MovieChat Forums > Mur (2005) Discussion > language question and present? question

language question and present? question

posted 18 years ago by fredbel6
5 replies | jump to latest

Hello people,

1. I have an open mind about languages (I speak Dutch, English and French) but you must forgive me : I cannot hear the difference between Arabic and Hebrew. That made me miss out on something rather important.
There is for instance a scene where an israeli soldier is checking up on people (he sends one israeli back because they aren't allowed). What language was he speaking? Arabic or Hebrew? Do Arabs have to speak Hebrew at these checkpoints?

In general, the young generation, what language do they speak?

The average 21 year old Israeli, does he speak English or Arabic?
What about the average soldier (well I guess there is no difference with the draft)

What about the average 21 year old Palestinian (I have seen many youngsters in the Palestinian territories speaking English but I do not know whether or not they are representative).

2. There is a scene where a bus arrives, and people get off. A soldiers is standing on guard. Where is this? A synagogue in Arab territory? And what is that one woman giving him?

Thanks,

[–] gromit82 18 years ago

I have not seen this movie. However, I can advise that according to the Israeli Ministry of Education, the high school curriculum in all schools includes Hebrew, English, and Arabic languages (and many students would study those languages in junior high school as well). So the average 21-year-old Israeli should be able to speak at least some English and some Arabic in addition to Hebrew.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education, the curriculum has until now started English in the 5th grade, and will now start English beginning in 1st grade beginning in the upcoming school year. So the average 21-year-old Palestinian should also be able to speak at least some English as well.

[–] evilmax6 18 years ago

I'll try to answer as much as I can (I didn't saw the movie, so I'll answer only the first part):

A) Hebrew and Arabic? What? They are nothing similar. How well, I guess that someone who don't know the language won't know it. Anyway, Hebrew comes from Canaanite, which is old Hebrew (The Hebrew bible is in Canaanite), which comes from the Northwest Semitic group of languages (Which contains Ugaritic {A deas language, by now}, Canaanite and Aramic). This group comes from another group, the Central Semitic group (Which contains the Northwest Semitic group, and finally, the Arabic). It's not important, but only for the record, the Central Semitic comes from the West Semitic, Which comes from general Semitic, which comes from the Afro-Asiatic group. So it's clear that while they may seem familiar and have a same root, Arabic and Hebrew had made quite a distance with the time, and are defenetilly not the same.
Conculusion:

Afro Asiatic ---> Semitic Languages ---> West Semitic ---> Central Semitic ---> Arabic

Afro Asiatic ---> Semitic Languages ---> West Semitic ---> Central Semitic ---> Northwest Semitic ---> Canaanite ---> Hebrew

B) The young generation talkes modern Hebrew.

C) Arabic? ENGLISH?? I haven't seen the movie, but how did you suppose that? Israelis talk Hebrew, of course!

D) Arabs speak Arabic. Maybe Arabs talked to Israelis in the movie, or to soldiers or something, and used English, but they talk mainly Arabic there.

Hoped I helped in something.

[–] fredbel6 18 years ago

Thanks everyone for the replies, but I am afraid the last user misunderstood my question.
I didn't mean : do Israelis speak English as their native, I meant : CAN they do it.

Those checkpoints were an example to me of what could be a language problem. So I was wondering what language the Israeli soldier spoke then.

Plz visit my profile to take a look at unsolved threads.Plz use relevant title,SOLVED if so.

[–] JayCeezy 16 years ago

2. - I believe that was the Temple Mount, you are correct it was a synagogue and the bus passengers were going to pray. That scene was really intense, you could see the impatience for the soldier to have the passengers inside and out of harm's way, so that the most vulnerable moment would pass. The woman gave him a book, I can only guess it was the Torah but maybe it was a Stephen King novel so he could pass the time.:-)

[–] H_Kivel 15 years ago

ISRAELIS:

As a general rule, all Israelis speak Hebrew unless they are somehow isolated from the rest of the Hebrew-speaking population or are recent immigrants. Israeli soldiers would definitely speak fluent Hebrew. (I think it's a requirement for the job unless you're in a special unit.)

I think the average Israeli citizen is also likely to speak a second language, possibly (but not necessarily) Arabic, English, Russian, etc.

PALESTINIANS:

I think all the Palestinians and Arabs speak Arabic. I think many of them, like the Israelis, also speak a second language (English, Hebrew, etc.).

Do Arabs have to speak Hebrew at these checkpoints? I seriously doubt it. I'm sure the Israelis have translators.

THE FILM:

There is a scene where a bus arrives and people get off. A soldier is standing on guard. Where is this?

That was at the Tomb of Rachel near Bethlehem, located in Judea (the West Bank). I think she was giving food to the Israeli soldier. I guess she was "supporting the troops."