# Movies where characters learn a foreign language all too quickly **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [June 22, 2026, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-characters-learn-a-foreign-language-all-too-quickly/1031107 "2026-06-22T17:49:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [July 7, 2026, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-characters-learn-a-foreign-language-all-too-quickly/1031107/41 "2026-07-07T16:44:08Z")
Leeloo in _The Fifth Element_ learns English and a LOT of history in no time at all. But, then again, she’s one of the Supreme Beings of the Universe in perfectly engineered body, so what do you expect? [https://fifth-element.fandom.com/wiki/Leeloo](https://fifth-element.fandom.com/wiki/Leeloo) ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-characters-learn-a-foreign-language-all-too-quickly/1031107/42 "2026-07-20T12:45:29Z")
I always felt that a race with a language like that couldn’t become scientifically and technologically advance. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-characters-learn-a-foreign-language-all-too-quickly/1031107/43 "2026-07-20T13:03:40Z")
I’ve seen fan theories positing that the Tamarians’ real language is highly sophisticated and complex, and that the metaphor language is a kind of “baby-talk” that they use when encountering new species. I don’t know how well that holds up, but I had the same problems that you do with the language as we see it. If you can only speak in metaphor, how do you talk about something new? How do you talk about anything specific? How do you say something as basic as “I’ll meet you at Joe’s Steakhouse at 5:30 tomorrow”? Let alone something like “Course 251 mark 8, warp factor 2,” that you would think a spacefaring culture would need to be able to say all the time? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-characters-learn-a-foreign-language-all-too-quickly/1031107/44 "2026-07-20T13:14:47Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > I’ve seen fan theories positing that the Tamarians’ real language is highly sophisticated and complex, and that the metaphor language is a kind of “baby-talk” that they use when encountering new species. Or, not baby-talk, but formal diplomatic language. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-characters-learn-a-foreign-language-all-too-quickly/1031107/45 "2026-07-20T13:34:50Z")
In which case it seems like a poor choice. “Well, we could just say _hello_, but how about instead we commit an act of war and see if they pick up on the game even as their Captain and ours are hunted by a monster?” ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-characters-learn-a-foreign-language-all-too-quickly/1031107/46 "2026-07-20T13:38:31Z")
Bart’s at the right age and in the right circumstances (he’s hearing nothing but French for several weeks) so arguably this is the most plausible example in the thread [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-characters-learn-a-foreign-language-all-too-quickly/1031107.md?page=2)