I watched Comanche Moon last week, and it had American indians speaking in their own language. One thing I’ve noticed whenever indians speak their language (with the possible exception of some of the actors in *Dances With Wolves, though it’s been a long time since I’ve seen it) they are a bit halting. Is it because the speech patterns in those languages really are ‘halting’? Or that some of the older actors speak that way because of age? Or is it, as I suspect, that the native language of most of the actors is English and they’re concentrating more on getting the words right and not paying much attention to delivery?
In the early 80’s I saw part of a program where native actors asserted that they were saying things like “you white guys are really stupid” but I couldn’t possibly produce a cite.
In the early 80’s I saw part of a program where native actors asserted that they were saying things like “you white guys are really stupid” but I couldn’t possibly produce a cite.
It really depends on the language, but there are a few that are spoken much more slowly than English for sociolinguistic reasons. Navajo is the classic example… as I recall, native speakers will usually take over twice as long to read a passage out loud in Navajoas they will in English, despite being able to read their native language fluently.
I remember reading a “People” magazine article about Iron Eyes Cody back in the early 80s, and he was asked what he was saying when he spoke his, um, “native” language in movies. He said that he would just recite prayers from [whatever Indian tribe he claimed]. Yep. That’s what he said.And, yes, I know he was really an Italian-American
Wot? Italian? 