Guillermo del Toro Quotes

There are certain situations, when you're in America, when people understand you better without an Australian accent.

The word 'no' is a very good word in a singer's repertoire.

When I was living in China, I learned to make things hyper-explicit because often they were being read by people whose command of English kept them from picking up what I thought were obvious signals.

My new play 'Chinglish,' which will go to Broadway, is about a white American businessman who goes to a provincial capital in China, hoping to make a deal there. It's bilingual. And it's about trying to communicate across language and cultural barriers.

If I had to speak in front of a Korean audience, I would be hard pressed to sound other than a little girl.

I look at myself, and I see a Spanish person who's trying to be understood by an English-speaking audience and is putting a lot of energy into that, instead of into expressing himself freely and feeling comfortable.

The French find ways to disagree with us just to show that they are able not to agree with us.

One of the nice things about the United States is that, wherever you go, people speak the same language. So native New Yorkers can move to San Francisco, Houston, or Milwaukee and still understand and be understood by everyone they meet. Right? Well, not exactly. Or, as a native New Yorker might put it, 'Wrong!'

I discovered that it's not really about the language. It's about how the words are pronounced and the delivery. We have plenty of good English-speaking comedians. It's O.K. if I have my accent, my gestures, my way of speaking.

I wouldn't say there are alliances at the pageant, but I understand if you can't speak the language, you would want to hang out with someone who understands you.

Directing while overcoming differences of language and culture is a stimulating challenge.

The fact that I didn't speak English I think was the most difficult thing for me.

Your mom is the first person you fall in love with, so it's loaded forever and carries all this baggage. There's almost always a communication barrier in place. In my case it's a language and cultural barrier, but other times, it's because your mother's love is conditional or because you're fundamentally different.

Neither in French nor in English nor in Mexican.

A lot of country making films in English, but in Japan we are very shy to speak English.

Sorrento, August. For two weeks now I haven't heard a German word or understood an Italian one. This way one can manage to live with people; everything goes like clockwork and no irksome misunderstanding can arise.

Colloquialism is the toughest part of what we do, as foreign actors, because there are certain sayings that you guys have that absolutely don't make any sense.

They had nothing in common but the English language.

Nothing is so impenetrable as laughter in a language you don't understand.

I know, but I do not approve. And I am not resigned.

Drizzt had always suspected it, but now it was confirmed, that "welcome" was his favortie word in the Common Tongue, and a word, he understood with no equivalent in the language of the drow.

No is the foundation that we can build our yes on.

I know how hard it can be to communicate in a different country, find your way around, and deal with the mentality of other people and different cultures.

No,' Jimmy protested.

Some words have multiple meanings. Scholastic, aware that I'm allergic to preservatives, kindly got someone to translate the phrase "I can only eat food without preservatives" into Italian. They warned me, however, as they taught me how to say it, that the Italian word for "preservatives" is the same as the word for "condom." So that I should be careful how I look when I say it.