As I've made explicitly clear I am an EFL speaker. I spend all my day dealing with English as it's my major at Uni and I've been functioning in two languages for years, since childhood actually. English feels natural to me and I feel more than comfortable with it. But that does not change the fact that it challenges me on a daily basis and I must keep up. And a part of that is watching TV shows to help my auditory skills. I can read English as well as any native speaker but my auditory skills are not as good. So hence, TV is a great resource to train.
I also read a fascinating statistic recently that 1/4 of the people of the world speak English, ranging from a native level to rudimentary. That's a lot. But that also means that 3/4 of the world speak no English at all. So even if English has become a global language, it is still imperative to study and know other languages. And this is reflected in the TV shows I deal with here. They are all American and use English as a primary language but still every single show has a character that can speak more than one language. I find it interesting how they deal with language and I listen intently to all language related things on TV. It's my bread and butter really when it comes to TV.
And today's topic is presenting an overview of those token linguistics
NCIS
Ziva is the multilingual wonder there - She speaks French, Spanish, German, Turkish, Arabic, Hebrew and English. That is quite a lot but it is fully possible in the real world. I have always loved this aspect of Ziva's character and enjoyed a lot how they have dealt with her journey of discovering English. As an EFL speaker it has taught me a lot and given me great enjoyment.
Abby speaks ASL and uses it regularly which I really like. I can finger-spell in ASL and I highly enjoy seeing how NCIS has incorporated ASL easily into the show.
NCIS has always provided me with the most language jokes and it's an aspect of the show I absolutely love. Plus, I never run into trouble understanding what the characters are saying which is nice. The show challenges my English abilities but in a good way.
NCIS:LA
Sam speaks Arabic, Japanese and Spanish - Japanese and Arabic are two extremely different languages with two different alphabets, systems of writing, pronunciation, vocabulary. It's not like French and Spanish which are derived from a similar source. These languages share no similarity. And apparently Sam is comfortable with them both! And they have never bothered to explain how on earth he learned them which I find annoying.
Callen - He is a fluent Russian speaker. It's been implied he learned it from a foster sister of his for a few months but that does not account for his remarkable skills. Yet again, NCIS:LA does not bother with explaining! His pronouncation seems good though.
Nell - She is meant to be fluent in Spanish but I have yet to hear her say a single word in Spanish.
Kensi - She speaks French, Spanish and German, basically she takes care of all the main European languages. She is by far the one most comfortable with dealing with languages and I enjoy it when she deals with them. But, to be nit picky, it has never been explained why she has an extremely good command of French, well beyond any general school level (I say this as a former French student and sufferer). My personal guess is at that Kensi grew up as bilingual with French and English.
Hetty - apparently she speaks German but it feels really forced every time she uses it. I'd rather listen to Deeks and Eric gleefully butcher German.
NCIS:LA contains by far the biggest number of linguists but it goes way overboard with it. I mean way overboard. It supplies a good number of language jokes but also the biggest challenge for me as an EFL speaker. It sometimes takes all my concentration to keep up with what the characters are saying so I regularly run into trouble. I notice pronunciation differences between my own English and theirs which helps me evaluate my skills and learn words properly. And whenever I run into words I am not completely familiar with I mentally spell them. The latest was 'thingamajig' and noticing how they say the words 'vehemently' and 'awry'. I apparently go British with these words. Watching NCIS:LA helps me improve but it can get vastly frustrating not being able to catch properly what the character say. Sometimes I don't get it at all, it just becomes a bunch of meaningless syllables and consonants thrown together in my ears - something I heartily dislike and to be honest, I feel super annoyed by it. I have great pride in my English abilities and being caught off guard like that when I feel I should be able to catch everything makes me frustrated.
I am typically on my toes the entire time I watch: listening, processing, spelling, concentrating. It really challenges me but it pays off sometimes like feeling a bit proud when I get things right (like managing to understand all the acronyms and slang). I'll never associate NCIS:LA with relaxing my English abilities in any case.
Criminal Minds
This show contains my two favorite linguists, Alex Blake and Reed.
Alex Blake - she has a PHD in linguistics and teaches them. I love how they've incorporated this fascinating aspect into her character and I really enjoy all the scenes she has dealing with language. I am a sucker for anything linguistic related and I love how CM works with it. Plus, all interactions between Blake and Reed involving linguistics are great. Two people fascinated with language is absolute heaven for someone like me to listen to.
Spencer Reed - quite possibly my most favorite nerd on TV. He speaks Russian, Spanish, French and I think German. And best of all, his linguistic abilities have been explained (NCIS:LA might take note!). I love how he is enthusiastic and passionate about language and how it's been used to help solve crimes and evolve his character. Linguistics are a fascinating field and I love exploring it. CM has done a fabulous job incorporating it into their show and showing a different and wonderful side of English
I have no trouble understanding CM which I love. It instead keeps me enthusiastic and interested as I pick up new things about language and its usage and I don't need to concentrate all the time. It is instead vastly enjoyable.
I also read a fascinating statistic recently that 1/4 of the people of the world speak English, ranging from a native level to rudimentary. That's a lot. But that also means that 3/4 of the world speak no English at all. So even if English has become a global language, it is still imperative to study and know other languages. And this is reflected in the TV shows I deal with here. They are all American and use English as a primary language but still every single show has a character that can speak more than one language. I find it interesting how they deal with language and I listen intently to all language related things on TV. It's my bread and butter really when it comes to TV.
And today's topic is presenting an overview of those token linguistics
NCIS
Ziva is the multilingual wonder there - She speaks French, Spanish, German, Turkish, Arabic, Hebrew and English. That is quite a lot but it is fully possible in the real world. I have always loved this aspect of Ziva's character and enjoyed a lot how they have dealt with her journey of discovering English. As an EFL speaker it has taught me a lot and given me great enjoyment.
Abby speaks ASL and uses it regularly which I really like. I can finger-spell in ASL and I highly enjoy seeing how NCIS has incorporated ASL easily into the show.
NCIS has always provided me with the most language jokes and it's an aspect of the show I absolutely love. Plus, I never run into trouble understanding what the characters are saying which is nice. The show challenges my English abilities but in a good way.
NCIS:LA
Sam speaks Arabic, Japanese and Spanish - Japanese and Arabic are two extremely different languages with two different alphabets, systems of writing, pronunciation, vocabulary. It's not like French and Spanish which are derived from a similar source. These languages share no similarity. And apparently Sam is comfortable with them both! And they have never bothered to explain how on earth he learned them which I find annoying.
Callen - He is a fluent Russian speaker. It's been implied he learned it from a foster sister of his for a few months but that does not account for his remarkable skills. Yet again, NCIS:LA does not bother with explaining! His pronouncation seems good though.
Nell - She is meant to be fluent in Spanish but I have yet to hear her say a single word in Spanish.
Kensi - She speaks French, Spanish and German, basically she takes care of all the main European languages. She is by far the one most comfortable with dealing with languages and I enjoy it when she deals with them. But, to be nit picky, it has never been explained why she has an extremely good command of French, well beyond any general school level (I say this as a former French student and sufferer). My personal guess is at that Kensi grew up as bilingual with French and English.
Hetty - apparently she speaks German but it feels really forced every time she uses it. I'd rather listen to Deeks and Eric gleefully butcher German.
NCIS:LA contains by far the biggest number of linguists but it goes way overboard with it. I mean way overboard. It supplies a good number of language jokes but also the biggest challenge for me as an EFL speaker. It sometimes takes all my concentration to keep up with what the characters are saying so I regularly run into trouble. I notice pronunciation differences between my own English and theirs which helps me evaluate my skills and learn words properly. And whenever I run into words I am not completely familiar with I mentally spell them. The latest was 'thingamajig' and noticing how they say the words 'vehemently' and 'awry'. I apparently go British with these words. Watching NCIS:LA helps me improve but it can get vastly frustrating not being able to catch properly what the character say. Sometimes I don't get it at all, it just becomes a bunch of meaningless syllables and consonants thrown together in my ears - something I heartily dislike and to be honest, I feel super annoyed by it. I have great pride in my English abilities and being caught off guard like that when I feel I should be able to catch everything makes me frustrated.
I am typically on my toes the entire time I watch: listening, processing, spelling, concentrating. It really challenges me but it pays off sometimes like feeling a bit proud when I get things right (like managing to understand all the acronyms and slang). I'll never associate NCIS:LA with relaxing my English abilities in any case.
Criminal Minds
This show contains my two favorite linguists, Alex Blake and Reed.
Alex Blake - she has a PHD in linguistics and teaches them. I love how they've incorporated this fascinating aspect into her character and I really enjoy all the scenes she has dealing with language. I am a sucker for anything linguistic related and I love how CM works with it. Plus, all interactions between Blake and Reed involving linguistics are great. Two people fascinated with language is absolute heaven for someone like me to listen to.
Spencer Reed - quite possibly my most favorite nerd on TV. He speaks Russian, Spanish, French and I think German. And best of all, his linguistic abilities have been explained (NCIS:LA might take note!). I love how he is enthusiastic and passionate about language and how it's been used to help solve crimes and evolve his character. Linguistics are a fascinating field and I love exploring it. CM has done a fabulous job incorporating it into their show and showing a different and wonderful side of English
I have no trouble understanding CM which I love. It instead keeps me enthusiastic and interested as I pick up new things about language and its usage and I don't need to concentrate all the time. It is instead vastly enjoyable.
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