With all of the chatter about how AI is going to make learning a second language obsolete, while watching Anatomy of a Fall, a fantastic film BTW, one of the things that struck me was the fluidness of language in the relationships between the characters. She is German. He is French. They met in England. Their shared language is English. They move to France. They continue to speak English to each other. She speaks English to her son. Her son responds in French. She speaks French well but she avoids speaking it. Not a single word of German is spoken.

When you enter the world of multiple languages, some will choose a relationship language and stick to it. Others will flip from one language to another depending on the mood. Just like this couple, the connection you make with a romantic partner, friend or family member and the language you share becomes part of the bond. And when you change the language, so does the dynamic. Here, both of the partners are on even ground when they speak English. It’s the language they started with and it is neither one’s first language. Even when they move to his hometown in France, the language dynamic does not change. In fact, she never wants to speak French with anyone. And with her son, she has chosen not to speak her mother tongue, German. Somehow that part of her identity has been edited out of the entire family dynamic.

There is no one answer as to why or how the languages landed where they did in these relationships. The fun part is adding this layer of observation to the onion of relational layers in this film.

By Elizabeth Zackheim, co-founder of ABC Languages.