Language quotes

“- Lt. Leak: Captain, uh... there must be some mistake. I'm supposed to be in a Texas unit. Most of these boys are from New York and I just don't understand a word these city fellers are sayin'.
- Capt. George McMurtry: You don't have to understand them Lieutenant, they have to understand you.”
Jay Rodan - Lt. Leak
Phil McKee - Capt. George McMurtry

“- Wang Chi-Yang: What language is he using? I have a feeling he has been disrespectful, but I am not sure.
- Madame Liang: No, no. That is American style slang.”
Benson Fong - Wang Chi-Yang
Juanita Hall - Madame Liang

“There are two things that dance can never be again: beautiful and cheerful. Today, we need to break the nose of every beautiful thing. And if you're going to be a dancer, you must learn French.”

Tilda Swinton - Madame Blanc

“I always thought those World War II films with German people speaking English with German accents was weird.”
Wagner Moura

“It seems to me that if there were any logic to our language, trust would be a four letter word.”
Tom Cruise - Joel

“- Louise Banks: The weapon is their language. They gave it all to us. Do you understand what that means?
- Colonel Weber: So we can learn heptapod. If we survive.
- Louise Banks: If you learn it, when you really learn it, you begin to perceive time the way that they do. So you can see what's to come. But time, it isn't the same for them. It's...” (continue) (continue reading)
Jeremy Renner - Louise Banks
Forest Whitaker - Colonel Weber

“It's amazing. You speak Chinese like a native.”

Jim Henson - Rowlf

“- Ian Donnelly: If you immerse yourself into a foreign language, then you can actually rewire your brain.
- Louise Banks: Yeah, the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. It's the theory that the language you speak determines how you think and...
- Ian Donnelly: Yeah, it affects how you see everything.”
Jeremy Renner - Ian Donnelly
Amy Adams - Louise Banks

"Purpose" requires an understanding of intent. We need to find out, do they make conscious choices or is their motivation so instinctive that they don't understand a "why" question at all. And-And biggest of all, we need to have enough vocabulary with them that we understand their answer.

Jeremy Renner - Louise Banks

“Trust me, you can, uh, understand communication and still end up single.”

Amy Adams - Louise Banks

- Neal Page: Let me close this conversation by saying that you are one unique individual.
- Del Griffith: Unique... what's that, Latin for "asshole"?
Steve Martin - Neal Page
John Candy - Del Griffith

“- Alan Twitty: Tom?
- Tom Gribalski: Ahoy, mateys! What brings you landlubbers down to the salty brine?
- Alan Twitty: Speak English, please?
- Tom Gribalski: Oh, excuse me... Whass'up...?”
A.J. Trauth - Alan Twitty
Fred Meyers - Tom Gribalski

“- Rocky: You're like paper. You know, you're trash.
- Anthony Adams: Like trash?
- Rocky: You know, you're like paper falling by, you know... It doesn't sound that bad in Spanish...”

Donny Caicedo - Rocky
Luke Wilson - Anthony Adams

“- Beca Mitchell: We're going to kick your ass.
- Female Das Sound Machine Leader: I'm sorry, I don't speak loser. What did you say?
- Male Das Sound Machine Leader: She actually speaks eight languages but 'loser' is not one of them.”
Anna Kendrick - Beca
Allie Feder - Female Das Sound Machine Leader
Andrew Fitzpatrick - Male Das Sound Machine Leader

“- Lem: You were just talking alien.
- Captain Charles T. Baker: Hey, I'm not the alien here. You are.”
Justin Long - Lem
The Rock - Captain Charles T. Baker

“The cornerstone of civilization isn't language, it's science.”
Jeremy Renner - Ian Donnelly

“- Stanford Marks: You're the girl with the perfumed poo-poo bags, aren't you?
- Elle Woods: Actually I'm the woman with the scented waste receptacles, but yes.”
Bruce McGill - Stanford Marks
Reese Witherspoon - Elle Woods

“He doesn't speak English. If he does, it's with an accent thicker than sauerkraut sauce.”

Harry Styles - Alex

“- Starman: Shit!
- Jenny Hayden: Don't mind him. He's just learning English.
- Roadhouse Waitress: Well, he's got a hell of a start on it!”
Jeff Bridges - Starman
Karen Allen - Jenny Hayden
Lu Leonard - Roadhouse Waitress

“Agatha Christie is so deadly serious in English... but in French, she's so delightfully funny! Je m'apelle Hercule Poirot, un detective. Her murders are so polite!”
Glenda May Jackson - Stevie

“You're fucking in America, speaking English.”
Ray Liotta - Henry Oak

“- Florentino: He talkin' loco... crazy... somethin' about a sick horse comin' to get us.
- Johnny Ringo: That's not what he said, you ignorant wretch. Your Spanish is worse than your English.”

Paul Ben-Victor - Florentino
Michael Biehn - Johnny Ringo

“- Keoki: What's that?
- Michael Alig: It's a kitty! Aw, it's our lovechild. We'll call him Skrinkle.
- James St. James: [voice over] As you dry your eyes, let me just say this about that. Skrinkle was just the beginning. Skrinkle begat Skroddle and Skrinkle and Skroddle were the Lego blocks of a strange new world he was building for us all. You...” (continue) (continue reading)
Wilmer Valderrama - Keoki
Macaulay Culkin - Michael Alig
Seth Green - James St. James

So the Biblical scholars mis-translated the Hebrew word for "young woman" into the Greek word for "virgin", which was a pretty easy mistake to make, since there is only a subtle difference in the spelling. But back then it was the "virgin" that caught people's attention.
Benicio del Toro - Franky Four Fingers

“Let's say that I taught them Chess instead of English. Every conversation would be a game. Every idea expressed through opposition, victory, defeat.”
Amy Adams - Louise Banks