Entry posted by Jean Valjean
676 views
We all know the stereotype. French is a highly romantic language. It's sexy. But honestly, I don't get it. It doesn't sound ugly or anything, but I don't get the romantic connotation. And honestly, I have my biases, so when I hear the French language I think of a rude person with cigarette addictions who can never get his/her mind our of the gutter. That's not romantic, just sleazy. And of course, that's only a stereotype as well (but Titanic didn't do the French people any favors with the "Draw me like one of your French girls" line).
(I'd like to point out that there's a distinction to be made between being a model and being romantic)
There are certain things about the language that I guess could be considered romantic, like how often their words end with vowels. That makes things flow pretty well. Their words are, on average, shorter than Spanish and don't require being spoken with a rapid rhythm. But then there's those nasal vowels. I'm not sure why people like those. How do people hear that and not think of a smelly perv who hasn't taken a shower in months and much speak through his nose in order to tolerate his own fumes? I just don't see it.
Anyway, there are other languages that I consider to be more romantic.
Irish. Sweet and charming.
Low German. It was used for fairytales by the Brothers Grimm.
Dutch. Because I'm half-Dutch and I have my biases. But also, it was Audrey Hepburn's native language, so there's that.
Swedish. It might be Germanic, but its pitch-tone accent makes it sound like something spoken by fairies.
Hebrew. Natalie Portman's language. And Gal Gadot's. And boy, when you hear it coming from them in interviews, it's really pretty.
Mandarin Chinese. It sounds sing-songy, but also very formal with its rhythm.
Japanese. In addition to sounding pretty, it has all sorts of rules for politeness.
Hawaiian. Everything in that language sounds so relaxed and uplifting and friendly.
Sign Language. I mean, think about it. Isn't the very idea of it romantic?
Italian. Because...
Italian.
Italian
Italian.
Okay, Italian isn't my favorite language, nor to I think that it's the most romantic, so you might be wondering why I would be putting extra emphasis on it. Well, the LangFocus channel on Youtube came out with a long-awaited video on French, and I found a comment that said "French is the most romantic language in the world, and this is coming from an Italian." Yo Rocky, have a little self-respect! Italian is way cooler than French! In addition to being easier to pronounce, it also has better connotations. Italy as a whole is just cooler than France, and that's not a knock on France. Hardly any place is as cool as Italy, and nowhere is as romantic. Paris or Rome? Rome, every single time. Audrey Hepburn went to Rome for one of the greatest romantic dramas of all time. And they have delicious ice cream. And they have they have the most romantic cuisine. And they have the most romantic music. And they throw the best wedding receptions. And they're real family people. And they have better vineyards. And they have the best operas. And they have Venice. And they have Cinema Paradiso. And they have the most Best Foreign Language films. And they have Andrea Bocelli. And it's apparently Hannibal Lecter's, the king of sophisticated villainy's, favorite hangout. And they sparked the Renaissance. And freaking ROMEO AND JULIET was set in Italy.
Speaking of which, I need to see that play in Italian sometime.
Oh, and my super-crush Floriana Bertone comes from there. Ain't nobody prettier than Flo. I'd learn Italian for her.
But yeah, although I'm personally more into a lot of the Germanic languages (and Hebrew and American Sign Language), I would place Italian as the most romantic in the world. Among other things, it's the language that's actually spoken in Rome, which is where the word "romance" comes from. And Rome, Florence, and Venice are basically the most romantic places in the world. Although I've been to none of them.
Oh, I guess French is associated with philosophy and some good essays have been written on it. Good on you, French. That kind of justifies the abundant complexity of your spelling and grammar.
24601
3 Comments
Recommended Comments