What makes Spanish a beautiful language?
Spanish, my love. I’m trying hard to keep this short, but it’s difficult – there are so many precious details in Spanish. ¿Qué se le va a hacer?
Clear vowels and light consonants. This combination makes Spanish glide from one sound to another with extreme grace and smoothness. This is something that distinguishes Spanish from all the other Romance languages and makes it soar.
Open syllables. Spanish tends to favor open syllables. The overall percentage of vowels in speech is also high, and the character of the well-articulated vowels and the light and airy consonants add to the impression. And vowels sing much more than consonants.
Diphthongs. This is one of my favorite characteristics in Spanish. Cierto instead of certo, Viento instead of Vento, Puerto instead of Porto, rueda instead of roda – these windy sounds air my soul! Even Puerco sounds pretty.
Intonation. This depends on the accent, of course, but Spanish is almost never spoken monotonously. It has valleys and hills and beautiful curves. When I speak Spanish, I have to transpose my speech at least one-third up.
Stress pattern. There’s something really symmetrical in it, especially in words with three syllables: stress, not the first one, not the last one, but the middle one. Some more singing to my ear.
Compounds. The way Spanish makes them is very pleasant: abrelatas, limpiaparabrisas, lavaplatos, matamoscas, salvavidas. And two adjectives or two nouns are enjoyable, too: telaraña, agridulce. They must have understood something important about life to have invented chiaroscuro.
Adjectives. I like them after the noun. In Finnish, that would only happen in poetry.
Pronouns. I love the way you can include the speaker in the sentence referring to another person by adding an extra pronoun: No te me vayas. This would be something like Don’t leave me or Don’t go away from me, but the Spanish version sounds much more intimate as if the person spoken to was really part of the speaker in some intrinsic way. Or when entrusting something valuable in the hands of someone: ¡Guárdamelo! Once connected, forever connected.
Storytelling. I know I’m repeating my other answers here, but how amazing can a language be for storytelling purposes? Having the perfect words for people you want to mention in a story but don’t know the names of (or don’t bother mentioning them) is simply brilliant. Fulano, zutano, mengano, perengano – no doubt who has the best stories!
Is it widely accepted that Spanish is the most beautiful language?
Spanish is a beautiful language.
It has lots of open vowels, and NO schwa sounds.
In Spain, though, they use the sibilant th so that a lot of lisping goes on.
The ll sounds better as a y sound than a l=consonantal y as spoken
in Castellano.
Italian and Finnish are also musical. Finnish is unique in
its phrasing, as the first syllable is always stressed.
French is quite pleasant but has too many nasals to be
in the top rank.
Hawaiian is probably the most musical
language there is, with no harsh sounds or too many sibilants.
What are some interesting facts about the Spanish language?
Mi papá tiene 50 años: My dad is 50 years old.
Mi papa tiene 50 anos: My potato has 50 a**holes.
¿Tomás vino?: Thomas came?
¿Tomás vino?: Do you drink wine?
What are some interesting facts about the Spanish language?
10 facts about the Spanish language you might be interested to know
1. With 329 million native speakers, Spanish ranks as the world’s No. 2 language in terms of how many people speak it as their first language. It is slightly ahead of English (328 million) but far behind Chinese (1.2 billion).
2. Spanish has at least 3 million native speakers in each of 44 countries, making it the fourth most widely spoken language behind English (112 countries), French (60) and Arabic (57).
3. Spanish is part of the Indo-European family of languages, which are spoken by more than a third of the world’s population. Other Indo-European languages include English, French, German, the Scandinavian languages, the Slavic languages, and many of the languages of India. Spanish can be classified further as a Romance language, a group that includes French, Portuguese, Italian, Catalan, and Romanian.
4. Although there is no clear boundary defining when the Latin of what is now the north-central area of Spain became Spanish, it is safe to say that the language of the Castile region became a distinct language in part because of efforts by King Alfonso in the 13th century to standardize the language for official use. By the time Columbus came to the Western Hemisphere in 1492, Spanish had reached the point where the language as spoken and written would be easily understandable today.
5. To the people who speak it, Spanish is sometimes called español and sometimes castellano (the Spanish equivalent of “Castilian”). The labels used vary regionally and sometimes according to political viewpoint.
6. Spanish is one of the world’s most phonetic languages. If you know how a word is spelled, you can almost always know how it is pronounced (although the reverse isn’t true). The main exception is recent words of foreign origin, which usually retain their original spelling.
7. The Royal Spanish Academy (Real Academia Española), created in the 18th century, is widely considered the arbiter of standard Spanish. It produces authoritative dictionaries and grammar guides. Although its decisions do not have the force of law, they are widely followed in both Spain and Latin America. Among the language reforms promoted by the Academy have been the use of the inverted question mark and exclamation point (¿ and ¡). Although they have been used by people who speak some of the non-Spanish languages of Spain, they are otherwise unique to the Spanish language. Similarly unique to Spanish and a few local languages that have copied it is the ñ, which became standardized around the 14th century.
8. Although Spanish originated on the Iberian Peninsula as a descendant of Latin, today, it has far more speakers in Latin America, having been brought to the New World by Spanish colonialization. There are minor differences in vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation between the Spanish of Spain and the Spanish of Latin America, not so great as to prevent easy communication.
9. After Latin, the language that has had the biggest influence on Spanish is Arabic. Today, the foreign language exerting the most influence is English, and Spanish has adopted hundreds of English words related to technology and culture.
10. Spanish and English share much of their vocabulary through cognates, as both languages derive many of their words from Latin and Arabic. The biggest differences in the grammar of the two languages include Spanish’s use of gender, a more extensive verb conjugation, and the widespread use of the subjunctive mood.
What are some interesting facts about the Spanish language?
An interesting fact is that Spanish (like some other languages, but unlike many others) is pronounced exactly as it is written, each letter having only one sound – and always the same sound. Well… almost exactly, as there are a few exceptions: letters b & v have the same sound in most of Spain, the letter h is muted, and there are some peculiar rules about the use of g/j and c/z…
By the way, these exceptions are the basis of the Spanish version of the “spelling” that drives schoolboys crazy, as they are meant to learn them at school.
If you add to that diacritical marks (as in ó ú) “only” indicate in what syllable you must place the stress when pronouncing a word (and are placed following fairly simple rules), what you have is that in Spanish, you always know exactly how a word must be pronounced when you see it written – though the opposite (… know how a word is written when you hear it pronounced) might not be completely true in some cases because of those exceptions. For example, since the letter h is completely muted (again in Spain, not in most of Latin America), you can’t anticipate for sure what words are written with or without an h just by listening to them; some rules tell you. But in most cases, you have to remember 😉
A classic: “alcohol” is also written that way in Spanish but is pronounced “alcohol.” When learning to speak Spanish, FORGET h’s!!
And… alcohol is pronounced “alCOL,” placing the stress in the second syllable. We know that for sure just by looking at the word because if it were pronounced “ALcol” (more like the English version in terms of stress), it should be written as “álcohol” with an á.
And… I wouldn’t call this an “interesting fact,” but it does drive crazy many English speakers: The English basic verb “to be” has two different meanings/translations in Spanish: “ser” and “estar.” For us, they are very different things, but for English speakers who try to learn Spanish, it can be complicated.
He is an idiot:
– Es idiota (he is an idiot, always, full stop).
– Está idiota (he is behaving as an idiot, but that might -and probably will- change).
I am lazy:
– Soy vago (or “soy perezoso”) (I am a lazy person… and that’s it!)
– Estoy vago (or “estoy perezoso”) (I am being lazy now, more like “I feel lazy but really I am not”).
Then, of course, as many other people have pointed out in this thread, many Spanish words can have different meanings (look at any dictionary, and you will see that most entries have more than one). – But I don’t really see that as an “interesting fact” of Spanish; it also happens in all other languages!
What’s a more beautiful language, French or Spanish?
French is a more beautiful language to speak and listen to, but a more difficult language for Americans to learn. That does not mean that I prefer one language over the other. I speak and read both fairly well. However, I do not write French as well as Spanish because of all the silent letters. When speaking French, I am awed by the beauty of the sounds. But I am also mystified by the silent letters and how to write this beautiful language correctly, although I do so moderately well. In Spanish, one writes every sound one speaks. In Spanish, there is no such thing as misspelling a word. Both languages are a joy to learn and to speak.
In your opinion, what is the most beautiful language?
‘Have you eaten?’ He gestured.
‘Ha.’ I nodded in the affirmative.
Meet Mukesh, my friend.
The guy who greets everyone with a huge, wide smile. Such warmth can plug into anyone’s heart instantly.
Well, here’s the catch.
Mukesh has been speech impaired since birth.
That means he can neither hear nor speak the spoken words.
Yet, over the years, through hand gestures, this guy has been asking about our well-being without fail.
His gesture, though small, is colossal enough to sweep our hearts with immense love and respect for him.
So, the most beautiful language isn’t the one with the most eloquent words or the one loaded with perfect grammar.
The soul of any language lies in its ability to connect people.
And, language such as love and compassion can do that flawlessly enough, that too without a word spoken.
In your opinion, what is the most beautiful language?
While I was going to say my language, Persian, I don’t want to be too biased. So, I will introduce another highly beautiful language.
Many people, especially Non-Indians, would never consider or might not have heard of this language, but that language is Telugu:
Telugu is a Dravidian language spoken in Southern India (The States of Telangana & Andhra Pradesh, to be exact). It’s also the 4th largest spoken language in India. Telugu is considered to be one of the world’s oldest languages, with a written history dating back more than 2,000+ years. Much so that the Indian government has deemed it a classical language (indicating an ancient Indian language that’s rich in culture and history)
Italian explorer Niccolò Da Conti traveled to the Vijayanagara Empire (A wealthy Hindu kingdom in Southern India) during the 16th century. And he noticed something interesting. In Telugu, almost every word ends in a vowel. To make it even more interesting, every word in Italian also ends in a vowel. Every word ending in a vowel gives languages like Telugu & Italian a very poetic and smooth nature. For that reason, Niccolò called Telugu the “Italian of the East”.
Pronunciation example:
To wrap this up, while I don’t speak Telugu fluently, I thoroughly enjoy listening to Telugu music and watching Telugu films. Telugu is a unique Indian language, distinct from Hindi & Urdu, different in some ways from Tamil & Kannada, and yet slightly similar to Italian. The Indian subcontinent is rich in language, culture & history. I’ll leave you with my favorite Telugu song, “Undipova Nuvilla.”
What are the most beautiful languages?
I really love speaking French. You can say anything in French, and it sounds beautiful and romantic, even swearing.
For example, “Je déteste votre visage,” means , “I hate your face.” “Je veux te tuer,” means , “I want to kill you.” It really does sound divine. Even “Fiche moi la paix” or “Get the fuck away from me” sounds romantic. “It’s like wiping your ass with silk, and I love it.” – The Matrix, see Garrick Saito’s comment.
J’ai le béguin pour vous et je veux vous rencontrer.
I have a crush on you, and I want to meet you.
That’s a little something for all you single Quorans out there 🙂 Bonne chance!
What language is the most attractive?
I speak six languages, of which I have learned five “properly” with regular classes, and I consider myself fluent to the point of being able to conduct academic work in four of them (Swedish, German, English, French).
My Latin is always there as a background, having endured seven years of it as a main subject with daily lessons, and my Spanish is my pet project that I can’t believe I still haven’t brought up to full standard yet, given how much I like it.
For me, the following languages are the most attractive; when I hear them, I feel like purring:
- Spanish, especially when spoken by Peruvians or Colombians of the upper echelons, sounds absolutely wonderful to me.
- French from the Paris area; so nice to hear.
- Swedish of the Rikssvenska kind, as it is spoken especially in Stockholm and Uppsala, is really clear and musical.
- English of the Received English variety – the way Hugh Grant and Benedict Cumberbatch speak. Fantastic. I wish I spoke that way, but I still sound like a Canadian with plenty of Euro garble in the mix instead when I speak English.
A lot of people would name Italian, as well. I also like it, but as a Latin learner, I see it as a sort of vocabulary that almost willfully distances itself from the original, which reduces its appeal to me.
Brazilian Portuguese also sounds attractive to me, as does Japanese.
Which language do you prefer, Spanish or French?.? Which one do you think sounds nicer/more beautiful?
I won’t respond since I speak French but not Spanish, but I will recount here an anecdote I’ve related elsewhere on Quora…
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, said about languages:
“I speak French to men, Italian to Women, Spanish to God, and German to my horse.”
Is Spanish a beautiful language?
It highly depends on what you mean by “beauty.”
One quality of Spanish is that it has a lot of conjugations; for example, the verb “estar,” which means “being in a place,” will vary depending on the word before it, for example:
I am = Yo estoy
You are = Tu estás
We are = Nosotros estamos
They are = Ellos están
He is = El está
She is = Ella está
Another cool thing about Spanish is its richness of words; I do not think that this is exclusive to the Spanish language, but I, as a native speaker, sometimes find it difficult to translate my thoughts into English (although probably because my English is only advanced and not bilingual).
Lastly, I would say that as with all Latin languages, the sound of it is really beautiful, you know, they say French is the language of love, Portuguese sounds kind of funny (and for music is delicious), well, I think Spanish is the sweet middle point between them.
PD: In my experience, if you say something sweet (flirt-talking) in Spanish, you get an awesome reaction from non-speakers; it might be my imagination, but I feel like they get the passion of your words instead of the meaning (again, this is only my personal opinion)
Is it widely accepted that Spanish is the most beautiful Language?
I can’t say for the other countries, but in VietNam, we wildly consider English to be the most beautiful Language; we always think that America is a great place for jobs, exploring, learning, and living comfortably. We never even heard anything about Spain, so Spanish is completely ignored there, for it is not the most beautiful Language.
But for me, Japanese is the most beautiful Language. It’s
- Sounds decent; for some reason, I feel comfortable when I listen to it.
- Although the grammar is relatively hard, it says something about the Japanese people: Complex, patient, and careful. (Well, most of them)
- Anime, manga (obviously)
- I want to travel to Japan. I love their culture and history and myths and legends. They are all very interesting.
All the thoughts above are personal, all my personal opinions.
Is Italian the most beautiful Language?
Honestly, yes.
Compared to German or Japanese and a lot of languages, actually.
I speak Spanish, I’ve heard other Romance languages, and I do Italian… Like the way it’s spoken… Stretched? And the words are overall softer. It just sounds nicer. I watched a movie with Penelope Cruz that had Italian lines, and even when her character was yelling out “Bastardo,” it still sounded nice. It didn’t sound… Mean even though her character was mad in that scene. In Spanish, it’s just “Bastardo,” whereas in Italian, it is more like bas-tAARR-do, with the “bas” and “do” being softer with more emphasis and stretching out on the “art” part, if that makes any sense. It’s just the Language and how it’s spoken, I suppose.
I’d say French is a close second, but at times, their words are slurred/mumbled, whereas, in Italian, they really annunciate.
What is the most beautiful word in the English Language, and why?
Limerence – The feelings and emotions (excitement, nervousness, etc.) you experience when you have a crush on somebody, combined with an overwhelming, obsessive need to have your feelings reciprocated.
Usage: Prolonged exposure to Friend-zone is the leading cause of Limerence.
What is the most beautiful word in the English language?
There are several words, some beautiful causes of phonaesthetics, and some beautiful causes of semantics. However, a few of my personal favorites are listed below.
i. Transcendence
Meaning: Surpassing others; preeminent or supreme. Lying beyond the ordinary range of perception. Intangible.
ii. Alchemy
Meaning: A process by which paradoxical results are achieved or incompatible elements combined with no obvious rational explanation. An alternative (and rather old meaning suggests that Alchemy indicates the process by which matter is transformed into Gold.)
iii. Elixir
Meaning: Something that can heal dying wounds and give eternal life. Panacea is almost similar.
iv. Evanescence
Meaning: The event of fading and gradually vanishing from sight, like mist.
v. Solitude
Meaning: The state or quality of being alone or remote from others. (the word is as beautiful and profound as its meaning.)
vi. Finesse
Meaning: Do (something) subtly and delicately.
vii. Panache
Meaning: Flamboyant confidence of style or manner.
viii. Ubiquitous
Meaning: omnipresent
ix. Iridescent
Meaning: Showing luminous colors that seem to change when seen from different angles.
x. Chutzpah
Meaning : Utter nerve; effrontery
xi. Vox Populi (loanword)
Meaning: The opinions or beliefs of the majority. (I absolutely love to pronounce this word!)
A few words I love are Kaleidoscope, Aubergine, Turquoise, Baba Ghanoush, Nefarious, Vendetta, Mystic, Melancholy, etc.
Spanish is the most beautiful and second most popular Language in the world.
To answer if it is the most beautiful Language it is a subjective notion. Some people might say it is, and some might find other languages more beautiful than Spanish. It is different for each person to hear a language and to decide if they like what it sounds like or not.
For me, Spanish sounds amazing. I love hearing it, speaking it, reading it, writing it more than any other language. I love the special sounds I hear when a native Spanish speaker is talking. I love the different accents of it there. I can’t declare it as the most beautiful Language in the world, but it really is one of the most beautiful ones.
And to the second part of your question, yes. Contrary to its beauty, Spanish being the second most popular Language in the world can be actually proved and is an objective fact. If we define the word “popular” as “most spoken,” then it is true. Not only because it is widely spoken in the world in a huge territory that includes Latin America but also because it is a very popular language to learn. After English, it is currently the most learned foreign Language, partly because of its rising popularity and also because it is spoken in nearly half of the world as a native language.
What is the most beautiful Language in the world? What is the most harsh?
Smile is the most beautiful Language.
Weeks ago, I was ill and had been to a clinic. The doctor had a good reputation at a very young age, so the clinic was crowded. I asked my Granny what was so special about this doctor and advised her to take me to some other hospital.
“You don’t know how beautifully she treats her patients; just wait and watch,” My Granny patted my arm.
As I spent half an hour coughing and sniffing, a woman dropped off from a vehicle carrying a toddler in her arms, leading a kid with her. She stood beside me, and the toddler was quite mischievous and was pulling her mom’s accessories. The woman told something to her child which was unfamiliar to me.
But every time the baby did something, she’d glance at us and smile. It happened so frequently that I felt completely comfortable with that woman. I didn’t know her name or her Language, but her smile was enough to communicate with me. Her smile alone told me ‘These small kids, though, are hard to control”.
Her smile told me things more than her Language could have. I felt an instant connection and wondered how beautiful someone would seem just because they smiled.
The baby was our entertainment, and our exchanged smiles were our Language.
The doctor attended her first, and while leaving the clinic, the woman smiled at me and waved her toddler’s hand at me. I was amused! I didn’t know why she was so friendly with me, but I realized a smile was enough to create bondage among humans.
As I was called the next patient, I felt nervous, expecting the doctor to scold me for being thin, which happens every time I go to a doctor.
As I stepped in, the doctor smiled at me. The next moments I spent with her were incredible. She smiled a lot and behaved as if she were my elder sister. She even understood why I don’t feel like eating sometimes. She smiled a lot! Maybe her clinic is crowded because she makes people feel at home.
My Granny later said, “Conversing with that doctor is alone enough to make you feel better.”
I learned that despite thousands of languages, a smile is the greatest Language of all. It instantly makes people get friendly. It makes one seem friendly and approachable. It unites people. I didn’t know her Language, and we spoke no word with each other, but her smiles were enough to make me feel comfortable being around her.
A smile is a good communicator.
I don’t think any language is that harsh. I’ve never come across any harsh language. New languages do seem weird, but only once you learn them. They start seeming beautiful as you involve yourself more and more in it.
Do you prefer Spanish or French? Why?
Both languages are great if you know them well. However, I prefer Spanish for several reasons, even though I am far less fluent in Spanish than French. For one thing, it is completely phonetic, which makes it much easier to learn and pronounce correctly. It’s a very poetic language, and so you can learn a lot just by listening to songs, and there are lots of good songs in Spanish. Spanish speakers are much more forgiving of incorrect Spanish than French speakers are of incorrect French, so it’s much more pleasant to have a conversation and to feel like you are doing OK. The French, unfortunately, tend to be very arrogant about their language!
Why do people say a certain language is beautiful? Do they imply some languages are uglier than others?
All languages are beautiful.
But for many, some are more beautiful.
Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.
Some may focus on the sound that pleases them and thus choose a particular language as a beautiful one. Some focus on ease of expression. Some on the complexity of expression. Some because of being native tongue. Some because of literary beauty … and so on.
Similarly, for the same people, other languages could be less beautiful or sometimes ugly.
There are certain people who, due to jingoism or xenophobia, call their native language beautiful and mindlessly hate another.
Is Chinese a beautiful language?
Chinese is the most beautiful language in the world in my mind; you never know how beautiful Chinese is if you don’t study Chinese. For example, there are several versions of English poetry.
English:
You say that you love rain,
But you open your umbrella when it rains…
You say that you love the sun,
But you find a shadow spot when the sun shines…
You say that you love the wind,
But you close your windows when the wind blows…
This is why I am afraid;
You say that you love me too…
There are Chinese versions:
First version:
你说你喜欢雨，
但是下雨的时候你却撑开了伞;
你说你喜欢阳光，
但当阳光播撒的时候你却躲在阴凉之地;
你说你喜欢风，
但清风扑面的时候，
你却关上了窗户。
我害怕你对我也是如此之爱。
Second version:
你说烟雨微茫，兰亭远望;
后来轻揽婆娑，深遮霓裳;
你说春光烂漫，绿袖红香;
后来内掩西楼 ，静立卿旁;
你说清风轻拂，醉卧思量;
后来紧掩门窗，漫帐成殇;
你说情丝柔肠 ，如何相忘;
我却眼波微转，兀自成霜;
Third versions:
子言慕雨，启伞避之;
子言好阳，寻荫拒之;
子言喜风，闔户离之;
子言偕老，吾所畏之;
Forth versions:
君乐雨兮启伞枝，
君乐昼兮林蔽日，
君乐风兮栏帐起，
君乐吾兮吾心噬 。
Next versions:
恋爱偏打伞，爱阳却遮凉。
风来掩窗靠，叶公惊龙王。
片言只语短，相思遣倦长。
郎君说爱我，不敢细思量。
And more:
微茫烟雨伞轻移，喜日偏来树底栖。
一任风吹窗紧闭，付君心事总犹疑。
Last one versions:
江南三月雨微茫，罗伞轻撑细细香。
日送微醺如梦寐，身依浓翠趁荫凉。
忽闻风籁传朱阁，轻蹙娥眉锁碧窗。
一片相思君莫解，锦池只恐散鸳鸯。
I don’t know if there is another language like Chinese so beautiful in the world. If you have studied Chinese and you can read those poems, you will lost in the feeling
What does Mandarin sound like to foreigners?
In Switzerland, we used to pretend we spoke Chinese as kids by saying “jing chang chong” repeatedly. Only later I found out that this is, in fact, a pretty decent approximation and a perfectly normal phrase, as in 手机用了两年了，电池不好用了，得经常充！ I still find that inappropriately funny.
Another, to be honest, extreme example of how Mandarin can sound is the following phrase:
Wo zuo chuzuqiche qu Changcheng.
我坐出租汽车去长城。
I go the the Great Wall by taxi.
.
Why isn’t the Spanish language considered as beautiful as French or Italian?
Well, I would tend to disagree…it is all a question of personal taste. With that said, I will venture a subjective answer (that I don’t agree with) to a subjective question: Perhaps some people dislike the sound of Spanish because of the aspirated “J,” “G+i,” and “G+e,” which can sound sort of like an English ‘H’ in the Caribbean, or a Hebrew or Arabic ‘Kh’ in Spain. Perhaps that might make the language sound guttural to some ears. Beauty is always in the eye of the beholder.
Does Spanish sound smart to English-speaking people?
Smart? Maybe.
Most English-speaking Americans I know would describe Spanish as “fast.” Like, many of us know enough Spanish words to get the gist of what you’re saying if you would slow down. Everyone who speaks Spanish has the same pace as you might have if your house was on fire and you were telling someone to call the fire department. But that’s their baseline speaking pace.
I can hear something in Spanish, process it for ten seconds, and understand what they said, but by then, it’s too late. They’ve said like 40 more things in those 10 seconds.
How similar are Spanish and French, really?
I’ve taught both for years, and I agree with previous writers who recommend that you don’t start both at the same time for reasons of similarity. To sum up:
- Much, but not all, vocabulary is similar, and most gender is similar (for example, what’s masculine in French is usually masculine in Spanish, but not always). If you’re learning both at the same time, this is where you could get confused.
- Pronunciation is quite different, but keep in mind that there are many French pronunciations, depending on where you’re from, and many Spanish ones, too. French has quite a few silent letters, Spanish almost none (“h” being the major exception). This could also lead to confusion for someone learning both at the same time.
- As romance languages, both conjugate verbs fully in six forms. In French, many of the differences are not heard, so in French, subject pronouns are necessary. Not so in Spanish. You must say je parle in French (“I speak”), but simply hablo is enough in Spanish. Also, possible confusion.
- Numbers are pretty wacky in most French-speaking countries; once you get past 69: 70 is soixante-dix (sixty-ten), 80 is quatre-vingts (four twenties), and 99 is quatre-vingt-dix-neuf (four twenties nineteen). Belgium and Switzerland use numbers a bit differently. Spanish has none of this nonsense. The numbers are much more straightforward. Again, confusion. There’s a pattern here.
- There are 4 ways to say “you” in Spanish. French has two.
- Because of the 4 ways, giving commands in Spanish is much more complex, especially since the positive command (Eat!) is different from the negative command (Don’t eat!) for the tú form. French is way simpler: most command forms are like the present indicative tense, as in English.
- Spanish makes great use of the progressive tenses (I am writing. We were thinking. = Estoy escribiendo. Estábamos pensando.) French has none of this. Just use the simple present, past (imperfect, that is), or whatever.
- The subjunctive is something you need to learn in both languages. The rules are similar but different. Spanish makes greater use of subjunctive in command forms and in “if” sentences (If you were intelligent, you would know = Si fueras inteligente, sabrías). French does not. (Si tu étais intelligent, tu saurais.)
- The past tense in Spanish, the preterite, has many irregulars. The past tense in French, the passé composé, has irregulars and is quite complex.
These are a few of the differences between the languages. They are not mutually intelligible, though someone who knows one can make good educated guesses when reading another, particularly in terms of vocabulary.
Finally, do I get interference between the two languages? Yes, sometimes. When teaching, I sometimes say a Spanish word in a French class or vice versa. It has to do with what I was speaking about recently. Or with short, small words that I use without too much thought (oui instead of sí, for example). English is my first language, and French is my second. So sometimes, when I cannot find a word in Spanish, I think in French. It usually helps.
Is it widely accepted that Spanish is the most beautiful language?
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