Dexter Filkins Quotes

I hate when I see someone who speaks English speaking to someone who speaks a different language, and they're screaming as if going louder is going to help the other person understand.

The only problem was that I couldn't communicate with Dario. He speaks Italian and I don't. We had a translator the whole time. I just felt that something was lost with the go between. He was a delightful man, but I wish we could have spoken the same language.

It's always a unique challenge when you're working with somebody where English is their second language.

In the British embassy in Afghanistan in 2008, an embassy of 350 people, there were only three people who could speak Dari, the main language of Afghanistan, at a decent level. And there was not a single Pashto speaker.

I consider myself a pretty good conversationalist, but you wind up being downgraded to idiot status when you don't speak the language!

Even when well translated. can we really understand what other cultures are talking about?

I couldn't get along with the French.

The barrier of communication is terrible if you don't speak the language. You cannot reach a player with a translator.

It's rare to find an Indian who speaks Chinese. It's rare to find a Chinese who can speak any of the Indian languages. Neither of them at the trading level - I want to repeat this, at the trading level - can speak English, either.

Most of our life is miscommunication, and when you add a language barrier to it, it just becomes total mayhem and confusion... It just adds to it with all of the cultural differences. It could be an American family meeting another American family and you could still have a total clash. With family, it's like visiting another planet.

I like that confusion when people are speaking in the same language but still can't understand each other. It's also usually my experience of being in America - when I speak no one can understand what I'm saying.

Blame the guy who doesn't speak Engish.

Do you speak Chopnese huh? Do ya? Chop chop chop chop chop. Aha you don't.

There is a language barrier between vets and the civilian population. They speak different languages.

The worst mistake of first contact, made throughout history by individuals on both sides of every new encounter, has been the unfortunate habit of making assumptions. It often proved fatal.

There is always that age-old thing about England and America being divided by a common language. You think that because we speak English and you speak English that you're bound to understand and like everything that we do. And of course you don't.

Sometimes stereotyping happens not because of any nefarious reasons but rather because people don't know who you are or where you come from, so they go for the broad strokes about you, your culture, your faith, all that.

Because of my language and the pantomime with which most Europeans accompany their speech, I was catalogued as a heavy.

The greatest obstacle to international understanding is the barrier of language.

In Japan, you have no idea what they are saying, and they can't help you either. Nothing makes any sense. They're very polite, but you feel like a joke is being played on you the entire time you're there.

More has been screwed up on the battlefield and misunderstood in the Pentagon because of a lack of understanding of the English language than any other single factor.

Sometimes Americans don't quite get my sense of humor. My good ol' British sarcasm seems to go over their heads.

When the Japanese say yes to us, they often mean no.

Like 'Lost in Translation,' I worked on an advertisement where a Hollywood star was doing a commercial just for Japan. The star was Hugh Jackman. Since I'm Australian, they just assumed I knew him, and I didn't correct them.

Basically as someone who grew up in Delhi, crooning in southern languages which I don't understand is very difficult.