All language subtitles for family_affair_s01e23_the_mother_tongue

Now, right after that, the eagle just
flew away.

He left the lamb right where he was in
that little clearing.

Did the lamb's mama find her?

Oh, sure.

Very same day.

And something tells me it's time for
bed.

Eight o 'clock?

Boy, Uncle Bill, all the other kids are
going to stay up clear to 8 .30.

Yeah, Uncle Bill, even Marilyn.

Who's Marilyn?

She's a new kid in school.

She's real neat.

She's okay.

She always gets picked first when
they're picking sides for kickball.

I see. Well, that's very nice.

But you're still going to bed at 8 o
'clock.

Good night.

Good night, Uncle Bill. Go on.

Can we take a bath tonight?

Tonight?

Do I understand you're actually
volunteering for a bath, Miss Buffy?

She is. I'm not.

I think one shower a day ought to be
enough.

What makes you think you need a bath,
too?

Marilyn.

Marilyn does all kinds of weird junk.

But she's okay.

Good night. Good night, Uncle Bill. Good
night, Uncle Bill.

Good night.

More toast, Buffy?

No, thank you, Mr. French.

It sure was neat toast, though. Thank
you very much.

Thank you.

Yes, sir. You're very welcome, sir.

If I may say so, Buffy, aren't you
carrying courtesy to an extreme?

She gets it from Marilyn.

Your new friend sounds like quite a
girl, Buffy.

Yeah, she has real neat teeth, too.

Real neat teeth.

She uses them for smiling.

Buffy, why don't you invite your friend
Marilyn over tomorrow for lunch? It's

Saturday.

Hey, neat!

Boy, yeah!

Ah, neat.

Well, children, off to school.

didn't ruin your Saturday, Mr. French?

By telling Buffy to invite Marilyn over
for lunch?

Oh, indeed no, Miss Izzy. I can scarcely
wait to meet a child who's picked first

in kickball, is courteous, demands a
bath, and has neat teeth.

Which he uses for smiling.

Precisely.

Yes, miss?

You wish to see someone, miss?

This is the Davies apartment, miss. If
you're looking for...

Now look here, miss.

Marilyn!

Come in!

Come back in our room.

Oh, this here is Mr.

French. How do you do?

Marilyn has arrived, sir. She's playing
with the twins.

Oh. It turns out that Marilyn is
Chinese, sir.

Well, well, I never thought of Marilyn
as being a Chinese name. How are they

getting along?

Quite amicably. Perhaps you'd best see
for yourself, sir.

before you get out.

Well, only be a few minutes, young man.

Done? Done.

Okay.

Doesn't Marilyn speak English?

Apparently not, sir.

How do they talk to each other?

Instinct, sign language, the universal
tongue, the children.

Universal tongue, children.

As a philosopher, maybe I can make
something out of that.

Well, the children do very well on a
primitive level, but there's no

communication to replace the spoken
word.

Well, as you can speak Chinese.

Well, I spoke Mandarin and a smattering
of Cantonese at one time.

Well, perhaps I should review it so I
can communicate with Miss Marilyn.

Yeah, why don't you do that?

like they're communicating now.

Where'd you guys want to go now?

On her lot.

Oh, Ma.

Okay. Okay.

Please sit down.

Ching -chong.

Oh, that's wonderful.

I think it is. I believe it's written
phonetically in the book.

You guys seen my moon man's face, doll?

Jody, don't call Mr. French you guys.

And what would your moon man be doing in
here?

Well, if you wind him up, he walks all
over the house.

Good morning, sir.

Joe -san -tai -tai?

No. No, I think that should be...

That's the most difficult tongue

Cantonese.

If my moon man walks in here, point and
port my room.

I'm going to skip a few pages and give
you some of the hard stuff.

There is heavy traffic in Taipei today.

I think that's right, only you got a
couple of things in different

places. Try this.

The street is wide.

Call me up tomorrow.

Miss Sissy.

Yes?

I fear we have located the moon, ma 'am.

So, Jenny.

Hey, me!

Say something else to her, Mr. French.

Very well.

I may not have called her an angel.

I must have said something else.

eggs, son.

Here you go.

Eggs? No, paper.

Million chi?

Um, French?

Yes, sir?

Uh, you're not making a whole lot of
sense this morning. You still worrying

about Marilyn?

Well, sir, I do wonder what I actually
said to her.

What were you trying to say?

Well, I'm reasonably certain, I said,
you have the face of an angel.

But you see, sir, in Chinese, the word
angel may be the offender.

Yeah, maybe that's it.

Well, whatever it is, it's over with, so
if the kids are going to see her in

school, they'll explain.

I really don't know how they can make
her understand, sir.

We'll leave it to them. Quit worrying
about it. You haven't started an

international incident.

Yet. I don't think.

Yeah?

Somebody from what?

Chinese Nationalist Consulate. What for?

Oh, we'll send them in.

Come right in, sir.

I'm Bill Davis.

I'm Chen Benho.

Nice to meet you, Mr. Chen. Sit down.
Thank you.

My secretary tells me you're with the
Chinese Nationalist Consulate.

In a sense, Mr. Davis, I'm one of the
representatives to the United Nations.

Oh.

Well, what brings you all the way
downtown, Mr. Chen?

It is a delicate matter, Mr.

Davis. You see...

When I achieved the appointment to your
wonderful country, I brought with me my

family.

Oh.

Yes, numbered among them is not only my
daughter and my wife, but my wife's

mother.

Your mother -in -law?

Yes, a fine woman with many virtues and
sensitivities.

She indicated that my daughter has been
shattered by something that was said to

her by your maid.

No, Mr.

Chen, he's our manservant.

More of a friend, actually.

Just so.

We're talking about Marilyn.

Marilyn, yes.

Name for an American lady in the films
with whom my wife was most taken.

Mistake, you say?

Yeah, you see, Mr. French was trying to
tell Marilyn, in your language,

that she had, I think, the eyes of a
faun or the face of an angel or

like that, but apparently he got it all
wrong.

Yes, our language is most difficult and
traps are many.

He said to my daughter that she had the
ears of a pig and the face of a

horrifying demon.

I'm sorry.

Not at all.

The mystery is cleared up.

I shall explain to Marilyn and her
mother and her grandmother.

Well, the subject is closed forever.

Ah, Miss Marilyn, do come in.

I see your father has explained about
that unfortunate incident.

Of course, you can't understand.

Good.

You see, what I meant to say was...

I fear so, Miss Buffett.

Boy, Mr. Smith.

Yeah, boy.

Again? Well, send him in.

Jan, I guess I... I guess I could expect
you.

Normally, I...

myself about such a thing.

But Marilyn is in quite a state.

Well, so is Mr. French.

I don't think I've ever seen him this
upset.

The poor man.

In trying to repair the damage of
calling her a demon, he called

her a serpent.

I wish I could tell you how sorry I am.

I am too, Mr. Davis.

But my...

My wife and her mother, they do not
understand. They, uh... Well, I'm afraid

must ask that Marilyn not play with your
children.

Boy, how come, Uncle Bill?

Uh, well, Marilyn's folks, um, don't
want her to visit any more homes till

gets so she can speak English a little
better.

Can't she even come over here after
school or anything?

doing, sir?

Oh, it wasn't anything you did on
purpose, French.

True, but the results are the same.

May I beg leave of this evening, sir?

What do you want to do?

Well, I thought I might visit the family
in question and explain.

You mean Chinese?

Oh, yes, sir.

If it becomes necessary. You see, I've
been studying the tongue assiduously,

I... Why, sure, I mastered it.

My name is French, sir.

I'm in the employ of Mr. William Davis.

Of course.

Come in, please.

Thank you.

May I present my wife and the mother of
my wife, Mr. French.

My wife has only just now informed her
mother of your

identity. Yes, I heard.

You

speak

Chinese well, Mr. French.

Thank you, sir.

I'm still having a spot of trouble with
pronouns and descriptive phrases.

Not that I noticed.

He said what?

He said they were like two flowers in a
bowl of rubbish.

Anything else?

He told them that they had eyes like
peacocks' feet and necks of purest

concrete. Even my wife's mother smiled.

I'm surprised you didn't have him shot.

But he was charming.

Actually, he speaks our language rather
well.

But as he himself admitted...

He is a little weak on the descriptive
phrases.

We have so many words that sound alike,
but mean things very different.

What about Marilyn? Did French explain
what happened?

He didn't have to. In order to try to
flatter my wife and her mother, he

demonstrated exactly what happened.

Well, I'm glad that's over.

I also.

If left to themselves.

Our children need no language except
that of trust. Have you noticed?

We sure have.

Well, thanks, Mr. Chin. I appreciate it.
Not at all, not at all.

It was too important a moment to trust
you to telephone.

Oh, by the way, Mr.

French doesn't realize what he said to
my wife and her mother.

Perhaps it would be better if we
don't... I won't say a word.

Good.

He told us in Chinese that you were a
wonderful man, a completely

tyrant with a delightful sense of fish.

Fish.

A direct translation, of course.

Yeah.

All right.

Were you just speaking Cantonese?

I guess so.

Marilyn's learning English, too, Uncle
Bill.

Yeah. Say something in English to Uncle
Bill, Marilyn.

Color television.

I'm afraid I've made the most horrifying
mistake.

What's that?

Well, I was trying to indicate to Mr.

Chen's wife that she had a neck of
alabaster.

Oh, French.

Yes, and if this dictionary is correct,
I must have told the poor woman she had

a neck of concrete.

Well, I imagine she understood.

Well, I hope so, sir. At any rate, they
didn't throw me out.

Oh, communicating in a foreign language
is so difficult.

Okay? Okay.

Okay, Jody.