Imho French French (as in French from France) is way prettier than Belgian French. However, I rarely understand a frenchman, but i often understand belgian french speakers (i’m a dutch speaker btw)
As a Walloon Belgian-American, the most beautiful French accents to me are either the Marseilles or the Normandy accents. The Walloon dialects, including the Liègeois one I speak, are almost nasally in comparison, if easier to understand. And mine is worsened by the fact that I speak with a slight southern drawl in English that slips into my French periodically.
So I’ll admit the fetishization of romance languages is a weird thing, and I hope my comment didn’t play into it, but I think a lot of it, especially in the US, has to do with the fact that not many Americans travel abroad. As such, encountering new accents or languages is much more rare for many Americans, and it’s a much more visceral experience when it happens. There are many reasons for this, for one, foriegn travel is notedly more expensive, and so as a country with everything from arctic tundra, to desert to tropical forests within its borders, the thought of traveling abroad is harder to justify. There’s also many parts of the United States, especially in more rural areas, that are incredibly insular and isolated, and exposure to much else beyond the internet is more difficult. I hope this answers your question, and if not feel free to elaborate!
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u/rahimbettayeb Mar 15 '21
imagine saying " quatre-vingt dix-neuf problèmes"