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WORST: Yiddish (and unfortunately many who speak it)
BEST: The unspoken language between friends and the unspoken words of the non verbal children I work with.
As an English person living in New York for some years I was frequently misunderstood! It was very frustrating, we now live in England!
An Italian couldn’t understand Spanish (if he only knows Italian) and a German couldn’t understand Yiddish if he walked around Williamsburg
I had always heard that Italian and Spanish were similar.
Last summer I was in Italy and I dont speak Italian, I would ask people if they spoke english and they said no, I would then ask them if they spoke spanish (I speak some spanish) and they said no.
I then asked them what I wanted in SPANISH, and they understood and was able to help me with my request. Eventually I stopped asking people if they spoke spanish and just asked them directly in Spanish what I wanted and I got what I wanted.
English is a Saxony derived language, I believe.
Best: Yiddish
Worst: Spanish
Ohr chodesh and company, just because you were taught that Yiddish is a special Jewish language, Germans did not lose the ability to understand it (except for the Hebrew and Slavic words). It is a dialect of German after all. Some Jews were able to spy on the Nazis during the war because they knew Yiddish.
Best: Divine
Worst: Horrible
By the way, Why don’t you use favoritewords.com for your list? It’s a free tool, lacks some features but it’s still in beta, so… I am pretty sure you’ll love using it. Thanks for posting your words.
oomis – English is actually a mixture of many languages at its root: Anglo-Saxon , Latin, Greek, Norman (as in 1066), Norse (from the Vikings)and the original Celtic languages that were used by the many different tribes such as Gaelic, Breton, Cornish, Welsh and others. Many of the Celtic languages have all but disappeared, with only a few words here and there that survived until today. I could go on for hours about the origins of the English language but I’m afraid I may bore everyone to death…
Anyway! Favourite language (apart from English, obviously): Italian
Worst language: French!
Some comments on language:
Because of what Notasheep points out, English has the largest and most precise vocabulary of any language on Earth. English is also the most commonly spoken language on Earth. N.B. Mandarin is the most common native language but more people speak English as a first or second language. English is the language in which the World’s business is conducted. It is the global lingua franca of art and science. While English grammar and spelling may seem difficult, English is, in fact, one of the easiest languages for non-speakers to make themselves understood in because the grammar an pronunciation are secondary yo the meaning of the words themselves. Try mispronouncing French to a French speaker. All you’ll get is a blank stare.
After English and Mandarin (which no one outside of Chine actually speaks) the next most commonly spoken language is Spanish. Spanish is very regular and relatively easy to learn. Spanish speakers can understand you even if you mispronounce the words.
French is (or should be) a dying language.
Actually, one of the easiest languages to learn to speak is Japanese. It’s simple and regular. On the other hand, Japanese is probably the hardest language to be literate in – three alphabets.
One of the reasons that Yiddish speakers back in the day were able to learn English so quickly is the similarity of English and Yiddish. For you Yiddish speakers out there, translate the following English sentence into Yiddish: My brother says, “Open the door and thank him for the fish”.
Just did that on Google Translate!
There are more native Spanish Speakers than English Speakers, however English is spoken as a secondary laguage far more than Spanish.
Spanish is also easier to read than english as words are pronounced as they are written.
FYI French is NO a dying Language, Besides France it is spoken frequently in Africa many times as a Languai Franca.
For all those who think Yiddish is special, you should look up the Bund and Der Arbeter Ring . Around 1900 Yiddish was the language of the hard core secular jews. The Bund was the strongest political group in Pre-war Poland. They were against religion and Zionism and belived Jews should stay in Poland
Worst languages: Arabic, German
Best languages: English, Italian, French (from France, NOT the Quebec french!)
Funniest sounding languages: Hungarian, Chinese
BH
I was in Germany and the hotel I was staying at had a large contigent of people from Saudi Arabia
So I was surrounded by German AND Arabic
Best language is JavaScript. Why don’t they make history books in this language?
I know Russian better then English. I even pray mostly in Russian.
Thank God!!!
I am not re-reading this, but the only language I actually HATE is the foul type. Nivul peh ranks highest on my hit lit, along with Loshon Hara (which is harder to avoid).
HaLeiVi: My friend wrote a poem in JavaScript… it was incredibly cool.
I love English because I understand it and thus can fully utilize its full potential- all of the varied vocabulary, sentence structure, etc. I love to write, and it’s incredibly hard to write well in a language you’re not really familiar with- a depth to the writing is just lost. I have an excellent English vocabulary and it’s so much fun to use.
I also love Hebrew (both LH”K and Ivrit) because besides for either being the language of the Torah or being a variant of it, they are also beautiful to hear. I was listening to a mutlilanguage music video of a Disney song that included the Hebrew version and it was so much more beautiful than any other language. I also love how it’s so concise- in some classes I take notes specifically in Hebrew because of its brevity and the depth of meaning contained within so few words.
I have to agree with whoever said that they don’t like French. I’m not sure why but I’ve just never really been able to like it. Spanish, OTOH, I really like, however much I may have developed an antipathy to it after taking it in high school.
“I also love Hebrew (both LH”K and Ivrit)”
What’s the difference? Do you mean biblical vs. modern Hebrew? Is modern Hebrew considered different enough from biblical Hebrew that it’s no longer lashon hakodesh?
jfem: Yes, I meant biblical vs modern. As I use them in different contexts I love them in different ways. I write (obviously) in Ivrit, as that’s what we learn to do in school, so as far as writing is concerned I’m obviously referring to Ivrit (ie. the national language of Israel). Same thing (again, blatantly obviously) with the music videos :). But a lot of the beauty of Torah is expressed through Lashon HaKodesh, which has many distinct differences- and so much of that uniqueness is in the unique words and leshonos that are simply not a part of Modern Hebrew.
worst: swiss/german
best: when me and my best friend look at each other and laugh coz we are thinking of the same thing..!!!
The worst language I have ever used: *&$$#@*&^& !!#%$*&! My parents heard it and I was denied dessert for a week.
The only language I dislike is Phlegmish. It’s the language a lot of people speak when they wake up in the middle of the night and have not, or are unable, to clear their throats. My grandmother always spoke it before she had her morning cup of hot water.
yes nggo3 that bothers me like crazy. its a DISGUSTING sound!!!
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