The Tower of Babel by an anonymous artist, the Hendrick van Cleve construction

The most beautiful language in the world. And the ugliest of them all. Which languages are we talking about here would you say?

A hint: the emphasis is on the word you. For whether we find a language pleasing to the ear or not is an entirely subjective matter. A lot of it has to do with what your first language is and what other, perhaps foreign, sounds you were exposed to as a child. And what you experience later on in life. The melody of a particular language may appeal to you, or the fact that it is spoken by someone you love or admire.

Of course many would say that French is one of the most beautiful languages in the world. Many would say that some of the African languages are the ugliest. But that would still be a subjective experience of what they hear. Some would argue that Finnish doesn’t sound nice - due to its ample use of hard consonants that may make it sound like something shot out of a machine-gun. And some might say that Russian is beautiful, at least when spoken softly. Some would even say that any language sounds beautiful when spoken softly, and any ugly when spoken harshly.

Poetry may make any language into a marvelous rhythm of vowels and consonants, and when you add some music to it, it becomes a thing of beauty.

Native speakers of many a language can give their own examples of the most beautiful sentences in their mother tongue - and the ugliest. I don’t know about other languages, but in the Finnish language those sentences would be: “Hiljaa kuljen sillalla” and “Älä rääkkää sitä koiraa”. Translation omitted, but can you hear the tonal difference?

According to this study by EF (Education First) French is indeed the most beautiful spoken language, German the most beautiful sung language, and Arabic the most beautiful written language. But of course, it is always a matter of personal opinion. What do you think?