MovieChat Forums > The Poseidon Adventure (2005) Discussion > Arabic Writing/speaking?

Arabic Writing/speaking?

posted 19 years ago by brianecoe
2 replies | jump to latest

My wife made me pause the movie at an early scene to read the Arabic writing on the wall of the warehouse, then she started giggling. She said it was all random Arabic letters strung together that made no sense. She's a native speaker, so I tend to take her at her word, but she did allow that the writing might have been Persian.

The signs likely would have been pretty meaningless anyway as far as the movie goes, but does anyone know if they in fact were some Arabic varient? Or did the movie prop/set people just string together some Arabic letters to add atmosphere?

For that matter, she couldn't understand one of the early conversations between two of the characters. The bearded terrorist is having a conversation in the kitchen with another, but even after rewinding and playing a couple times she couldn't catch what was being said and felt sure it wasn't even Arabic. Later, though, the same character was definitly speaking Arabic while detailing their plans (just before killing the janitor). Anyone know what language he was useing in the kitchen?

[–] aamirabbas 19 years ago

the only purpose of the Arabic lettering was to show these were alqaida type terrorists. Thats also the reason some of the terrorists were wearing turbans, even though WHY would they do that inside a building in another country?

thanks
Aamir Ali

[–] tlrogers 19 years ago

I agree. The letters were just completely strung together. It didn't seem like Persian, though I can't read Persian. Also, when they were talking in the kitchen, they *were* speaking Arabic. But the words didn't match what was translated on screen, and they were speaking two different dialects.

Finally, the character spoke Arabic again later but it was very stilted, he repeated himself when he should not have, and overall it was a poor job of Arabic.