Every day we talk. We talk to everyone really, even with ourselves or with inanimate objects, especially when it is a product of human technology, but we always talk. Our thoughts are full of words that give meaning to the reality to which we belong and it is through them that we interact with that same reality.
Without the verb, our relationship with the world would be very different. However, not all of us master it in the same way: there are those who have a larger vocabulary, have a special oratorical talent or are able to express in verse what the majority cannot achieve in prose. The pleasure of human communication is also disparate, making room for the most extroverted of us to the most restrained, those who prefer to listen and appreciate silence when speaking for the sake of speaking.
But what happens when we measure this pleasure in different languages? Speaking in your own language with the accent that your geography has given you in conjunction with your socio-familial environment, can one realise the beauty of one’s own speech? Or, on the other hand, the learners who are gradually improving their skills in a new language, what sensations do they have when expressing their intimacy in sounds that were not until then theirs? Perhaps it is better to give some examples; For many, the Italian language has certain characteristics that make it very pleasant to the ear: the long vowels, the profusion of the «i», the melody typical of speaking with gestures. For the native Italian, perhaps it is simply their language. They live with it since they can remember, wake up and go to sleep thinking about it, give meaning to their personal identity with that language that is their own. It doesn’t sound the same to them as it does to those of other languages, something similar to what happens to those who don’t speak German and say that Angela Merkel always seemed to be angry and is a tough person; The Germans may agree, but not because of the language issue.
In the second case, pleasure is discovered. Releasing the ties of the vehicular language, those who learn a new language experience a new sound and meanings, a way of expressing themselves that could not exist before, a new sensation that allows them to be more by gaining more tools to communicate. And the words gain body: «placer» beats pleasure, touch beats «toque», «merci» is more graceful than «danke». The dimension of communication is no longer only based on its usefulness, but also incorporates the element of taste and beauty, of enjoyment due to how the word is formed in the mouth and caresses our ears, adding the extra meaning that the mere agglomeration of letters fails to convey. Language is, simply, another synonym for pleasure.