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Originally posted by Frenkieee Dutch ain't that easy. It's full of weird rules and exceptions. That's what I hear anyone say that's trying to learn Dutch.

I can't think of a single European language that isn't quirky, to be honest - It's like a family of body-builders with hunchbacks for grandparents

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Originally posted by mathieu French isn't that easy to learn, its full of little rules. For example: usually to say something in the plural form you have to add an ''s'' at the end of the word (ex: des choses (things) une chose (a thing). But with words that end with ''al'' (ex: cheval (horse) or journal, you dont add an ''s'' you have to replace the ''al'' with ''aux'' so it becomes ''chevaux'' (horses).

Words ending with -l are usually irregular in Romance languages. Same happens in Portuguese, with one extra problem - although words ending with "-al", "-el", "-il" and "-ol" sound exactly the same as words ending with "-au", "-éu", "-iu" and "-óu", their plural forms are quite different (you need to drop the "l" and add "-is" in the former; and all you've got to do is add the "s" in the latter case, with no extra vowels). So you have words that rhyme, such as "mel" (honey) and "céu" (sky) with different plural forms: "méis" and "céus". Even native speakers tend to mix them up (including yours truly depending on how sleepy he is). Besides, Vector A speaks English... I'd say he's quite used to languages with irregular plurals

It's quite hard to find a European language that is as neat as foreigners could wish.

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After watching an ESL video the other day about intonation, I think that the use of pitch in English sentences may be one of the trickiest things about it. It's definitely an easy way to pick out people who don't speak it as their first language, anyway.

Hahah, I'll let you know if I ever write a book on Japanese language, Moongoose

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Originally posted by Vector A After watching an ESL video the other day about intonation, I think that the use of pitch in English sentences may be one of the trickiest things about it. It's definitely an easy way to pick out people who don't speak it as their first language, anyway.

Really? For example?

Never noticed anything strange about it

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Originally posted by pointPi We also have our own weird way pronouncing our 9 vowels (a, e, i, o, u, y, å, ä and ö).

I simply love it!

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I mean that when I listen to it objectively English sounds really "pitchy" compared to a language like Spanish, for example. Just seems like it would be hard to get right for people who come from a language with much "flatter" pitch contour.

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Originally posted by Vector A I mean that when I listen to it objectively English sounds really "pitchy" compared to a language like Spanish, for example. Just seems like it would be hard to get right for people who come from a language with much "flatter" pitch contour.

Ah, got it. Yeah, this is a problem indeed, although not one most students pay attention to (if you pronounce everything like a robot, you can still make yourself understood thanks to the syntax, for example).

Besides, there's also the problem that the intonation differs quite a bit depending on the region, doesn't it? I'd say that is even more annoying

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It's interesting to hear Africans speak French because they use the trilled 'r' rather than the guttural one.

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Originally posted by Vector A It's interesting to hear Africans speak French because they use the trilled 'r' rather than the guttural one.

Brazilians tend to do the same when the letter "r" is preceded by a consonant... which is odd, because we've got both sounds in Portuguese (the trilled "r" and the guttural "r").

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I really like the sound of non-France French. I prefer Spaniard Spanish though to Latin American Spanish.

I'm glad most French doesn't use the uvular trill anymore. I find that one quite hard to do. Alveolar is easy since I tried to copy some Spanish sounds from an early age.

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Originally posted by Joss Weatherby I really like the sound of non-France French. I prefer Spaniard Spanish though to Latin American Spanish.

I definitely prefer Latin American, personally. Specifically Mexican. Maybe it just seems "right" to me because I grew up hearing it that way.

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Originally posted by Joss Weatherby I really like the sound of non-France French.

+1. It's so bad ass to see some of the Africans around here speak French. It makes me want to buy a ghetto blaster, tan myself pitch black, and just roam around the world being awesome.

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Originally posted by Vector A I definitely prefer Latin American, personally. Specifically Mexican. Maybe it just seems "right" to me because I grew up hearing it that way.

Almost ditto. I like Argentinean Spanish better.

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quote:

Originally posted by Lira +1. It's so bad ass to see some of the Africans around here speak French. It makes me want to buy a ghetto blaster, tan myself pitch black, and just roam around the world being awesome.

pics if you do plz