Originally Posted by
Bakha
Agree. Russian, alongside with Finnish, is truly a beautiful language and richest out of all European languages. English, German, Dutch, Italian and all others make me vomit when I hear them.
I actually hate the way the standard Finnish dialect sounds. It is an artificial dialect that was created in the 1800s as a compromise between Eastern and Western Finnish dialects. Its earliest speakers came from the educated classes, who until that point had been Swedish-speaking, so it has prosodical similarities with Swedish, and overall it sounds really fake and gay, similar to how British accent sounds compared to American accent. Standard Finnish also has many unnatural features that were never part of spoken Finnish, such as that personal pronouns are omitted when person is expressed by verbal suffixes.
The Southwestern Finnish dialect that my grandparents spoke actually sounds beautiful: http://scripta.kotus.fi/av/kuuntele/somero.mp3.
Estonian sounds a lot better than Standard Finnish, because it sounds like Southwestern Finnish dialects.
Standard Finnish has also has a high syllable-to-morpheme ratio. For example the Lord's Prayer (full version) has 146 syllables in Standard Finnish, 124 syllables in my translation to a Southwestern Finnish dialect, 118 syllables in Estonian, and 93 syllables in English:
English (93 syllables, 280 letters):
Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
Estonian (118 syllables, 296 letters):
Meie Isa, kes sa oled taevas, pühitsetud saagu sinu nimi, sinu riik tulgu, sinu tahtmine sündigu, kui taevas nõnda ka maa peal. Meie igapäevane leib anna meile tänapäev, ja anna andeks meile meie võlad, kui ka meie andeks anname oma võlglastele. Ja ära saada meid mitte kiusatuse sisse, vaid päästa meid ära kurjast. Sest sinu päralt on riik ja vägi ja au igavesti. Aamen.
Southwestern Finnish dialect (my translation from Standard Finnish version) (124 syllables, 335 letters):
Isä meijän, ketä on taivaas. Pyhitetty olkoon sun nimi. Tulkoon sun valtakunta. Tapahtukoon sun tahto, maan pääl ja taivaas ja. Anna meitil tänäpän meijän jokapäivänen leipä. Ja anna meitil meijän synnit anteeks, niinkun mekin annetaan anteeks niil, ketkä on meitii vastaan rikkonu. Ja älä saata meitii kiusaukseen, mut päästä meijät pahast. Koska sun on valtakunta ja voima ja kunnia iankaikkisest. Aamen.
Standard Finnish (146 syllables, 381 letters):
Isä meidän, joka olet taivaissa. Pyhitetty olkoon sinun nimesi. Tulkoon sinun valtakuntasi. Tapahtukoon sinun tahtosi, myös maan päällä niin kuin taivaassa. Anna meille tänä päivänä meidän jokapäiväinen leipämme. Ja anna meille meidän syntimme anteeksi, niin kuin mekin anteeksi annamme niille, jotka ovat meitä vastaan rikkoneet. Äläkä saata meitä kiusaukseen, vaan päästä meidät pahasta. Sillä sinun on valtakunta ja voima ja kunnia iankaikkisesti. Aamen.
Also Finnish wouldn't be a good lingua franca, because Finnish inflection and conjugation are impossible to learn. Finnish even has 51 nominal inflection classes (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appen...nal_inflection):
Bookmarks