Posted by
Emmett of the Unblinking Eye on Monday, July 14, 2008 2:01:51 PM
By now you've certainly heard of Mr. Obama's
views on bilingual education. So we decided to do our July 11 list on the Top 10 Bilingual Movies of All Time!! And just in case you didn't hear the sho, and it needs explanation, what we're referring to are movies that demonstrate the virtues – or, perhaps, the detriments – of speaking more than one language. And how difficult it is to predict which one (other than English) will be most beneficial in your future endeavors. So here they are:
10.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
(2005) – After all, you’ll never know when you’ll need to address a snake in Parseltongue
9.
The Great Escape (1963) – If you don’t speak German, sometimes it’s a good idea to keep your trap shut.
8.
Paris, je t'aime (2006) – Proving Obama’s point that if you don’t speak French, you could be missing out on a lot..
7.
The Bourne Identity (2002) – Can you imagine waking up and discovering that you can speak about a billion languages?
6.
Better Off Dead (1985) – A fine movie under any circumstances, but the budding romance between the non-English speaking French foreign exchange student and Lane (
John Cusack) is pretty special.
5. The
Dirty Dozen (1967) – Maybe some German lessons would have been a good idea.
4.
The In-Laws (1979) –
Alan Arkin’s expression while receiving pre-takeoff instructions from the Chinese co-pilot is classic.
3.
Spanglish (2004) – If
Adam Sandler could only speak Spanish.
2.
Finding Nemo (2003) – "
I speak whale.”
1.
Airplane (1980) –
Barbara Billingsley. Enough said.
And if you’d like to listen to the podcast of the show,
click here.