June 20, 2005
The Sounds of Strangling Birds
This post must be one of the most interesting takes on a language I've read:
I don't remember exactly when I first had the thought that French sounded, to my ears, like birds being strangled - certainly before I moved into seventh grade, I'm sure - but I can say that it's a concept that burrows into the mind like few others. I had three different French teachers in the five years I took French. It's cruel, I know, but every time I heard one of them speak I'd start to speculate on exactly which bird's death she sounded like
I'm not sure I'll ever be able to replicate this experience in my own mind since I've spoken French most of my life (implication: I think the language sounds just fine), but it's certainly an interesting reason to not like a language. I don't think French is the incredibly beautiful language a lot of people seem to, though. I like it fine, but prefer English. French is highly rule-bound, unstressed (properly spoken, news casters, rappers, etc. stress syllables), and a direct descendent of Latin, all characteristics that limit the potential variations. While the language is certainly mellifluous, it is also more constrictive than English. The confluence of several languages have provided us with a massive, synonym-rich vocabulary permitting authors to find the mot juste (note also our liberal borrowing from other languages that further enriches English). Our stressed words also allow for more variety in cadence than French, creating, in English, a panoply of subtle sounds and rhythms lacking in French. Naturally, this doesn't mean that their isn't beautiful poetry and such in French, just that I find English to be potentially more complex and ear-pleasing.