# Babel

## Concept

Demonstrating French language superiority without laughing.
And talking about Babel.

## 1F - Be quick or be dead

I was with a friend, the terrace of Quick, a burger chain. It is unrelated to Iron Maiden. In most countries I know, US aside (the source), there is a form of that, a local burger chain that is rather mediocre but well adapted to the local people. It was not very good, but after a few decades you come to like it.

Back in the day there were two reasons I would go there. One is that with a movie ticket, you'd get a Quick Burger for free. And that worked even with a dirty ticket. Which was super cool because you could find one on the street. And the second reason was that my friend was in love with the waitress. We ate many burgers and he got nothing else.

So we were there talking, and a group of 6 girls sat down next to us. We could tell they were talking about us. They were all talking in sign languages, but when you know, you know.

There was a time in the elevator, two Chinese were talking, very animated. And I knew they were complaining about the company. When they left, a Japanese asked another: You speak Chinese, what were they talking about? And they were talking trash about the company. Told you!

Did you know that sign languages all (or so am I told, I don't know, you think I'm C3PO or something, go check yourself) derive from French sign language? Told you. In honest bad faith.
And that language comes from French, "langage", from "langue" (tongue). Brought you language.

Anyway, I was thinking of this movie Babel I had watched. There was Brad Pitt. And I don't remember much else but the third part with the non-verbal Japanese woman. I remember that part that was so muffled, as if the sound were heard through a car tire or not at all. I was thinking about that at that time. The loneliness and isolation in that part of the movie. Maybe that movie was about communication.

One of the girls, because they were young, asked me a lighter. I gave. She took my hand and lighter, stayed like that a bit. She looked at me. A nice way to look, void of desire, benevolent. I smiled nicely, something plain. You know when you meet someone else's family, and you want to give a good impression but not look fake? That one.

One could verbally talk a bit, she presented us the people. We were smoking. The one who asked my lighter with a sign (not the language sign, she pointed at it) was very busy with her hand. We laughed at how little we understood each other. And it was fine. We spent an hour or so and just said good bye.

## 2F - Babel

Babel was a tower back in the day in the Bible. Like before me, even. Hubris. The guys wanted to touch the sky. Well, it happens it was not fucking open season. God given punishment, they got. Well, we got, in fact. The separation from language.

But well before all that, or a bit after, in France, we had the Babybel cheese. Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-bi-beeeeeel, bababybel! Yeah, that's a cheese song. No, I am not making that shit up. But I may round the years a bit aggressively.

## 3F - The other hand language

There is a form of communication with hands, or rather fingers, I know. I was quite shocked the first time. You speak with someone in Japanese, and you don't get it. Often, the Chinese characters (kanji) are the true meaning, and the sound is just a way to express it. More complicated than that, but you did not like my cheese song, so that's how it is.

So the other person takes your hand. Hold your horses! you think. And traces the kanji on your hand. And it is crazy but you don't have to look at it, you just feel it. You see when they trace some stuff in Naruto and it catches fire? Well, it's unrelated. But that's how it feels, that meaning emerges from a sensation.

And you could like say something and write the stronger one on the hand. Like 会う vs 逢う vs 遭う, same sound "au", roughly meaning "meet". The first one is neutral, the second is a destiny to be fulfilled, the third accidental, negative.

## 4F - Akira

The first time I watched Akira, it was a disgusting bootleg's copy from Hong Kong. So I watched in English, Traditional Chinese subtitles, not one language I could speak. One reason is that the number of languages I could speak was one, French. See what I did here? It was a VHS of course, completely destroyed, and black & white because the system was different from France, some NTSC or whatever. And yet, I understood the movie. It was totally incredible, in 1991, just 2 years after its release in Japan, and we just had never seen something like that. My cousin I would learn later had all the manga. After that I would read it for hours.

The first time ever I understood some Japanese in the wild, I was in a shop, browsing DVDs. It was 20 years later. And all of a sudden, I just saw it. That's the first time I understood that アキラ written in red meant Akira. Simple, phonetic. To me it was a drawing. But AKIRA with the red アキラ logo on it was anyway successfully the title of Akira. It was the logo as a whole. I could have drawn it by hand, as a drawing. That was dizzying, almost, the meaning as text emerging in an instant and from there never to be unseen, or rather unread.

And toward the end of Akira, the drawing is the primary language, you hear a "Tetsuo!!" here and there, and that's about it, Tetsuo at the peak of his power is non verbal. The scene switches to space, and the music stops, dead.

It was very visual, very dense, significant in the quality of its animation people still speak about. And in the middle of all that, there is a writing, among a million other things happening. About the Olympics in Tokyo in 2020. Cancel them, a graffiti says. 東京オリンピック 30th, then 中止、中止, no joke. I was in Tokyo in 2020, they were talking cancellation. It's like the movie moved with me. Or it was always there.

There is a level where the density is such that prediction becomes just another probability. Akira was just running with such density of characters, events, concepts, a dozen of manga as a background, pictures, details in the background, that with a dirty VHS in black & white you still had signal. And more so if you rewatched.

## 5F - Cyberpunk 2077

So Cyberpunk 2077 is quite a great game, even if not really a great Cyberpunk game, to me. Leave a comment below if you disagree, ha ha.

And still, the game has a unique feature that represents the multi-culturalism of the cyber city. And that means that everyone talks in their own language, which is cool. The game provides a subtitle that starts in that language then your language. So in audio, you get the full spectrum, lost in translation, many languages, the vibrant city. And in the subtitles you get the understanding, with a little shift, but in parallel.

I can't feel that. There is not a single person in this game that I can't understand. I listen to the Japanese guy, then his subtitle starts in Japanese, then switches to English, and I am reading in English and listening in Japanese with a delay, zero issue. English, obvious. Spanish because it's easy, some known slang, Latinate Spanish, easy. At some point you try to understand with a microphone some guys. And you have to target them to hear enough for the title to start. But it's Tahitian French Creole, I mean it's fine, you get what they mean, the vernacular comes after a few minutes. The Chinese signs are also often obvious.

The sensation I got is linguistic Nirvana. So satisfactory.

## 6F - India

I needed some fire, and asked for a matchbox at the front desk. I was facing the woman at the desk, the beautiful one. No, the other one. At that point we were all buddies anyway. And so I go to ask, but I don't remember the word. But I remember the Japanese one, don't ask. マッチ、macchi, from the English matches. So I asked: do you have macchi?

And she replies, in English: You want fish?
And I say: No. What?
You said fish in Hindi, she says. Ah no, I was talking in Japanese, sorry, I reply. Ah, matches! I add. And we all laugh because already they were 5 people at the desk, fun time.

One of them was Benny. He had worked in China, he was cool. He thought I was Christian. I never said I was a man of faith, but I could not say "no, wrong! ha ha". So he invited me to a Church. We went on bike. I trusted him, but I was not sure I'd survive for so many reasons.

The guy from Nepal joined me. He was cool too, student. He was complaining about India, but he was born there. And we had a great lunch. The food was so good, until it was time to pay. We all rush, no, me! He speaks the language! I am way bigger! We argue. I tell him: dude, I get $100 for food expenses a day. And Benny replied: if I don't invite you, it would be a dishonor. And to this day I don't know why exactly, if it was him, his religion, India, the sun. But I would not accept he faces dishonor. That's how it is.

## 7F - Chappie

Chappie is my dog. Like the robot that looks like a dog in the movie Chappie.

She can't talk, she can't smile, she can't stand... and she has eyes the color of a dead TV. And yet, she looks at me and I know. I rub her.

She can't talk, she can't smile, she can't stand... and she has eyes the color of a dead TV. And yet, I know. She is happy.

## Conclusion

That reminded me of a good friend. He asked me "how do you do that French 'r', the one you are like vomiting in your mouth?". He had a point. I laughed.

You always get punished by an asshole at the last floor.