Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2017 February 3

= February 3 =

James Bond 007
Which languages (besides his native English) does James Bond 007 speak on-screen? 2601:646:8E01:7E0B:6C71:C0BE:6D28:E33B (talk) 07:33, 3 February 2017 (UTC)
 * Have you tried a James Bond forum? Bond junkies would be likely to have seen all the movies many times over. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 07:53, 3 February 2017 (UTC)
 * From, "Bond is fluent in French, Italian, German and Russian, is handy with Greek, Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese, and has a degree in Oriental languages." You can also check a fan page discussing the topic. 209.149.113.5 (talk) 12:58, 3 February 2017 (UTC)
 * Of course, to say the character can speak those languages doesn't mean he has done so on screen. One would have to watch all the movies to know that specific question.  -- Jayron 32 13:58, 3 February 2017 (UTC)
 * Well, I know offhand that Connery speaks a bit of Japanese in You Only Live Twice (film). Deor (talk) 15:19, 3 February 2017 (UTC)
 * In this, the film differs from the original novel, in which Bond doesn't speak any Japanese. While lunching with his Japanese contact "Tiger" Tanaka early in the story, Tanaka explains haiku to Bond, and Bond tries to compose one in English, but Tanaka finds that when translated into Japanese the 'syllable' (actually on or mora) count doesnt work. (In full, Bond's haiku was "You only live twice: once when you are born, and once when you look death in the face.") {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 94.12.94.189 (talk) 19:52, 3 February 2017 (UTC)
 * Yes, I believe that film is the original (only?) source for the notion that Bond "has a degree in Oriental languages", as quoted by 209.149.113.5 above. Deor (talk) 18:37, 4 February 2017 (UTC)
 * In The Man with the Golden Gun, Bond (Roger Moore), while posing as Scaramanga, pronounces the latter's name in such a way as to suggest unawareness that languages other than English exist. —Tamfang (talk) 10:49, 4 February 2017 (UTC)
 * Thanks, all! For the record, I've seen about 16 out of the 24 films, and I can confirm that he speaks Japanese (You Only Live Twice), Spanish (Moonraker), Italian and Greek (For Your Eyes Only), German (Octopussy and Tomorrow Never Dies), French (Goldeneye) and Russian (The World is Not Enough).  Two further questions, though: (1) Do you have any example of him speaking Chinese on-screen? (2) In From Russia with Love, I vaguely remember him speaking Turkish at the gypsy camp -- is it true, or did I remember it wrong? 2601:646:8E01:7E0B:F88D:DE34:7772:8E5B (talk) 09:49, 5 February 2017 (UTC)
 * I don't think he speaks Chinese, I remember a scene where he was baffled by a Chinese keyboard. 93.136.100.132 (talk) 01:27, 7 February 2017 (UTC)
 * It's important to keep in mind that the series has had many different scriptwriters, each with his own ideas. So whether Bond knows (or doesn't know) a particular language in a particular film is going to have mostly to do with advancing the plot rather than necessarily being "canonical". ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 02:30, 7 February 2017 (UTC)


 * The original question was: Which languages (besides his native English) does James Bond 007 speak on-screen? Maineartists (talk) 03:24, 4 February 2017 (UTC)
 * I happen to be re-reading From Russia, with Love (novel) at the moment, and in it the Russians planning Bond's assassination call up a dossier on him: it says "Languages: French and German". But of course book-Bond is much less of a "superhero" than film-Bond. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 15:32, 4 February 2017 (UTC)
 * I was specifically asking about the movies, not the books (and only the languages which he actually speaks on-screen). 2601:646:8E01:7E0B:F88D:DE34:7772:8E5B (talk) 09:49, 5 February 2017 (UTC)