ! I will never say that the french Language sounds awesome or anything. But I will find a lot of good things to say about english !
I can't understant how it can be "romantic" and some stuff like that. 
For me, english is so much sexier and romantic than french... If an english speaking girl tell me sweet stuff, it's maybe 100 times stronger than in french. Sometimes, for me, French sounds really stupid and is annoying : you can't say some sentences like you could do in English unless you want to sound stupid !
Well, that's what I wanted to say : i don't think French sounds great or anything !  ! even if i heard it a lot ! that's just subjective bullshit ! ah ah !

Oxd


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## amelesperanza

Hi everybody!

Even if I am not french, french is my mother tongue , I also speak arabic, spanish and english and I would say, witouh ANY DOUBT, that french is the most beautiful language to say romantic things, and as Celine Dion already said, just before singing _s'il suffisait d'aimer_:  "le français est la plus belle langue pour dire des mots d'amour".
I read arabic, french, spanish and english poetry but when I read it in french, every single word sounds as if it was sung...
I also listen to all kind of musics, even indian music, but when it's in french it makes me quiver.... how can you compare a _pour que tu m'aimes encore_ with a _if that´s what it takes_. where can you find another Brel or another Aznavour or another Verlaine, Hugo, Musset...?
However, I do love the other languages I speak and I do love English language!


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## Frenchnoob

Great to hear some opinions from the French or French speakers ... so insightful & damn interesting!
We had a french guy at work & he told me that the French love hearing Italian women speak French with an Italian accent ... apparently this drives the French men crazy =).
Don't know if that was due to his own personal preference.

Anyway, an example I like the sound of is the way the French say "r" which is  noticeably different to how other languages use a similar sound like a "hke" sound. While in some languages it sounds like they're trying to cough up phlegm (no offence to the other languages which I won't mention) but when the French say "r" it sounds amazing. Not to mention all the other fancy sounds like the pronunciation of "j" and the "oi".

I guess you really can't tell until you start learning more than 1 or 2 languages for comparison.


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## calembourde

I'm not French, but even I like the sound of French with an Italian accent  It sounds so much nicer than French with an English accent, I think. But then, I also like the sound of English with an Italian accent.

Also, I love the sound of English with a French accent (although I am even more impressed when I hear a French person speaking English with no accent.) French native speakers are lucky because even before you learn to pronounce everything perfectly, people still love the way you talk. For me, even though I try to convince myself that my bad pronunciation is really an exotic accent, I don't think any French speaker finds my accent very appealing, so I just have to keep working on the pronunciation and hope that some day people will stop replying to me in English.


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## DDT

Getting back to the original topic of this thread  I have to confess my surprise when French people started telling me that they find their own language a very monotonous one - it is a fact that French doesn't have many timbres yet it sounded (and still does) so terribly charming to me - whereas most of them expressed such a deep admiration for my native language...who knows, the grass is always greener on the other side  

DDT


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## Outsider

Frenchnoob said:
			
		

> Anyway, an example I like the sound of is the way the French say "r" which is  noticeably different to how other languages use a similar sound like a "hke" sound. While in some languages it sounds like they're trying to cough up phlegm (no offence to the other languages which I won't mention) but when the French say "r" it sounds amazing.


The French R -- or something very close to it -- is actually quite common in the languages of Europe and the Near East.


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## TimeHP

> I'm not French, but even I like the sound of French with an Italian accent  It sounds so much nicer than French with an English accent, I think. But then, I also like the sound of English with an Italian accent.


 
If only I had known it when I was a student! What a waste of time spending so many hours trying to speak with a perfect accent!!! 

I have some French relatives and one of my cousin sometimes tells me: _Quand vous parlez vous chantez, J'aime bien ça..._

I think that the sound of French is charming and that of English is seductive.

Ciao


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## maxiogee

An interesting angle on this is that the Anglophone word tends to hear French as a seductive language, the language of love. What language do the French see in this light?


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## barkley04

sans doute la langue française est belle et on peut dire dire qu'elle a un charme au niveau de sa prononciation et de sa littérature.


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## sjofre

I think it is a question of opinion. Maybe french people can't hear that their language sounds beautiful for other. I don't really know how portuguese sounds for other. But, I must say that I don't really like to ear french... it makes me sick! really! I'm sorry about that. Maybe in songs it is ok, but I just don't like to hear french talked. I guess it is not because of french people, but instead because of portuguese emigrants that use the french in a very wrong way, so I hate it.

For another hand, I love the way english sounds, it is so formal and sounds so "important", I love to hear german, it's so sweet, and italian its so musical and romantic. but I think the most romantic language is Spanish...


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## cuchuflete

For reasons known to the people whose posts have been deleted, many of you have not read the thread title and first post.   Please limit your offerings to that topic, and not to random opinions about every other language you may know.

Merci bien


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## Pivra

Spanish and Italian sound smooth and they flow. French doesn't; French sounds classy and elegant. I don't really think it sounds as nice as its other sisters but I like to hear French and sometimes I just turn on my TV in French for hours. I compare other Romance languages to a juice and French to wine. French doesn't sound sweet but we like do get drunk with it.


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## Agnès E.

maxiogee said:
			
		

> An interesting angle on this is that the Anglophone word tends to hear French as a seductive language, the language of love. What language do the French see in this light?


Italian, I guess. 
And English, too. What could dare competing with Shakespeare's sonnets? 

I don't know if French sounds beautiful, as I can't really hear it. 

Nevertheless, I can feel a sort of exhilaration when I read some French poets and francophone singers' lyrics. Their words carry their own music. 
Yet it seems obvious to me that every talented writer gives the same feeling in any language. It has nothing to do with French itself, but with these people's sheer genius.


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## barkley04

Pivra said:
			
		

> Spanish and Italian sound smooth and they flow. French doesn't; French sounds classy and elegant. I don't really think it sounds as nice as its other sisters but I like to hear French and sometimes I just turn on my TV in French for hours. I compare other Romance languages to a juice and French to wine. French doesn't sound sweet but we like do get drunk with it.


I think that you used a nice metaphora to describe the french language but you must not limit yourself to such a prejudice. The renaissance in Europe is born and grew strong thanks to the french literature and philosophy in particular. Try to read baudelaire, voltaire and victor hugo in french and you will see the difference.


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## Outsider

barkley04 said:
			
		

> The renaissance in Europe is born and grew strong thanks to the french literature and philosophy in particular. Try to read baudelaire, voltaire and victor hugo in french and you will see the difference.


Those authors lived long after the Renaissance.


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## barkley04

Outsider said:
			
		

> Those authors lived long after the Renaissance.


the enlightment era is a direct outcome of the european renaissance and even it was considered as a second renaissance. At least the french call it the french renaissance.


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## Outsider

I would also say that Victor Hugo was a Romantic, not an author of the Enlightenment. Though I suppose you could argue that Romanticism was a direct outcome of the Enlightenment.


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## Stéphane89

When I speak with French people, it seem normal and I don't notice whether it is beautiful or not. But when I heard French spoken by stranger (especially Italian, English and German) I do like it. I like the way they pronounce words and their accent. But anyway, now that I have been learning English, I like English more than French. It's not that it sounds more beautiful than French but I find that you can say many more things. As 'oxd' said: 





> I will never say that the french Language sounds awesome or anything. But I will find a lot of good things to say about english !
> I can't understant how it can be "romantic" and some stuff like that.
> For me, english is so much sexier and romantic than french... If an english speaking girl tell me sweet stuff, it's maybe 100 times stronger than in french. Sometimes, for me, French sounds really stupid and is annoying : you can't say some sentences like you could do in English unless you want to sound stupid !


 I agree 100%. I sometimes wish English were my mother tongue and I sometimes am almost ashamed to speak French.


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## barkley04

StefKE said:
			
		

> When I speak with French people, it seem normal and I don't notice whether it is beautiful or not. But when I heard French spoken by stranger (especially Italian, English and German) I do like it. I like the way they pronounce words and their accent. But anyway, now that I have been learning English, I like English more than French. It's not that it sounds more beautiful than French but I find that you can say many more things. As 'oxd' said:  I agree 100%. I sometimes wish English were my mother tongue and I sometimes am almost ashamed to speak French.


Each language has its own characteristics and beauty. Do not be too harsh towards the french language.


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## MtlTouristFromUSA

When I visit Montréal, or any other city in Québec, I love to hear the Québécois speaking French. They way they speak is so beautiful, and I honestly tell people that too. It is part of the reason why I chose to learn French in the first place.

And I do try my hardest to speak with the proper tone and accent if I can. I believe that it shows that I do love the language, and I believe that it shows respect to the people I talk to.

When I talk to my girl friend, who is from Montréal, I tell her that I think the French language is so beautiful for me to hear. I have a feeling that she thinks it is funny, because I know she is used to hearing French all her life. 
I could understand that, because I would probably say the same thing if she told me that English sounded beautiful, lol!


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## vince

Hmm it's the opposite for me

To me, French-speakers from France speak beautifully, and the romantic-ness carries over when they speak English with a French accent.

But I don't get the same feeling from French-speakers from Québec, perhaps because they don't have the pure vowels that Parisian French has, so Quebec French just sounds normal to me.


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## panjabigator

How do the Quebecois feel about the France French and vis versa?  And do they speak the same Parisian variety of French in Belgium?


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## vince

The Belgian variety is influenced by Flemish Dutch as well as the Wallon language (a _langue d'oïl _(French-like language))

So there is a different accent and some vocabulary is different. I heard that they say quoi pour une fleur est-ce? for "what kind of flower is this", a distinctly Germanic construction.


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## Stéphane89

vince said:
			
		

> I heard that they say quoi pour une fleur est-ce? for "what kind of flower is this", a distinctly Germanic construction.


 
I can tell you it's false! I never heard anyone saying that and i'd be really shocked if heard it. I would correct the person immediately! One must say: 'Quelle sorte de fleur est-ce' or more commonly 'C'est quelle sorte de fleur?' .

As for Quebecois, European french-speaker(well, every speaker I know who has ever met a quebecois) have difficulties to understand them due to their accent.


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## panjabigator

Is the Belgian French standard based off of Paris as well?


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## Musical Chairs

I'm resurrecting this thread!

I want to add that I think deep men's voices sound weird/awkward/strange in English, but they just sound much nicer in French. I've heard many French guys with deep voices speak/sing and I think it sounds kind of hot even! Maybe this is only because I think French is cool anyway. Does Frenchnoob or anyone share my opinion?

However, I've heard French politicians yell at each other and it's not as pretty then, but I think yelling is unpleasant-sounding in all languages (maybe some more than others though).


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## JamesM

I think French is quite beautiful. The French people I've met seem proud of the beauty of their language, but I'm not sure that means they can hear the beauty.

I was in France for the first time recently and was speaking with a woman in French. She was curious how I had learned so much French with no French relatives and no visits to the country. I said I had studied French becuase I thought it was the most beautiful language I had ever heard. She said, "But of course!"  

Quebeçois French is difficult for me to understand. Sometimes they can be speaking for a few sentences before it becomes apparent to me that they're speaking French. I can't say what's different, other than a clipped, harsher sound to it and a difference in the vowel sounds.


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## zazap

panjabigator said:


> How do the Quebecois feel about the France French and vis versa?


Well, now that this thread was resurrected...
To tell you the truth, French French (français de France, as we call it in Quebec) used to get on my nerves.  I guess it has to do with the fact that a lot of pretentious people I have met in my life in Quebec put on a poor imitation of a French French accent when they speak.  To sound snob or something.  
So, to me, French French used to sound snobbish. And I remember the first time I went to France I was shocked, because it felt like the French were arguing and yelling at each other all the time in a very mean way. 
I have been living in Europe for a long time and hear French French on a daily basis, so I am used to it now. 
We also use "tu" forms a lot more than the French do, so that can be a problem sometimes.  
I don't find French sexy at all.  I find Parisian French stressful. I find Quebec French way more laid back, but as sexy as Texan English (no offence!) 
I do know that French is a beautiful language. I often wonder how poets, singers, writers, manage to write such beautiful things in French.  Amazing!
Voilà!


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## Musical Chairs

Hmmm...I don't know, I just _like_ French. I like hearing people speak it, I like the way they say things, and I like the way the words sound. I have favorite French words like "chacun" (sounds like an explosion), and "debrouiller" (uhh...I don't know what it sounds like but I like how you spit it out). And I like how my mouth moves when I speak it!

It's funny that I like it so much because I don't even think it's THAT pretty. Some of the sounds are rough (for example, I think "ti amo" is simpler and sounds nicer than "je t'aime"). I think Gaelic is the prettiest language (flows like water, sounds like singing), Italian the coolest, and I think that it (my favorite languages to hear).


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## ireney

Moderator's note: This thread has been left as is although it was comprised of mainly personal views, something that is against the rules now in place. That does not mean that new posts, after the posting of the new rules, can be posted here and that is why I am closing this thread with this so very eloquent message for notification.


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