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Malay sounds the nicest IMO. Tagalog can sound elegant, as you said, but it depends on the speaker. It can be very hard on the ears at times. I think it sounds nice in this video. Except I hate when they throw in English words, it obstructs the flow. I think the Spanish words fit just fine though.
This is the first time for me to hear Tagalog, and I feel exactly how you describe
Quote:
Originally Posted by Smtchll
And you bring up a good point, Austronesian languages (like Malay & Tagalog) sound very different from East & Southeast Asian languages for some reason.
Japanese may have been affected by Austronesian languages. Refer to Austronesian.
How familiar are you with Manchu? It's basically a 'dead language', just a handful of speakers left, so you can only base it on what you hear on the internet.
I had learned Manchurian and found even our teacher couldn't speak it well
锡伯族 in Xinjiang, China still speak Manchurian. Actually our textbooks were from there.
Why Uyghur out of all the turkic languages? Seems odd to single that one out of so many, especially with so many dialects with arguably much richer histories behind them. Have you ever heard Uzbek before?
I had learned Uigur as well. Turkish sounds better to my ears.
I've never met a Chinese who doesn't agree with what Bigben_usa has written [i.e., that Taiwan style Mandarin [is] known to be on the softer side (cute, some would even say feminine), whereas as something like Beijing accent Mandarin ...[is] seen to be on the harsher (some would say masculine)]
It's too easy for me to distinguish Taiwanese from Mainland Chinese as long as I can hear they speak 5 or 6 words.
Many people can distinguish Taiwanese Mandarin from Chinese Mandarin.
I don't believe that you've heard Chinese people make the above statement. Its ridiculous. In 30 years of dealing with Chinese, Taiwanese, and discussing language, I've never heard a single person say this until now.
You have some axe to grind? Odd way of going about it.
I take that back..tagalog sounds like a helicopter landing.. Thai and lao are also very pleasant.. But Vietnamese is the one language I cannot bare to hear.. Not to sound racist or anything but the language sounds very primitive..
^I have heard people saying that Taiwanese accent is more feminine and generally softer.
I've never heard anyone say that.
To be honest, I don't think Taiwan-accented mandarin sounds feminine at all, except when spoken by girls/women. But, I feel the same about Beijing-accented Mandarin, too.
I don't believe that you've heard Chinese people make the above statement. Its ridiculous. In 30 years of dealing with Chinese, Taiwanese, and discussing language, I've never heard a single person say this until now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Greysholic
^I have heard people saying that Taiwanese accent is more feminine and generally softer.
Satisfied? Make more Chinese friends if you can't understand what Chinese people feel about Taiwanese accent.
Check this video. The first greeting, Dajia hao, convey typical Taiwanese accent.
No offence but 娘娘腔 is the typical adjective that Chinese people how to describe Taiwanese accent.
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