How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Quote #1
PROJECT LEADER: Is the interpreter with you?
LAUGHLIN: I'm not a professional interpreter. My occupation is cartography. I'm a mapmaker.
PROJECT LEADER: Can you translate French into English and English into French?
LAUGHLIN: Yes. Yes, I explained it to the team leader. I'm just a little taken by surprise.
In the very first lines of dialogue, Spielberg show us language barriers and communication problems. Lacombe only speaks French fluently and needs an interpreter to to communicate with his English-speaking research team. The Mexican man who witnessed the UFOs speaks Spanish, which is translated into English, then French. The scene sets us up for the bigger "language" barrier later on.
Quote #2
HARRY: Air East 31, do you wish to report a UFO? Over.
AIR EAST PILOT: Negative. We don't want to report one of those either.
HARRY: Air East 31, do you wish to file a report of any kind? Over.
AIR EAST PILOT: I wouldn't know what kind of report to file, Center.
HARRY: Air East 31, me neither. I'll try to track traffic to destination.
The major problem characters have with the UFOs—other than the way they fry our expensive electronics—is that they lack the ability to communicate their experiences of them. That's because the UFOs are beyond our human experience. These pilots are professionals in the flying biz and even they can't figure out how to report about it.
Quote #3
RONNIE: Roy, what did it look like?
ROY: It was like an ice cream cone.
RONNIE: What flavor?
ROY: Orange. And it wasn't like an ice cream cone. It was more like a shell.
RONNIE: Like a taco? Was it like one of those Sara Lee moon-shaped cookies? Those crescent cookies?
Unlike the pilots, Roy's an average Joe trying to explain his experience to his wife. As you can see, he's not exactly a wordsmith. An ice cream cone? That the best you got? Obviously, it's an ineffable experience.