most glaring is the total reversal of how China and the United States would actually handle first contact. Ooh, the spooky CCP can't conceive of anything beyond bad military strategy!! as if the US godamn military is gonna get a proper linguist to work for them and not some Pete Buttigieg type who's 'fluent' second and combat-ready first.

Apparently, in the first draft, the aliens just give humanity the blueprint for a generation ship . Making the 'gift' be the whole language gives the story a better thematic follow-through. If I remember correctly, there's even a bit where the main character points out how silly linguistic determinism is - which sure, it's kinda undermined by the ending. But at least the film explores the concepts it brings up - that's more than most 'scifi' movies can manage.