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Fictional Polyglots | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots |  | |
| Lianne Senior Member Canada thetoweringpile.blog Joined 5114 days ago 284 posts - 410 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Esperanto, Toki Pona, German, French | Message 57 of 82 07 May 2011 at 7:45pm | IP Logged | |||||
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The following explanation of the new movie is based on the assumption that it's actually canon:
It's not really a reboot of the franchise. It's just what would have happened if this Nero guy went back in time and killed a bunch of people including Kirk's father. So Uhura would only be different if she was in some way affected by this change in the timeline, which she probably was in some way, but I doubt it would affect her language abilities. That being said, I don't accept the new movie as part of the Star Trek story, on the basis that it sucked so bad. :) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Caitlin Newbie Canada Joined 5246 days ago 6 posts - 6 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, Japanese | Message 58 of 82 08 May 2011 at 8:53am | IP Logged | |||||
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There is also the character of Gen Watanabe, the translator in Ann Patchett's novel Bel Canto. I think he speaks: Japanese, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Russian, Greek, Italian, and German. He can read Polish if not speak it. And there may be others, I can't remember. It's a beautiful book about the power of communication through language and music.
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| Doitsujin Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5319 days ago 1256 posts - 2363 votes Speaks: German*, English | Message 59 of 82 08 May 2011 at 10:34am | IP Logged | |||||
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IMHO, one of the best language centered Star Trek TNG episodes is Darmok in which Picard encounters aliens who speak English, but make heavy use of metaphors whose meanings Picard has to figure out to save his life.
And since we've arrived in SciFi land, I think SciFi writer Robert Sheckley deserves a mention. In his funny short story One Man's Poison (which can be read for free on Project Gutenberg) one of the main character's knowledge of an alien language and the subtleties of its grammar turns out to be a matter of life and death when the main characters find an alien warehouse. Edited by Doitsujin on 08 May 2011 at 2:20pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 7014 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map | Message 60 of 82 08 May 2011 at 12:02pm | IP Logged | |||||
Same here.
I'd forgotten about that one. Excellent episode. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Journeyer Triglot Senior Member United States tristan85.blogspot.c Joined 6867 days ago 946 posts - 1110 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German Studies: Sign Language | Message 61 of 82 08 May 2011 at 5:12pm | IP Logged | |||||
Well since that's come up, I guess I ought to say that I liked the angle and gloss of the new film. :-) I do with though that it had featured some Romulan or Vulcan languages, since both cultures were so vital to that film. Out of Sci-Fi for a bit: Hans Landa, the SS officer from "The Inglourious Basterds"! German, English, and French (which apparently he really speaks) and Italian, which I think he mimicked the lines for in the movie. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Matheus Senior Member Brazil Joined 5080 days ago 208 posts - 312 votes Speaks: Portuguese* Studies: English, French | Message 62 of 82 12 May 2011 at 1:54pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I don't know if you guys have said about this one already, but Wolowitz from "The Big
Bang Theory" usually say say random things in different languages, but I'm not quite sure if he speaks them all. The languages I saw he speaking are Russian, Chinese (I don't know which one), French and Japanese. He said he could say "have a nice shower" in 6 different languages, but that doesn't mean that he speak them fluently. Anyway, I think he might speak because they're all very smart. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Lianne Senior Member Canada thetoweringpile.blog Joined 5114 days ago 284 posts - 410 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Esperanto, Toki Pona, German, French | Message 63 of 82 12 May 2011 at 3:31pm | IP Logged | |||||
Walowitz can definitely speak Mandarin, because there was one episode where he tried to teach Sheldon Mandarin so he could yell at the guy at the Chinese food place. It didn't work out so well. :P 1 person has voted this message useful |
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