How is Haywood able to talk directly to Janning?
How is Haywood able to talk directly to Janning in the final scene of the movie if neither of the carachters could understand each other languages?
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Even if we assume that Janning was fluent in english because he was a judge, how could the prosecutor talk to Irene Hoffman Wallner at her house, if it's clear that she needs the headphones to understand when people are talking in English at the trial?
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I also think they conversed in English. Not in German, for sure, because at the beginning of the movie, Hayworth didn't understand "Auf Wiedersehen Opa" (Goodbye, Grandpa) — he didn't have the time to learn it properly. Janning, however, was a highly intelligent man — this was also confirmed by his former professor. It is very possible that he knew English. During the trial he had an interpreter, just like all the other German people. This is not mutually exclusive. Remember how Adlai Stevenson shoutet at Valerian Zorin: "Do not wait for the translation, yes or no!!!"?
share>>my god you people are so totally parochial <<
My god, but you're rude.
"The value of an idea has nothing to do with the honesty of the man expressing it."--Oscar Wilde
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I'm amazed that people are so awed at anyone speaking a foreign language.
I live in Turkey and English, German or French (choice is left to the students) are taught in our public schools. Even the worst high school graduates can at least communicate on a basic level. I imagine a college graduate would easily speak or understand English, a universal language by today's standards.
I have always assumed it would be so in any modern country.
Never be complete.
Heh, I watched the movie with the understanding that all of the German people at the trial DID understand and speak Enlgish, the headphones being more of a courtesy/insurance that nothing was missed in translation or due to the stress of being on trial. :P
Kinich-Ahau / Kukulcan in 2012!
To MADman1624, How do we know George Bush is dumb? I had the misfortune of having to listen to his ignorant ramblings for 8 years and wondering how anyone could imagine such a dolt would make a decent president.
shareFirst, it was established as a convention in the film that dialogue that was really in German was delivered by the actors in English (Rolfe begins his opening statement in German, then suddenly switches to English, which establishes that point). This is less cumbersome than having subtitles, but it does sometimes raise the issue of what language the characters are meant to be speaking in.
When Rolfe twice speaks to Janning in private about the defense, clearly they would be speaking in German. Still it seems that both DO speak English. Janning is a professor, and probably knows several foreign languages. Rolfe speaks with Haywood at the end of the film at Haywood's house, so that suggests they are speaking in English. Why the headphones then. Well, it is not a courtesy, as someone noted, but a basic right to be able to follow your own trial in your native language. Even if you know the language of the trial (English), it doesn't mean you are most comfortable expressing yourself exactly in it. So even German's who know English would be likely to make use of the translation.
How about Irene Hoffman Wallner and her husband speaking with the prosecutor. My guess would be that that conversation took place in German. The prosecutor had been there several years already, needed to read thousands of documents in German, and so could plausibly have learned the language. Or it is possible he was chosen for the job precisely because he already knew German. That was alot more common before 1945 then since. In fact German was fairly commonly at home by many Americans up until the First World War, after which it became unpopular.