Learning languages from TV programmes

[Old Grumpy]

I did not want to hijack the Derek Fowlds thread so I post here instead:

- In Regard to an interview with Adam Fischer -

"I just had to learn English. It was strange because at that time growing up in Budapest my first language had to be Russian. Oh, yes. Because in Communist countries in the 1950s and 1960s Russian was the language we were supposed to speak. But the whole country loved learning English very much and there were not enough Russian teachers. It was a party decision that everyone had to speak Russian, but it was made without realising they didn’t have enough teachers. My school teacher couldn’t speak Russian that is why we never learned it. But I started learning English when I was twelve, my parents arranged for me to have private lessons. No, I’ve never lived in England although my children went to school there in 1991. I can tell you that like a lot of people in Hungary, I improved my English with the help of watching BBC TV programmes. Yes Minister the political sitcom and its sequel Yes, Prime Minister from the 1980s. I have all the series recorded and I think Yes, Prime Minister – when Jim Hacker becomes the PM – is the better one. ‘Civil service’ English is what they speak of course."

I was in Norway on a fruit farm for three months in 1976 before going to university (definitely not "uni"!). As well as learning some spoken Norwegian from speaking with the family I was staying with I found watching Fawlty Towers (on the one and only television channel Norway had then) in English, but with Norwegian subtitles, was a very good way of learning written Norwegian too.

OG

[gradus]

I did not want to hijack the Derek Fowlds thread so I post here instead:

- In Regard to an interview with Adam Fischer -



I was in Norway on a fruit farm for three months in 1976 before going to university (definitely not "uni"!). As well as learning some spoken Norwegian from speaking with the family I was staying with I found watching Fawlty Towers (on the one and only television channel Norway had then) in English, but with Norwegian subtitles, was a very good way of learning written Norwegian too.

OG

A Norwegian fruit farm! What are the chances...

[Old Grumpy]

A Norwegian fruit farm! What are the chances...

Hardanger Fjord - on the hillside for maximum sun. Gulf stream.

[Dave2002]

Hardanger Fjord - on the hillside for maximum sun. Gulf stream.

I tried to learn Swedish from TV programmes when we lived in Sweden. It was helpful, with the subtitles put on, though it took quite a while. At least I can now differentiate between Danish and Swedish, on some of the Scandi noir programmes - though I still haven't a clue how the Danes manage to mangle their own language. It's not that difficult to have a stab at reading it, but pronuciation ..... how? Programmes like Wallander are easier than the Killing and the Bridge - for me. If the subtitles on British TV come up before the spoken words I can often say the Swedish, and occasionally I can spot where the translation isn't in fact accurate or idiomatic. Conversely many Swedes speak English with an American accent, and when you ask them, they will admit that they watched a lot of American TV. Some Swedes have watched British TV, and pick up some very uncouth language as a result. For example, middle aged ladies who use really foul language, and then say "we thought it was OK as it was on TV, so we thought you all spoke like that!".

[Serial_Apologist]

Hardanger Fjord - on the hillside for maximum sun. Gulf stream.

Unaffjordable, in my case.

[vinteuil]

I tried to learn Swedish from TV programmes when we lived in Sweden.

... years back I had to over-night in Copenhagen. Turning on the telly in my airport hotel room, it was The Muppet Show, in Danish. Including the Swedish chef

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN1hL9cn7s0

Lord only knows how the 'Swedish' came across to a Danish audience...


All that I have learnt from the various scandiwegian noirs over recent years is - 'tak!' and 'absolut!'






.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

All that I have learnt from the various scandiwegian noirs over recent years is - 'tak!' and 'absolut!'

And, perhaps less usefully, "pis!" - which means (or is always translated as) "shit!"

[LezLee]

I remember when 'Neighbours' started over here, I learnt 'lounge-room', 'the olds' (parents)', to be 'rapt' (wrapped?) - to fancy someone, and lately in 'Masterchef Australia', to be 'stoked' - thrilled to bits. Lots more which I've forgotten.

[jayne lee wilson]

... years back I had to over-night in Copenhagen. Turning on the telly in my airport hotel room, it was The Muppet Show, in Danish. Including the Swedish chef

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN1hL9cn7s0

Lord only knows how the 'Swedish' came across to a Danish audience...


All that I have learnt from the various scandiwegian noirs over recent years is - 'tak!' and 'absolut!'





.

I find Absolut too sweet and glutinous, preferring Reyka but only iced in Summer... never quite found a good Vodka mull prep despite experiments......

Anyway.

Not sure about TV, but those language courses the BBC put out on Radio 4 in the 70s were vital for me. Floundering out of school with one low-grade English A level, I (eventually) realised I couldn't live for ever on the Dole and the Record Library, gathered myself up, and did a correspondence course in French, but the colourful BBC Books and LPs gave me that essential physical idiomatic feel for the living language itself. I think there may have been TV tie-ins...
The courses had catchy names - the German one was IIRC "Kein Problem!" but I can't recall the French title. Later, BBC started showing News Broadcasts from French TV late at night.... again, truly helpful to someone as isolated as I'd become.

When I got to Uni people often said, "your French is very good, you must have been abroad a lot....."
I tried to explain that I'd never been out of UK, that I'd copied the accent off "BBC LP Records", but they just looked baffled.... I don't think they believed it.

Main problem with learning language that way was, I always worried that I'd wear the stylus out and damage a precious Classical LP....

[Dave2002]

All that I have learnt from the various scandiwegian noirs over recent years is - 'tak!' and 'absolut!'

If you mingle with Swedish people, and "have a conversation", nod wisely, and throw in "Ja juste", "Absolut", "Perfekt", "Exakt" from time to time, and they may think you've been very chatty and understood every word.

[Braunschlag]

And, perhaps less usefully, "pis!" - which means (or is always translated as) "shit!"

I might mention there’s the quite regular use of ‘hva faen’, or maybe I shouldn’t.....

[alywin]

I found Salamander was very good for my Dutch - or rather, Flemish. Picked up quite a bit from it. "Spiral" is another matter, with all the police/legal jargon I still don't necessarily understand.

[Old Grumpy]

... years back I had to over-night in Copenhagen. Turning on the telly in my airport hotel room, it was The Muppet Show, in Danish. Including the Swedish chef

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN1hL9cn7s0

Lord only knows how the 'Swedish' came across to a Danish audience...


All that I have learnt from the various scandiwegian noirs over recent years is - 'tak!' and 'absolut!'






.

[gurnemanz]

A German chap I knew spent a year in England in the mid 70s. He said watched Crossroads, a daily soap of dubious merit but which he found useful for picking up colloquial English.

[greenilex]

Maybe Eastenders and Coronation St have taught generations without anyone realising what was up?