# Danny DeVito's language skills? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 29, 2012, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-devitos-language-skills/614402 "2012-02-29T23:02:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-devitos-language-skills/614402/1 "2012-02-29T23:02:26Z")
I was in a store and they were showing a promo for the upcoming Lorax movie. And they mentioned that Danny DeVito (who does the voices of the Lorax) would be doing something unusual in this movie. In addition to playing the Lorax in the English language version of the movie, he would also be doing the voice for the Spanish, French, Italian, and German versions. I’d be surprised to learn that DeVito actually speaks that many languages but it’s certainly possible. Does anyone know if DeVito is multilingual? That alternative is that DeVito is doing all the other language scripts phonetically. In which case, what a horrible idea. ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-devitos-language-skills/614402/2 "2012-02-29T23:29:18Z")
[Nope, he’s not.](http://cinemovie.tv/cinemovie_new/more-movie-interviews/2025-danny-devito-goes-multilingual-for-the-lorax) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-devitos-language-skills/614402/3 "2012-03-01T02:00:13Z")
Okay. Got the languages wrong. I was working from memory. DeVito is doing the voice in Spanish, Castilian, German, Italian and Russian. And, as redtail posted, DeVito doesn’t speak any of these languages (except some Italian). So I stand by my original conclusion: what a horrible idea. Just listening to DeVito’s performance in Spanish, you can hear it’s more wooden than his English performance. He’s just repeating sounds rather than delivering lines. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-devitos-language-skills/614402/4 "2012-03-01T12:56:21Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Okay. Got the languages wrong. I was working from memory. DeVito is doing the voice in Spanish, Castilian, German, Italian and Russian. > > And, as redtail posted, DeVito doesn’t speak any of these languages (except some Italian). > > So I stand by my original conclusion: what a horrible idea. Just listening to DeVito’s performance in Spanish, you can hear it’s more wooden than his English performance. He’s just repeating sounds rather than delivering lines. It depends. Bela Lugosi spoke no English when he started work in the US, and learned all his lines phonetically. It gave his performance an _otherworldly_ effect, rather than a wooden one (Lugosi definitely didn’t speak in a monotone). I’m sure he knew English pretty well by the time he was _filming_ Dracula, but not during his initial run on the stage. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-devitos-language-skills/614402/5 "2012-03-01T14:09:04Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Okay. Got the languages wrong. I was working from memory. DeVito is doing the voice in Spanish, Castilian, German, Italian and Russian. I realize you copied it from the link **redtail23** provided, but Spanish and Castilian are still the same language. ---
**Author:** ![RoniaBorkason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9dc877/32.png) [@RoniaBorkason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RoniaBorkason)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-devitos-language-skills/614402/6 "2012-03-01T15:30:29Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > I realize you copied it from the link **redtail23** provided, but Spanish and Castilian are still the same language. I once watched Harry Potter with the captions and audio track both set to Spanish - but one was Castillian Spanish and one was Mexican/Central American Spanish - every sentence meant the same thing, but almost none of the words were the same. Are French and Quebequois still technically the same language? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-devitos-language-skills/614402/7 "2012-03-01T15:46:38Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > I realize you copied it from the link **redtail23** provided, but Spanish and Castilian are still the same language. According to the article, DeVito did two separate performances for Spanish and Castilian: _“He not only dubbed in Spanish but he also went back and redid his part in Castilian.”_ It’s probably like Ronia posted; DeVito did one performance in American Spanish and then did a second one in European Spanish (or Thpanith). ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-devitos-language-skills/614402/8 "2012-03-01T15:50:57Z")
You’re just requoting the same mistake from a different point in the same link. There is also no such thing as American Spanish… there has been for the last decades an increasing tendency to dub movies two or three times, once for the Spanish market and one or more for Latin America, but there is no such thing as one dialect which can be called “American Spanish”. The Spanish from Buenos Aires and the Spanish from Fuerteventura are closer than the Spanish from Buenos Aires and that of DF; the Spanish from Zaragoza is closer to that of Barranquilla than that of Buenos Aires or DF is. American Spanish only exists in the minds of people who don’t speak Spanish. As for “Castilian”, Castellano means either the Spanish language in all its diversity of dialects, or a specific dialect which isn’t spoken by everybody in Spain - it does not mean “European Spanish” and it is not a separate language from “Spanish” except in the minds of morons. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-devitos-language-skills/614402/9 "2012-03-01T17:39:07Z")
> [@RoniaBorkason](#): > > I once watched Harry Potter with the captions and audio track both set to Spanish - but one was Castillian Spanish and one was Mexican/Central American Spanish - every sentence meant the same thing, but almost none of the words were the same. I would assume that each version wouldn’t be incorrect or incomprehensible to speakers of the other Spanish dialect, other than maybe for some slang. But given that two translators independently translated the script, we shouldn’t expect the results to be identical. > [@](#): > > Are French and Quebequois still technically the same language? Of course, why would it be otherwise? And there’s no such thing as being “technically” the same language or not: it’s a cultural and political construct. French speakers in both France and Quebec can use multiple registers of their language, some more formal and some less formal. If we exclude the accent, the more formal registers are almost indistinguishable from each other; they’re basically “international French”. Shows like _The Simpsons_ will have both a France and a Quebec version, but that’s in order to “localise” them, not because they’d be incomprehensible otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Raskolnikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac8455/32.png) [@Raskolnikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raskolnikov)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-devitos-language-skills/614402/10 "2012-03-01T20:33:52Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > I realize you copied it from the link **redtail23** provided, but Spanish and Castilian are still the same language. try telling that to millions of people in Catalan I’ve heard from one German that Sandra Bullock(sp?) does her lines in german as she was an army brat and can speak passable german. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-devitos-language-skills/614402/11 "2012-03-01T22:13:30Z")
> [@Raskolnikov](#): > > …I’ve heard from one German that Sandra Bullock(sp?) does her lines in german as she was an army brat and can speak passable german. In fact, she did so at the Oscars ceremony this week, jokingly passing it off as “Chinese.” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-devitos-language-skills/614402/12 "2012-03-02T03:45:51Z")
> [@Raskolnikov](#): > > I’ve heard from one German that Sandra Bullock(sp?) does her lines in german as she was an army brat and can speak passable german. Mira Sorvino has a degree in East Asian Studies from Harvard and speaks fluent Mandarin. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-devitos-language-skills/614402/13 "2012-03-02T03:55:38Z")
> [@Raskolnikov](#): > > try telling that to millions of people in Catalan What does Catalan have to do with Castilian? In any case, the region is called Catalonia, not Catalan. [Catalan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalan_language) is a separate language from [Spanish/Castilian.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castilian_language) ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-devitos-language-skills/614402/14 "2012-03-02T03:57:47Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > You’re just requoting the same mistake from a different point in the same link. > There is also no such thing as American Spanish… > > there has been for the last decades an increasing tendency to dub movies two or three times, once for the Spanish market and one or more for Latin America, but there is no such thing as one dialect which can be called “American Spanish”. The Spanish from Buenos Aires and the Spanish from Fuerteventura are closer than the Spanish from Buenos Aires and that of DF; the Spanish from Zaragoza is closer to that of Barranquilla than that of Buenos Aires or DF is. > > American Spanish only exists in the minds of people who don’t speak Spanish. My, my, aren’t we prescriptivist. Is there no such thing as British English vs. American English? Hochdeutsch vs. Plattdeutsch? Putonghua vs. Dai WAN Goh-woo? I don’t speak Spanish or French, but you’re coming across a bit like those Parisians I’ve heard of who piss on Québécois because they’re speaking French “wrong.” ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-devitos-language-skills/614402/15 "2012-03-02T03:59:18Z")
DeVito speaks English and Lilliputian. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-devitos-language-skills/614402/16 "2012-03-02T04:23:42Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > My, my, aren’t we prescriptivist. Is there no such thing as British English vs. American English? Hochdeutsch vs. Plattdeutsch? Putonghua vs. Dai WAN Goh-woo? > > I don’t speak Spanish or French, but you’re coming across a bit like those Parisians I’ve heard of who piss on Québécois because they’re speaking French “wrong.” I think what **Nava** is saying is that there is no _one_ “American Spanish”. A wide variety of dialects of Spanish are spoken in the Americas. ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-devitos-language-skills/614402/17 "2012-03-02T04:41:38Z")
Listening to DeVito do his lines in Spanish, I actually think it sounds pretty good. Of course it’s not perfect Spanish, but the charm is in the slightly awkward, American-accented delivery. A lot of times when American films are dubbed into Spanish, the nuance of accent is lost. All the voice-over actors speak in the same generic Spanish accent (at least for Castilian…I mean Spanish…I mean European Spanish dialect films). Having the Lorax speak Spanish with an American accent puts an interesting foreign twist on the character. ---
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-devitos-language-skills/614402/18 "2012-03-02T07:30:03Z")
> [@Raskolnikov](#): > > try telling that to millions of people in Catalan > I’ve heard from one German that Sandra Bullock(sp?) does her lines in german as she was an army brat and can speak passable german. More than passable. It’s actually quite good. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-devitos-language-skills/614402/19 "2012-03-02T09:39:11Z")
> [@Moe](#): > > More than passable. It’s actually quite good. Yep. There are lots of clips on YouTube of her speaking at length in German, of which [this is probably the longest example](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s10x38SMb-g). ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-devitos-language-skills/614402/20 "2012-03-02T10:35:16Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > My, my, aren’t we prescriptivist. Is there no such thing as British English vs. American English? Hochdeutsch vs. Plattdeutsch? Putonghua vs. Dai WAN Goh-woo? > > I don’t speak Spanish or French, but you’re coming across a bit like those Parisians I’ve heard of who piss on Québécois because they’re speaking French “wrong.” I think you’re missing the point here. She’s saying that “American Spanish” is too diverse to be classified as a single thing. An imperfect parallel, but it would be like saying “European English” then lumping Ireland, the UK and Malta together as a single dialect. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-devitos-language-skills/614402.md?page=2)