Thoughts on Television and Language

A few words about television television here. I have a TV in my apartment, and Vinko thoughtfully had satellite installed so that I could have more channels to watch. But I think he probably got the cheapest package, probably some kind of basic international package, which is fine with me. Anyway, I probably have 150 or more channels available, including 6 Croatian stations on the main TV, and then 150 or more others on the satellite. But of those 150 or more channels, maybe 20 are in English, and most of those are news stations (I do happily get CNNI, CNBC, and BBC world -- about the only of these 20 I ever watch); there's also kids programming, music videos, and quite a few really cheesy religious channels. There are really very few channels that just play shows in English, like networks. There are HBO and a few other known American channels listed (Discovery, Fox), but they are all blocked on my system.

But this isn't to say I get no shows in English. On Croatian TV whenever they play American or British shows, they play them in the original version (English language) with Croatian subtitles. And they seem to show many of those, though often they are old movies or old sitcoms or dramas that don't interest me much. I never watch sitcoms anyway, except for the Simpsons (which maybe is a different genre). And they do play The Simpsons (which I think is called something like "Simpsone" here). So there are American or English language shows pretty often if I want to watch them. A lot of the American films they play seem to involve blood and gore. There was one the other day that I only watched a bit of about some super smart sharks that kill all the researchers in a station under the ocean (Samuel L. Jackson was in it and got very dramatically chomped just as he was making a speech about how they'd all make it out alive). And there was one last night that had tons of stars in it, including Val Kilmer and Robert Deniro as bank robbers, and I think Al Pacino as the FBI man who chased them. I only saw the tail end. These are probably films most of you know, but I never can see the titles (even if I catch the beginning of the film) because they replace the English titles with the equivalent in Croatian.

One interesting thing about watching even bad films with Croatian subtitles is that it helps me learn a little Croatian. For instance to say "Good day" here is Dobar dan, and "dobro" means good (can be put in front of morning or evening too). So dobro, good, is one of the few words in Croatian I have learned and hear all the time. And when anyone on any American show says anything in English remotely like "good," "cool," "that's okay," "no problem," "yeah, sure," "you bet," and so on, it seems to always get translated into a subtitle that reads "dobro." So dobro has come to seem like a powerful word.

But back to the satellite, there's very little programming I get in English that interests me. I do get one BBC station besides the news -- BBC prime I think it's called -- that has some good programming sometimes. Last night I watched a well done law drama that dealt with animal and human rights. But mostly they play a lot of silly British comedies (which I don't watch) and sometimes informational shows (which I sometimes watch). For instance I watched an interesting one on Sunday about the hanging gardens of Babylon. Some archeologists tried to reconstruct some methods of lifting the water uphill that they think might have been used.

But by far the vast majority of the channels I get on the satellite are in French, for what reason I don't know. The happy news is that I speak French (was a French major undergrad and have spent 3 years living in French speaking countries). So it's been pretty fun getting to use my French again in this passive way. And I'm finding myself starting to think a little in French, and even to say things aloud in French sometimes. All well and good, except that French doesn't really do me any good in Croatia (it's probably one of the least spoken foreign languages here -- more often people will speak English, Italian, or German). And it's kind of discombobulating to be in a foreign place where I know I should be learning a foreign language, and then to have my brain working on a foreign language, trying to understand, remember vocabulary, etc., but to have it be the wrong foreign language. Anyway, I can see all the programming in French I want, though I don't get what I think is probably the best French channel, canal plus. But this other channel called serie club that I do get plays all kinds of series, mostly from the States, including Buffy, Xena, Highlander, and others in that genre, along with crime dramas and Oz (the HBO prison show).

There are also a lot of would-be porn type channels, called things like EuroticTv, sexytv, and so on. At one point I went through every single channel to write down which ones were in English and French and what they showed. So I saw how many of these channels there are. Many of them seem to come from Italy, Arab countries, or I am not even sure where. But the funny thing is that they are not what you are probably imagining. Mostly they just show scantily clad, overly made up women looking supposedly "sexy," but at least partially dressed, and like, holding a telephone or something, maybe suggestively. Then there are tons of words on the screen ( in languages I don't know) and numbers. So I assume they are urging people to call the equivalent of 1-900 numbers. It seems to be quite a global phenomenon. Sad, cheap, sexual taunts. Plus lots of religious channels, kids programming, music videos, and news. And old American series and films. And some original series and programs from all the various countries in their own languages. That's what people around the world watch.