The Sound of Languages

Have you ever had the feeling that you could listen to a foreign language for hours without understanding a word just because you love the sound of that language? Or that you want to learn a language simply because you love the sound of it?

I have a film with Chinese Mandarin audio track which I sometimes turn on just for the sound of it. I might be able to understand an occasional word or two but wouldn't be able to follow the plot without subtitles in a different language.

Another example: I started learning Italian because I loved the sound of that language. I think it is the most beautiful of the Romance languages (I've started learning French and Spanish before I started learning Italian because those two were offered at school) although from the three Romance languages I speak, it is the least wide-spread. Whenever I have the opportunity to speak Italian without making a fool out of myself, I seize it. The people working in my favourite Italian café in my hometown already know me by now; I always speak Italian with them (most of them are Italian natives).

How much I like the sound of a language strongly determines how much motivation and effort I will likely put into learning it. The more I like the sound of it, the more do I strive to learn it, to be able to speak and understand it. Thus, my advice: If you want to learn a foreign language but are not quite sure as to which one, listen to some languages (on DVDs, for example) to find out which one sounds best to you.