The myriad posts about Which language sounds most beautiful... always make me thing of a friendly argument I had in college with a Cuban friend of mine. We both spoke English, Spanish, French and German at the time and our conversations were routinely in German due to where and how we had met. On this particular occasion we were in a coffee-house in a little college town in northern Florida. I was arguing that the perception of French as a beautiful language and German as an ugly one was merely a cultural prejudice among Americans and that it had no connection with the actual sounds as the people hearing it processed them. My friend was arguing that there was a real basis for the attitudes. To make a point, I recruited as a volunteer a young woman we both knew who was there and who spoke neither French nor German. I forewarned her that I was going to say something first in German and then something else in French, adding that I meant neither statement I would make. I simply wanted her reaction to both. In German I told her that she was stunningly beautiful, that her eyes shone like the sun as it was going down and that I loved her. Again, I had explained that none of this was to be taken seriously if she or anyone else understood. Yet I put into it my full acting ability with a tone of voice and body language that fit. I even held her hand to get in the mood of the scene. Then in French, I was rude and insulting to her. Although I was not crass, I wont repeat what I said as it was purposely unkind. Yet again I re-iterated that this was acting to make a point. I let my body-language and tone reflect what I was saying here as well. Finally I asked the young woman if she had understood any of what I had said. She assured me that she had not. Finally I asked which seemed to her more beautiful to listen to. Without hesitation, she assured me and my friend that the French was much nicer to hear. We thanked her and went on with our conversation but my friend conceded the point.
Posted on: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 00:58:48 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015