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Old 05-21-2015, 08:47 AM
 
Location: Sydney, Australia
11,642 posts, read 12,823,323 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by strad View Post
Russian and Continental Portuguese have very similar sounds to me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dry Heat View Post
Iberian Spanish and Greek sound remarkably alike: they have basically the same sound inventory and similar prosody.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marmel View Post
Yeah, I also wanted to say Spanish and Greek
These languages are all Indo-European, which are under the same family. So of course they'd sound alike.

This thread was meant for languages of DIFFERENT families that sound alike.
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Old 05-21-2015, 09:00 AM
 
788 posts, read 1,869,025 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by theunbrainwashed View Post
Spanish and Japanese, except Spanish has more random order of consonants than Japanese
Yes and no. For one thing, Japanese is a very flat language while Spanish has accents or heavy intonations. Furthermore, Japanese is spoken in a more neutral tone- less emotional. I think most people agree that Spanish speakers are on the more lively side.

The main thing linking the two languages is the pronunciation of vowels. They are essentially the same. The difference between the language is in the word and the sentence.

Lastly, one of the most distinguishing aspects of a language is how the pronounce 'R'. French, Spanish, English, Chinese make the 'R' sound with different parts of their mouth.

Japanese and Spanish are linked through the erre rolling R sound. Spanish has an exaggerated rrrrr sound. The Japanese 'R' uses a similar motion of the rolling tongue, but it only rolls once. It's kinda the halfway point between Spanish 'ere' and erre'.

So, yes the individual vowels and consonants are fairly similar. However words, sentences, and delivery are very different.
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Old 05-21-2015, 09:26 AM
 
25,040 posts, read 27,797,751 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sdhkshdcny09 View Post
Yes and no. For one thing, Japanese is a very flat language while Spanish has accents or heavy intonations. Furthermore, Japanese is spoken in a more neutral tone- less emotional. I think most people agree that Spanish speakers are on the more lively side.

The main thing linking the two languages is the pronunciation of vowels. They are essentially the same. The difference between the language is in the word and the sentence.

Lastly, one of the most distinguishing aspects of a language is how the pronounce 'R'. French, Spanish, English, Chinese make the 'R' sound with different parts of their mouth.

Japanese and Spanish are linked through the erre rolling R sound. Spanish has an exaggerated rrrrr sound. The Japanese 'R' uses a similar motion of the rolling tongue, but it only rolls once. It's kinda the halfway point between Spanish 'ere' and erre'.

So, yes the individual vowels and consonants are fairly similar. However words, sentences, and delivery are very different.
Well, that's why they are completely different families, which is the point of the topic. Also, Spanish is not heavily intonated or accented, that's a stereotype. It depends on the person's education level and where they are from. I'm a native Spanish speaker from the Caribbean, but you wouldn't know because my intonation is very similar to the Spanish, who speak in an extremely flat way.

Spanish does not have an exaggerated R sound. At least not to me. Spanish single R is only rolled once and is super quick, identical to Japanese. I'm not saying this to offend, but I find that non-native Japanese and southern European language speakers cannot say the single R correctly, let alone RR. The only difference between Spanish and Japanese is the u sound, and the fact that Japanese is systematically consonant vowel, consonant vowel. Spanish has no set rule like that.
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Old 05-21-2015, 09:44 AM
 
1,186 posts, read 1,352,152 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Theropod View Post
These languages are all Indo-European, which are under the same family. So of course they'd sound alike.
Not necessarily. Even though both Spanish and Greek are Indo-European, they are more distantly related than Spanish and French are. However, these ones have a very different phonology that make them sound pretty distinct for non-Romance speakers. So, I think Spanish/Greek is an acceptable guess, even though it doesn't exactly fulfill what you ask in this thread.

As a Spanish speaker, I've noticed how similar the Greek phonology is compared to the Spanish one, and it sounds like made up Spanish words randomly pronounced. Japanese, in a lesser extent, sounds kind of this way too. Predicting the syllable transcription out of the speech is not too hard for me, something that looks impossible when I hear, let's say, the Swedish language.
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Old 05-21-2015, 12:50 PM
 
788 posts, read 1,869,025 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by theunbrainwashed View Post
Well, that's why they are completely different families, which is the point of the topic. Also, Spanish is not heavily intonated or accented, that's a stereotype. It depends on the person's education level and where they are from. I'm a native Spanish speaker from the Caribbean, but you wouldn't know because my intonation is very similar to the Spanish, who speak in an extremely flat way.
Yes, and this is how I'm contributing to the topic...what's your point?

As someone who learned Japanese & Spanish as second languages I have no bias against either. Culturally speaking, Japanese can never be an emotional language. Language is every much structure as delivery. Spanish may not be perceived as vocal or emotional to Japanese, but it is. Every language is emotional compared to Japanese. Japanese is extremely flat. Spanish is not. For instance, the Spanish word "Ójala", which emphasizes a single syllable. Japanese never emphasizes a single sound. In Japanese, the difference in syllables is simply how long you say it, not saying it with more energy.

Japanese: ありがとう arigato-u The pronunciation of the word is neutral, but the last syllable is extended
Spanish: Muchísimas gracias The í is definitely a high point (or emphasis) in the phrase whether or not you pronounce it strongly.

The point I am trying to make is that Spanish and Japanese have very similar pronunciations of individual vowels and consonants. However when sentences are formed, the delivery is completely different. Japanese sounds nothing like Spanish. Japan has (neutral) words to denote questions:か/ね Spanish questions words always have accents. I think this more than anything illustrates the difference between the languages. One is neutral, one has intonations.

Quote:
Spanish does not have an exaggerated R sound. At least not to me. Spanish single R is only rolled once and is super quick, identical to Japanese. I'm not saying this to offend, but I find that non-native Japanese and southern European language speakers cannot say the single R correctly, let alone RR. The only difference between Spanish and Japanese is the u sound, and the fact that Japanese is systematically consonant vowel, consonant vowel. Spanish has no set rule like that.
Agree about the R pronunciation.
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Old 05-22-2015, 03:34 AM
 
Location: Paris, ÃŽle-de-France, France
2,652 posts, read 3,374,770 times
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"Arigatou" in Japanese/"Obrigado" in Portuguese...
Also the features of basic vowel structure seems very notable between Japanese and Italian.
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Old 05-22-2015, 11:07 AM
 
Location: In transition
10,635 posts, read 16,589,222 times
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Korean and Mongolian
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Old 05-22-2015, 03:39 PM
 
Location: WA
35 posts, read 56,104 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Max96 View Post
Chinese and Vietnamese.
You do realize that there isn't a single Chinese language but multiple languages right ? Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese Chinese, Min Chinese, Wu Chinese, etc ?
Cantonese sometimes sounds like Vietnamese but no way Mandarin sounds like Vietnamese. Mandarin sounds much more thick and guttural especially the Northern accent. Wu Chinese (Shanghainese) somehow sounds like a mix of Japanese, Chinese, and Korean lol.

I've always thought that Portuguese sounds like Russian mixed with French with its uvular R and nasal vowels.
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Old 05-22-2015, 05:28 PM
 
Location: Trieste
957 posts, read 1,124,167 times
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Greek and Spanish
Hungarian and Chinese
Dutch and Scotch
Portuguese and Genoan
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Old 05-22-2015, 05:31 PM
 
Location: Somewhere in Southern Italy
2,975 posts, read 2,792,861 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Italian (x)lurker View Post
Greek and Spanish
Hungarian and Chinese
Dutch and Scotch
Portuguese and Genoan
I knew Dutch like to drink but i didn't think they were so much into scotch

Anyway Genoan and Portuguese are part of the same family since they are both Latin languages.
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