Which words make you smile the most?

Do you find, when learning a new language, that there are some words and phrases that you just immediately love? Like they strike something in you, but you don’t know why? Maybe it’s the pleasure of the sound, or they just feel fun to say?

I think about this a lot, because I often fall in love with certain words when I am studying — sometimes it’s the sound, sometimes it’s the association with something I enjoy, or a part of culture that I admire, and sometimes it’s just something that has surprised me and made me laugh. Often, I find there are words and phrases that are quite basic, but gave me the first thrill of being able to actually communicate.

It can also arise spontaneously when you first hear a word you’ve studied used for real when visiting a country or place with native speakers.

Does this happen to everyone?

OK! Then the starter must put the first example!!  

Hahaha... you know, I thought so too, but I was a little sleepy when I started this thread! My name, zaogao,( 糟糕 ) is actually one of these words, and comes from Mandarin (Chinese)，and is always used to mean "Oh, what bad luck! or how terrible!" It's maybe not the most confidence-inspiring name, but I just like the way it sounds, and it's always funny to me if I hear it in a film or elsewhere.

In Japanese, I have a love of 大丈夫 (daijobu), which is used kind of like "va bene" in Italian (which I also like, because of the different ways it is vocalized, depending on the speaker's mood... whether they really mean "don't worry, its all right" or "I agree", or whether they actually have a sense of resignation about it!) These are all quite common phrases, so I feel lucky that whenever I hear them, they make me feel happy! If I see 大丈夫 written, it also kind of amuses me a little because the kanji reads as "big man" in Chinese!! This is one of *many* "false friends" between Japanese and Chinese. On the one hand, if you know Chinese, you can get the sense of Japanese sentences and newspaper articles, etc., on the other hand, your "sense" can take some interesting turns!

In Italian, I quite like "vai" which means "you go" (which seems somewhat boring when you are studying verb tables) -- you hear it most often when others are encouraging someone to keep going when they're backing up a vehicle, "vai!vai!vai!...basta!" It's fun to say, and it tends to be helpful and encouraging. So I have chosen it for the name of the manga-inspired(!) Italian language learning book that I am writing for friends.

Maybe I am odd with these kinds of things -- I've always loved language, it is a human music to me, and even as a small child, I would get very excited to meet people who speak other languages. I wanted to learn them all, and learn all about how people live and think and express themselves all over the world. Secretly, I *still* want to.... but it takes more work than I'd imagined as a child!!!

Wow!! your expression of "language is a human music to me" is quite beautiful!!

Your choice of 「大丈夫(daijoubu)」, which means "It's Okay", "Don't worry", etc. Reminds me of this, and I would select it as my fave word in Japanese.

It's 「なんくるないさ～(nankurunaisaaa)」. It's an Okinawan dialect, but now this is widely known all over the country.
Okinawa is an island at the very south of Japan, and Okinawans are known as the most easygoing people in this country.

And なんくるないさー is the loosest pattern of 大丈夫（"It's alright." "No problem."）　Okinawan people use this word every day, whatever seems difficult happens, they say なんくるないさー（"No problem at all.")

It is intereseting when you think of the hardest history of Okinawa.