Latest Posts by linguisticinspiration - Page 4

Arrival (2016) [1400 x 2100]

Arrival.

"Despite knowing the journey... and where it leads... I embrace it... and I welcome every moment of it."

"Let's say that I taught them Chess instead of English. Every conversation would be a game. Every idea expressed through opposition, victory, defeat. You see the problem? If all I ever gave you was a hammer... Everything's a nail."

"If you could see your whole life from start to finish, would you change things?

Maybe I'd say what I feel more often. But I... I don't know. You know, I've had my head tilted up to the stars for as long as I can remember. You know what surprised me the most? It wasn't meeting them. It was meeting you."

"We're so bounded by time, by its order. But now I am not so sure I believe in beginnings and endings."

“We need to make sure that they understand the difference between a weapon and a tool. Language is messy and sometimes one can be both.” 

-Arrival (2016) dir. Denis Villeneuve

This video for the linguistic privilege of the Anglophones was very interesting to me. He doesn't say that if you go for a week to Greece you must learn the language (although some phrases would be nice). He doesn't say that having a common language between different nations is bad.

But he is talking about native English speakers who are able to stay in foreign countries for a long time and still don't learn the language because the locals around them can accommodate them by speaking English. These long-term visitors who are native English speakers (sometimes spouses and business partners) are not willing to learn the basics to survive in this country because they expect that someone around will know their language.

While this expectation might seem reasonable, it burdens the non English speakers to learn the language to the point we are considered unprofessional and unskilled if we don't speak English very well - in our own country!

Story time:

I was meeting with a large group of online friends for drinks and doing our collective hobby together and there was an Anglophone in the group. She had been staying in the country for 10 years, she was under 30 years old (you can definitely learn the language at that age) and couldn't communicate with us, making a dozen Greeks speak English to accommodate her.

Naturally, we didn't manage for long to center our conversations around her language when we could communicate better in ours. Still, the attitude of this woman and people like her still baffles me. If any of us were to go to her country for a month we would be automatically required to know English otherwise we would be ridiculed. We would certainly not survive a decade without learning the local language.

ARRIVAL (2016) dir. Denis Villeneueve

get to know me: [2/?] favorite movies

Despite knowing the journey and where it leads, I embrace it. And I welcome every moment of it.

Arrival (2016) dir. Denis Villeneuve

So first, we need to make sure that they understand what a question is. Okay, the nature of a request for information along with a response. Then, we need to clarify the difference between a specific “you” and a collective “you”, because we don’t want to know why Joe Alien is here, we want to know why they all landed.  And 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.

SUBLIME CINEMA #301 - ARRIVAL

Denis Villeneuve is one of the most interesting new gen filmmakers to come along for a while, along with the Safdie Brothers, Celine Sciamma, Chloe Zhao, and a select few others. There is not a windfall of new young talent with their own particular artistic signatures, but Villeneuve has specialized in epic, stark landscapes, and vast worlds of a dark unknown for over a decade. He now commands bigger budgets than his contemporaries could dream of. His earliest short ‘The Next Floor’, looked inspired by Roy Andersson, but then he pared down the elements to some kind of pure essential starkness which seems distinctly his. Mixed results ensued - Incendies, Sicario, Prisoners and Arrival approach masterpiece material, and show an artist in command of his talent. Blade Runner 2049 was haphazard, Polytechnique polarizing. But he’s an artist I will go out of my way to watch. 

Arrival is a great science fiction film, thought provoking, hauntingly beautiful. and Villeneuve’s last collaboration with sublime composer Johann Johansson before he passed away tragically, way too young. 

Still, I tried to ponder questions formulated in terms more familiar to me: what kind of worldview did the heptapods have, that they would consider Fermat’s principle the simplest explanation of light refraction? What kind of perception made a minimum or maximum readily apparent to them?

ARRIVAL (2016) dir. Denis VILLENEUVE based on Story of Your Life (1999) by Ted CHIANG

Still, I tried to ponder questions formulated in terms more familiar to me: what kind of worldview did the heptapods have, that they would consider Fermat’s principle the simplest explanation of light refraction? What kind of perception made a minimum or maximum readily apparent to them?

ARRIVAL (2016) dir. Denis VILLENEUVE based on Story of Your Life (1999) by Ted CHIANG

arrival -

Arrival (2016, dir. Denis Villeneuve)

arrival - heptapods stimboard

for @justasmidgx

dont delete caption ★ sources under cut

Continuar lendo

Arrival, 2016

Science Fiction

Directed by Denis Villeneuve

Cinematography: Bradford Young

Arrival /2016 Director: Denis Villeneuve Cinematography: Bradford Young

arrival -

Arrival (2016) dir. Denis Villeneuve

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You know I’ve had my head tilted up to the stars for as long as I can remember.

Arrival (2016) Dir. Denis Villeneuve

arrival -

Gaviṣṭi

The movie Arrival consisted mostly of trying to figure out the language of some aliens who landed on Earth. The main character of this movie is a linguist, played by Amy Adams, tasked with figuring out the alien language in order to convey friendly intentions to them. At the beginning of the movie, when she is recruited for this task, she is painted as someone who is foremost in the field of linguistics. When the government official who recruited her is on his way out of her office, she asks the official to test the next person who is being recruited for the mission with the question “what is the Sanskrit word for ‘war’?” The response she received to this question when arriving at the military base is “gaviṣṭi,”which she says means ‘a desire for cows.’ This is, indeed, what it literally means. “go” (“cow”) when combined with “iṣṭi” becomes a dative tatpuruṣa compound meaning “a desire for cows”. However, the dialogue in the movie does not entirely capture the contextual nuances of this word. According to Monier-Williams, the word gaviṣṭi, in the context of the Rg Veda, does actually mean “a desire for war,” along with its literal meaning “a desire for cows.” 

Why was this Sanskrit included in the movie? My initial thought was that it gave a stamp of approval to the main character’s legitimacy as a linguist. The inclusion of Sanskrit in the movie banks on the assumption that Sanskrit is a difficult language, and that knowing it is an indication that one is an expert linguist. Further, the usage of the Vedic word for “a desire for war” rather than the many other (not as contextually nuanced) words which can mean “war” also serves to show the depth of both of the linguists’ experience with and fluency in different types of Sanskrit. This detail, however, would not have been evident to a viewer who had had no previous experience with Sanskrit. But, it does show a willingness of the writers of the movie to invest time in the details of the Sanskrit that they included, rather than just throwing whatever stereotype they wanted into the works. 

However, even if Sanskrit was fitting in the context of the plot of the movie and conveys the expertise of the linguists, there are hundreds of other incredibly difficult languages on the planet. Why would Sanskrit be needed in an interaction with aliens? One possibility is that Sanskrit has taken on such a (problematic) connotation of exoticism that it has essentially become “alien” and thus applicable in interactions with aliens themselves.

“If you could see your whole life from start to finish, would you change things?”

Thanks for letting me do this super fun logogram from the movie Arrival. A movie I didnt watch then because I thought friendly aliens were lame lolol.

😂 Boy was I missing out 😂 gotta love sciencey films 😂 https://instagr.am/p/CMbXrTasPxA/

Memory is a strange thing. It doesn’t work like I thought it did. We are so bound by time, by its order… But now I’m not so sure I believe in beginnings and endings.

Arrival (2016) dir. Denis Villeneuve

I’m not so sure I believe in beginnings and endings. There are days that define your story beyond your life. Like the day they arrived.

ARRIVAL (2016) dir. Denis Villeneuve

Despite knowing the journey… and where it leads… I embrace it… and I welcome every moment of it.

Arrival (2016) dir. Denis Villeneuve

come back to me. – ARRIVAL (2016) dir. denis villeneuve.

Language is the foundation of civilization. It is the glue that holds a people together. It is the first weapon drawn in a conflict.

Arrival (2016) dir. Denis Villeneuve

FILMS WATCHED IN 2018→ Arrival (2016) dir. Denis Villeneuve. So, Hannah… This is where your story begins. The day they departed. Despite knowing the journey… and where it leads… I embrace it. And I welcome every moment of it.

Arrival (2016) Dir. Denis Villeneuve

Arrival (2016) Denis Villeneuve