{"id":19238,"date":"2024-02-06T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-06T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/languages-in-the-leading-role\/"},"modified":"2024-07-30T10:26:58","modified_gmt":"2024-07-30T08:26:58","slug":"languages-in-the-leading-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-us\/languages-in-the-leading-role\/","title":{"rendered":"Languages in the leading role"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Movies combine language with moving images. And in some movies, language even plays the leading role. Our five movie recommendations are for people fascinated by languages and translation, who also understand the power of words and the even greater impact of misunderstandings.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Translation errors: \u201cLost in Translation\u201d (2003)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

\u201cFor relaxing times, make it Suntory time.\u201d \u2013 Bob Harris<\/p>\n\n

A movie based around a single misunderstanding.<\/a> Bob, an ageing movie star, played by the unique Bill Murray, is hired to deliver a testimonial for a Japanese whiskey brand. The fee of one million US dollars makes Bob forget that he is actually rather grumpy and is really not in any state to travel to Japan to shoot the ad. At a Tokyo hotel bar, however, Bob strikes up an acquaintance with Charlotte, the young wife of a travel photographer. The two protagonists share the same problem: neither of them speaks a word of Japanese, and Japanese culture with its strict rules also feels quite alien to them. Just how problematic this all is becomes clear when the interpreter on the set only translates half of the director\u2019s instructions, resulting in Bob unintentionally incurring the wrath of the Japanese hipster producer. He, in turn, only has a few words of English and repeatedly interrupts the filming with loud exclamations of \u201cCut do, Cut do!\u201d<\/p>\n\n

However, this is not the only misunderstanding that Bob as well as Charlotte suffer because of the language barrier in \u201cLost in Translation.\u201d Throughout the movie, numerous misunderstandings, comic situations and increasing frustration compound the main characters\u2019 feelings of alienation and isolation. However, this isolation also leads to something beautiful as a love affair unfolds between Bob and Charlotte, played by Scarlett Johansson. Naturally, it all comes to an end when Bob has to depart. \u201cI don\u2019t wanna leave,\u201d says Bob to Charlotte. She answers: \u201cSo don\u2019t! Stay here with me! We\u2019ll start a jazz band.\u201d The pain of parting could hardly be expressed more beautifully in words.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Language plays the leading role in a movie with aliens: \u201cArrival\u201d (2016)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

\u201cIf you could see your whole life from start to finish, would you change things?\u201d \u2013 Louise Banks<\/p>\n\n

While others struggle to understand French or Spanish, linguist Dr.\u00a0\u00a0Louise Banks in \u201cArrival\u201d is faced with a far more complicated task: Decrypting and translating an extraterrestrial language.<\/a> An incorrect translation can quickly have serious repercussions and, in extreme cases, lead to \u201cStar Wars\u201d\u00a0…although that was a completely different movie. Even though we might not be able to comprehend this science fiction scenario, all of us can probably imagine the potential consequences of these misunderstandings. One dialog from the movie highlights the difficulties associated with linguistic nuances: \u201cWe don\u2019t know if they understand the difference between a weapon and a tool.\u201d If you want to find out whether the aliens understood the difference in the translation provided by Dr.\u00a0\u00a0Louise Banks, we can highly recommend watching this movie.<\/p>\n\n

The world\u2019s longest layover: \u201cThe Terminal\u201d (2004)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

\u201cThis is my home. No, no. No, I must go home.\u201d \u2013 Viktor Navorski<\/p>\n\n

You can be stranded in many locations. On tropical islands, in the last open bar in a city. However, there is probably nowhere you would be less happy to be stranded than in an airport. Many of us know what it\u2019s like to spend four or five hours huddled on a bench because of a flight delay. Iranian citizen Mehran Karimi Nasseri also knew the feeling. Only better. That\u2019s because he spent the period from August 1988 until August 2006 in the transit area of Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris due to bureaucratic obstacles he encountered on arrival in France. Yes, you read that right: he lived there.<\/p>\n\n

The motion picture \u201cThe Terminal\u201d is based on this unbelievable story. In the movie, Nasseri is called Viktor Navorski, and is played by Tom Hanks. In the beginning, Navorski barely speaks any English, which also extends his stay in the airport: When a member of the airport staff tries to explain that he can apply for asylum simply by declaring that he is afraid to return to his native country, Navorski has no clue what is happening.<\/a> As time passes and despite his poor language skills, he must learn to survive in the airport by explaining to the staff there\u2014sometimes via nonverbal communication\u2014what he wants.<\/p>\n\n

It\u2019s all Greek (or Latin American) to me: \u201cSpanglish\u201d (2004)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

\u201cYou need to do something with your life. You need to get out of the street, stop bein\u2019 a gangsta! You have a child now. You need to be a father.\u201d <\/em>\u2013<\/em> Flor Moreno<\/p>\n\n

The main theme of the movie \u201cSpanglish\u201d is the linguistic chaos that ensues between an American family and their Mexican housekeeper. While the housekeeper Flor communicates mainly in Spanish, the Clasky family, especially the mother Deborah, speaks almost exclusively English. As we have seen from the other movies in this list, this one also focuses on misunderstandings that have far-reaching consequences. The movie sets out to portray the real challenges faced by immigrants living in a foreign country. And who bears the brunt of this chaos? Flor\u2019s daughter Christina, who more or less intentionally finds herself acting as the link between these two worlds. Naturally, this movie also contains a hidden metaphor: how language functions as a bridge between cultures and generations.<\/p>\n\n

Murder in translation: \u201cThe Interpreter\u201d (2005)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

\u201cSilencio es muerte. Silence is death.\u201d \u2013 Silvia Broome<\/p>\n\n

It\u2019s a complete coincidence. Two men in a semi-darkened room. Whispers in a rarely spoken language. By chance, a young woman overhears what the men are discussing.<\/a> In a language she has known since her childhood. A language that is familiar to her. However, it\u2019s clear that these two men are up to no good. It is the start of a conspiracy. This is what befalls Silvia Broome, played by Nicole Kidman, in the movie \u201cThe Interpreter.\u201d Broome, an interpreter at the United Nations in New York, becomes entangled in a plot to assassinate the corrupt head of state of her home country, Matobo. Veteran director Sydney Pollack creates a sense of confusion in which languages, their ambiguity, specific cultural codes and influences and the challenges of diplomacy <\/a>form the context.<\/p>\n\n

One of the characters in the movie says the following, for example: \u201cThe gunfire around us makes it hard to hear. But the human voice is different from other sounds. It can be heard over noises that bury everything else. Even when it\u2019s not shouting. Even when it\u2019s just a whisper. Even the lowest whisper can be heard over armies when it\u2019s telling the truth.\u201d The power of understanding, compressed into an action-packed thriller, makes this a must-see for all language junkies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Movies combine language with moving images. And in some movies, language even plays the leading role. Our five movie recommendations are for people fascinated by languages and translation, who also understand the power of words and the even greater impact of misunderstandings. Translation errors: \u201cLost in Translation\u201d (2003) \u201cFor relaxing times, make it Suntory time.\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16566,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[823,870,827],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-translation","category-dubbing-voiceovers","category-facts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19238"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23820,"href":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19238\/revisions\/23820"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}