MovieChat Forums > Body of Lies (2008) Discussion > So, he thought that he was speaking Arab...

So, he thought that he was speaking Arabic...? XD

posted 14 years ago by Swezy-For-Easy
19 replies | jump to latest

We used to hear American actors speaking other languages & leading them to a whole new level of badness XD

Recently, for example, the Chinese in Limitless ( my Chinese friend said to me that he didn't understand a word of what Bradley said )

Anyway, the new thing in this movie, that Mark Strong said to Leonardo DiCaprio : You speak Arabic well.

Now we have a *beep* serious problem because I'm an Arab & i didn't understand a single word of Leonardo's Arabic ( i mean Leonardo's language XD )

The funny thing was Leonardo's eyes when he spoke Arabic. He looked so confident that he was really speaking Arabic LooooooL

Hollywood actors, stop speaking any language except English, especially if it's a language that has special letters like Arabic.

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] begy 13 years ago

Well, I don't know Arabic, so it sounded pretty convincing to me.

What would you say about Mark Strong (Hani Salaam)'s Arabic (I can't really remember if he spoke the language much in the movie, but I assume there must have been at least a few scenes)?

[–] Kawada_Kira 13 years ago

I give him credit for trying, at least. lol. At least now Hollywood seems to acknowledge that there are other languages out there. It used to be they'd just have people speaking with British accents to make them sound "foreign".

I remember seeing a movie called... I think it was "Gorky Park". Anyway, it was made in the 80s and set in the Soviet Union. The main character, a Russian, was played by an American actor who spoke with a fake British accent.

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No disrespect intended, sir, but shove it up your ass!

[–] Toby_gibson002 13 years ago

This discussion came up for Blood Diamond too- and probably should have for "Departed". ;)

I don't know- I watch asian people mangle the English language constantly in film and I never complain- of course I'm in Hawaii, where people mangle the English language on a daily basis.

I was however a little pissed they didn't do Memories of a Geisha in Japanese, and instead made them speak broken English (a typical American film ploy. Are Japanese people really fumbling idiots? According to Hollywood they are.)

[–] bibblies 13 years ago

I don't know about Arabic but Robert De Niro mangled Thai in 'Meet the Parents' and (English) English in 'Ronin'.

In 'Meet the Parents' he was supposed to be a former CIA agent who had been situated in Thailand. In which case, he should have been able to speak Thai properly, not like a person who'd never spoken it. He was that bad (not even trying an accent) that I thought no one who'd actually learned Thai would speak like that. So what's the point of even speaking it?

In Ronin, he was supposed to be this hit-man/military type who knew about the SAS. But he didn't know how to pronounce the name of their home town, Hereford, which was ridiculous. Sure, a tourist wouldn't know how to say it but an expert would. And what was more ridiculous is that none of the British actors, playing British or Irish characters, said anything about it. Too afraid to speak up?

In both cases it detracted from the characters and the movie.

[–] Prismark10 13 years ago

They just threw in smattering of Arabic to impress the audience but any true Arabic speakers would bound to be left unimpressed.

Its that man again!!

[–] Toby_gibson002 12 years ago

Oh geez- I had no idea he was mimicking anything near a brit accent in "Ronin"! Are you sure he was? He sounded just like Deniro!

[–] BrainGremlin 13 years ago

I'm glad I'm not an Arab then. Well, I am for many reasons, but that just adds to the list. It was convincing enough to me. I know how you feel, though. Listening to Charlie Sheen trying to speak Swedish on 2 and a Half Men was freakin' embarrassing (that was one line, and in a comedy show!). It could definitely have ruined the movie for me... not that I thought it was particularly great either way.

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I hear his theme music, he's around here somewhere...

[–] overthetop351 13 years ago

No one is going to be able to speak a language well without years of practice, which is certainly not worth learning if you're only going to deliver two or three lines. I'm no linguist but he certainly delivered the lines convincingly, while not technically accurate, is enough for the audience (of which the majority is certainly not arabic)

[–] EJverh 12 years ago

I don't know about that. Take Streep, for example. Her Polish, Russian and German in "Sophie's Choice" was excellent. But she had hired a private language coach who stayed with her throughtout the filming. Some actors do take the trouble. I know a few words in Arabic, but I know the sound of the language better. And Di Caprio didn't hit it. Even in the most simple responses he could have is to answer to Aisha to Saalam Alaikum, he messed it up. I just think that Di Caprio has problems with accents and different languages (Departed and Blood Diamond-bad), yet he really thinks he is a master of it. Strong had a better accent than Leonardo here with just only a few responses.

[–] sean-spilot 13 years ago

You honestly think they'd be good at it? Arabic takes years of years to even get to know the delicate fluently... To be honest, Mark Strong and Leonardo did a good job speaking Arabic for ones that did not know anything about it. You must hand it to 'em.

And how come you didn't understand a single word? The only word I didn't understand is from Leonardo when he said something about moving a donkey from infront of the car though I believe it was a sound..

All in all, they did a good job.

[–] dolifk 13 years ago

In the extras on the blue ray disc, DiCaprio says he had an expert in speaking Arabic to teach him. He also says that he spoke several different dialects and accents of Arabic. So maybe you didn't understand him because of that.

I know plenty of people who can't understand English when spoken in a normal Glasgow or Newcastle accent.

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[–] Veerah 12 years ago

I see your point. I'm a native speaker of Romanian and Hungarian and I also speak some Spanish and I have the same feeling when I hear them spoken in movies.

I absolutely adore Gary Oldman, but when he spoke romanian (or whatever they called that) in "Dracula", it was such a turn off for me. Honestly.... I could not understand a single word he was saying, no matter how many times I rewinded it. It was so disappointing. He is my all time favorite actor and at different English accents I think only Meryl Streep can equal him, but at speaking foreign languages, or at least romanian, he failed.
Then there was Mark Strong (close behind Gary on my list) in "Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy" where he spoke hungarian, and although it was fairly understandable, it did't sound very confident, though he only said a few words.
Also, there was Isabella Rossellini in "Immortal Beloved" where she probably said about 5 words in hungarian and the only reaction it got from me was a raised eyebrow. Or two...
And the worst of all was Catherine of Aragorn in "The Tudors" where she spoke english with such an amazing spanish accent, she did it perfectly, but when she spoke spanish it was just horrifying! I understood what she was saying but she had an awful accent and she overdid it. It was the worst of all I think!

Now, I got a bit off topic here and carried away with my memories :P but my point is that it is a very difficult task to learn a completely foreign language and speak it as a native, no matter how good an actor you are. At this moment I don't think I can even recall one such performance.

So to get even more off topic ;) all respect to Mr. Tarantino who hired foreign and native german and french speaking actors for Inglourious Basterds! He knows what he's doing!