Mierda! Merda! Merde!
I know, I promised to stop swearing in foreign tongues on this blog. I'm sure my readers, er reader, will find such lack of etiquette on a blog unbecoming to say the least. I'll try to restrain myself and continue to maintain this as a family-safe environment.
Still, how amusing that the naughty, colloquial word denoting human waste is so universal. Spanish, it seems to me sounds the most invective: Mierda! Me olvidé de traer mi diccionario español! The Italian, on the other hand, sounds once again like you're yelling poetry at someone. And the more common French Merde! sounds crisp and efficient.
Today's topic is 'Watching Foreign TV shows: a Worthwhile Tool for Learning a Language or a Waste of Time?' I know that is a very long title for a topic, but hey, mierda! It's my blog. In my opinion, spending a couple of hours watching a television show that interests you is definitely worth the effort, with a caveat. It has been shown that passive listening yields very small results for learning a language. Just tuning the radio to a Spanish radio station while you do something else does not improve your comprehension, or if it does the gain is barely measurable. No, it is essential to pay attention to what you're listening to and to concentrate on every nuance. It seems to me that this is a little easier to do if you have a visual component to the experience, such as a television program.
But where oh where are such TV shows to be found? Of course, you can purchase them--but we're talking big bucks there. I'm told there is a way to set up some kind of proxy server that will allow you to access foreign TV stations, but the instructions for doing that seem pretty complex to me, let alone possibly unsafe. The options are a little better if you're learning Spanish, at least in the United States. My Florida cable system has four or five channels that broadcast nothing but shows in Spanish. So far, though, I haven't found many programs that appeal to me on these channels. Most are 'reality shows' or semi-erotic 'telenovlas' that get tiresome after one or two episodes.
But to the rescue comes the ever-popular YouTube. Once again, you're in luck if you're studying Spanish. I've found Spanish dubbed versions of 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents,' 'The Twilight Zone,' 'The Nanny,' 'The Adams Family,' and a whole lot of German detective shows also dubbed into Spanish. For some reason I find Mexican or Latin American Spanish easier to follow than the European versions. I've found so far that there are Italian-dubbed shows available on YouTube--I especially like 'Ispettore Derrick,' a wildly popular German show that you can also find dubbed in French. In general though, it's very hard to find French-dubbed material. The French seem to frown on that sort of thing.
Perhaps I'm just fantasizing, but it does seem to me that watching these programs (and trying hard to pay attention) has helped me with my comprehension, at least a little. Since I have the largest vocabulary and grasp of grammar for French, I've been concentrating mostly on listening to and watching shows in French. I seem to be able to catch a word or two and a phrase or two and sometimes even entire sentences. It's best to select detective shows or mysteries, since they have a lot of visual action and that helps one to figure out what's being said. Ever wondered how to say: 'Hands in the air, Matthieu' in French? Or 'It's curtains for you, Pierre!' Westerns also have lots of action: 'Il ya de place que pour une seule personne dans cette ville, Marcel!' Stay tuned for more.
No comments:
Post a Comment