One of my favorite movie moments is in The 13th Warrior. The movie itself is interesting and fun, a retelling of Beowulf from the point of view of an accompanying Arab. Some great Viking action and some really excellent insight into warfare and the Viking perspective on it.

Anyway, there’s a point in the movie where the Arab is travelling with these Northmen and every night he’s sitting around the campfire with them, eating and resting. They’re all loud and talking and laughing (stereotypical Norsemen), while he’s sitting there quietly. You see him start to pay attention to what they’re saying. They’re speaking Old Norse (for real) and he doesn’t understand it, of course. Yet, over repeated nights you see him watching their mouths and listening to what they’re saying. You hear them from his perspective, so they’re talking in Old Norse and you’ll hear an English word or two right in the middle of a sentence, showing that he’s understanding a word or two. (Obviously it’s English because the movie was made for a Western, English-speaking audience.) Then there are occasional phrases thrown in, right in the middle of the Norse sentences, as he is able to pick out the phrases. Eventually you’re understanding everything they’re saying, because it’s all in English.

When one of them insults the Arab’s mother, he speaks up, defending his mother and in turn insulting the other guy. Someone grabs him and asks where he learned their language. His response: “I *listened!*”

Isn’t that awesome? I’ve never seen such a great depiction in a movie of someone learning the language being spoken around them. That’s one of my favorite “movie moments.” I’ll probably post more of these down the road.

Current music: Direct, by Vangelis