The Linguists

Audience Reviews

View More

dustin d 03/02/2022 The Linguists follow to enthusiastic linguists as they travel the world, documenting dying languages. It is a bit lightweight and fast, but I have a greater appreciation of the need to document dying languages and their attendant knowledge before they go extinct. See more 04/11/2013 Interesting documentary for a language buff like me. I didn't even feel long though that could have been the danger with a documentary. It is very funny at times too which helps! See more 09/16/2012 fascinating the work of two young academics criss-crossing the globe in search of endangered languages. the story of the languages fascinates, while the interplay between the two scholars amuses;they move from indiana jones to the odd couple with a little nerd thrown in...ask for it at the library. See more 04/24/2012 Okay documentary, but I'm not sure I necessarily agree with the premise. Just losing languages isn't a bad thing. Language is used for communication, which is why languages die. They don't serve a function if only one person speaks them. However, I appreciate what these guys try to do. I could just use a little less holier-than-thou attitude from them. (At one point in the film, one of the linguists derides anyone who would spend their life studying French because over a million people speak it. A little elitist, no?) See more 11/21/2010 Interesting stuff here, but the narrative of it doesn't really resolve or move. Very fragmented with good information. See more 09/17/2010 This documentary was a very interesting look at languages going extinct. Two linguists go to three different countries to find diverse languages. Sebria, India, and Bolivia. In Sebria they only found 9 speakers of the language by the end of the year four were dead. This language died out simply because people were ashamed to speak it. The people who spole the language were thought to be "gutter" people, drunks, loud, and dirty. In India the language is dying out because they are sending their children to boarding schools because it is better economically but the children are seeing no value in keeping their old language, once they have decided to forget it, it is very hard to reverse. In Bolivia the only speakers of the language are medicine men. And the only was the language stays alive is because they pass it down from generation to generation only through their sons. This documentary shows how economically it is easier to all know the same language and how less diverse we are becoming. It is easy for the large in number to oppress the small and kill a language. See more Read all reviews

The Linguists

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW