We watch a lot of foreign language films and TV series, usually with subtitles, even when it’s a language we’re familiar with. It reinforces your knowledge of the foreign language in question. Sometimes it’s possible to watch some of the foreign language stuff with subtitles in the original language. From the language-learning point of view this is more effective but it’s not always possible.
We also find that we often need to put subtitles on when we watch American films and series. Despite their supposedly speaking the same language as we do it’s not always possible to make out exactly what the actors say. This is not deafness but a question of accent and sometimes of the expression used.
One of the most confusing experiences recently has been watching a Canadian TV series. Canadian French is not quite the same as French French. I knew this already, having had a French Canadian student spend a couple of years in the sixth form college where I worked. Listening to her speak French was interesting and informative. There seem to be a lot of southern French vowel sounds; maybe a lot of the original settles were from the Midi.
I was also aware, having done a bit of research into the differences, that French Canadian uses a lot of borrowed or adopted/adapted words from English, a consequence of proximity to the United States. I have long been amused by the use of verbs such as “shopper” - to shop and adjectives such as “quiute” - cute. Listening to the French speakers in this TV series though reveals more than just a smattering of English words but a kind of wholesale mixing of the two languages. Some “borrowings” are decidedly odd. For example, someone who works as a porter / general dogsbody in a hotel is “un groom”. There you go.
Now, according to this article, most of Gen Z, up to 80%, watch television with the subtitles on. One reason for this, apparently, is speed of download of information. If you speed read the subtitles you have more time to look at your phone - reading and replying to messages, checking email, maybe even watching another TV programme - before looking back to television set. Not so much multi-tasking as multiscreening!
In recent years we have seen statues toppled and dropped into the sea. Now a group called ‘The Secret Handshake’ did the opposite and erected a statue in Washington - a statue of Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein holding hands, vaguely reminiscent of Morecambe and Wise.
There was a plaque which said the statue was erected in honor of friendship month. “We celebrate the long-lasting bond between President Donald J Trump and his ‘closest friend’ Jeffrey Epstein,” the accompanying text stated. The group said they had obtained the necessary permit to put up the statue, a permit which would allow the statue to remain in place until tomorrow ( Sunday) but it has been removed. The National Park Service, the federal agency that oversees the area, removed the statue because “it was not compliant with the permit issued”, Elizabeth Peace, a spokesperson for Department of the Interior, said to CNN.
Well, well!
Here’s a recent post by Michael Rosen:
“What do you think is the tweet that I've tweeted recently that has caused the most stir in terms of hostile comments in reply? It's posting the front cover of the book, 'Palestine, a four thousand year history' by Nur Masalha, published by IB Tauris.
I've had scores and scores of bots, trolls and anonymous tweeters mocking, leering, sneering, or aggressively calling for wiping out the Palestinians (even though their claim is that the Palestinians don't exist.)
Fascinating how a book cover can have that kind of reaction.”
Dangerous and subversive things, books!
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment