Bilingual TV watching

[hmpf]

Watching the first episode of The Lakes, series two, and there's this scene with German tourists - naked German tourists, as it happens *g* - happily babbling away at Danny (John Simm's character) - and it felt so strange to suddenly hear German amidst all the English. I think it took me a moment - fraction of a second - to notice that there was a language switch, actually (this has happened to me before, this sort of slightly delayed realisation of 'hey, wait a sec, that's German!/English!'). And then I got sort of weirded out by the fact that Danny, of course, couldn't understand what they were saying, yet I could. It's odd to understand something the protagonist doesn't.

ETA: What's with the bizarre, 'We want to be Buffy the Vampire Slayer!'-type new credits???

Comments

[space-oddity-75.livejournal.com]

And then I got sort of weirded out by the fact that Danny, of course, couldn't understand what they were saying, yet I could. It's odd to understand something the protagonist doesn't.

I had exactly the same reaction, apart for the fact that both English and German are foreign languages to me! *g* It took me a while to realise there had been a language switch, but it was fun to be able to understand something the character didn't! :)

Heh. It must be cool to be more than just bilingual!

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

I think if it had been French or Spanish (nominally my other two languages) instead of German, I would definitely have noticed the switch right away, because I'm nowhere near the same listening comprehension level there.

It was a really strange couple of moments for me - the switch back to English perhaps even more so than the switch to German.

I'm really fascinated by my response to All Things British in general. Somehow - perhaps via fancying so many British men over the past ten years - I've turned into an anglophile, rather by the backdoor, I feel. I didn't really notice when it happened, and I still don't quite understand how, but I have feelings about Britain that aren't quite reasonable anymore. Can't be blamed on nostalgic memories, either, because my year in Britain was not a particularly happy one. Not particularly unhappy, either, but certainly nothing out of the ordinary, in terms of general life satisfaction, if you get what I mean. *g* Nor can I blame it on an idealised image of the country based on lack of experience, because I think I've spent enough time in Britain to have a fairly realistic idea of it. So, my strong, fairly recent attachment to it is a bit puzzling.

[jazzymegster.livejournal.com]

Hee, neat! Reminds me of the one time I'd spent all day listening to Japanese songs, and got one with minimal English lyrics and was all "Huh?" and that split-second where I readjusted (as you said above), and then I was all, "Oh." Heh.

They're repeating The Lakes on ITV3 (I think) at some point soon, and I keep tossing up whether to watch it or not. Mum mentioned it because of John Simm being in it, and I never saw it the first time around. Maybe I should just so I can see the scene you're talking about?