Friday, March 06, 2009
Die Hard is right
Remember Die Hard 4? I could argue that it is one of the top 12 movies of all time. I think I would win that argument. (Partly because of my debate skills, mostly because the movie speaks for its wonderful self.)
Any who.
There is one thing that always bothers me about that movie is the language issue. The henchmen talk in some random guttural language, they never speak anything but their own tongue.
Their boss is an American who speaks in perfect English, he never speaks anything else.
When they talk to each other they each only speak their own languages and yet they completely understand the other.
Is there ever a situation were you would understand rapid-fire idioms in a foreign language and yet do not have the skills to answer. Why the hell would the writers do this?
It just doesn’t make sense.
Until, today. Well, technically, yesterday. But I am counting it as today.
A few of my South African friends were having a long conversation about Rugby. Two of them are fully fluent in Afrikaans; the third was raised around it, but had a family that tended toward English.
Half of the conversation was in Afrikaans and half in English. It was nutty.
Proving once again that Die Hard has a completely accurate and plausible plotline.
Any who.
There is one thing that always bothers me about that movie is the language issue. The henchmen talk in some random guttural language, they never speak anything but their own tongue.
Their boss is an American who speaks in perfect English, he never speaks anything else.
When they talk to each other they each only speak their own languages and yet they completely understand the other.
Is there ever a situation were you would understand rapid-fire idioms in a foreign language and yet do not have the skills to answer. Why the hell would the writers do this?
It just doesn’t make sense.
Until, today. Well, technically, yesterday. But I am counting it as today.
A few of my South African friends were having a long conversation about Rugby. Two of them are fully fluent in Afrikaans; the third was raised around it, but had a family that tended toward English.
Half of the conversation was in Afrikaans and half in English. It was nutty.
Proving once again that Die Hard has a completely accurate and plausible plotline.
posted by Jody @ 3:24 PM 
Comments:
<< Home
My sister and her fiancee do this. He's from Chile but speaks good English, she's from the U.S. and speaks good Spanish. Both, however, feel more comfortable, and can express more complex thoughts, in their native language, so their conversations are a back-and-forth of Spanish and English. So I guess it's not so uncommon.
Post a Comment
<< Home
