A couple of weeks ago I bought the first two seasons of the X-Files on DVD. The first series was fine; to my surprise I could remember having seen every episode, but it's something that survives repeat viewings pretty well. The second season is excellent as well, but different in an important way: It has Dutch subtitles...
It also has plentiful chapter breaks, of which normally I would be most appreciative (or more likely simply unaware), but it accentuates the problem my DVD player has. Now I don't even bother turning off the subtitles, I just sit back and ignore them. Except that sometimes they appear before the line is spoken, and sometimes there's a caption onscreen and the subtitle is more prominent...
Incidentally, I've come to the realisation that the plot twist in the Empire Strikes Back perhaps wasn't as unforetold to Dutch speakers as it was to the rest of us. I'd noticed the similarity in German, but never had any cause to look at it in other languages.
Update: The episode named Firewalker involves a team of volcanologists taking samples from a volcano, and inadvertantly bringing a dangerous lifeform back with them. It becomes slightly confusing when listening to the English and noticing the odd word of the Dutch subtitle, since the words 'sample' and 'specimen' seem to translate into 'monster'...
It also has plentiful chapter breaks, of which normally I would be most appreciative (or more likely simply unaware), but it accentuates the problem my DVD player has. Now I don't even bother turning off the subtitles, I just sit back and ignore them. Except that sometimes they appear before the line is spoken, and sometimes there's a caption onscreen and the subtitle is more prominent...
Incidentally, I've come to the realisation that the plot twist in the Empire Strikes Back perhaps wasn't as unforetold to Dutch speakers as it was to the rest of us. I'd noticed the similarity in German, but never had any cause to look at it in other languages.
Update: The episode named Firewalker involves a team of volcanologists taking samples from a volcano, and inadvertantly bringing a dangerous lifeform back with them. It becomes slightly confusing when listening to the English and noticing the odd word of the Dutch subtitle, since the words 'sample' and 'specimen' seem to translate into 'monster'...
Well that was a strange night.
Text message in the early afternoon: pub at 6:30. Fair enough; a bit early, but there are a few birthdays coming up and I can never remember when, so I was expecting to be summoned to pubs a couple of times in the next few weeks. Rang to confirm, and was told that it was early because they were going to the theatre after. Seems sensible enough, until I found myself roped into going with them...
Text message in the early afternoon: pub at 6:30. Fair enough; a bit early, but there are a few birthdays coming up and I can never remember when, so I was expecting to be summoned to pubs a couple of times in the next few weeks. Rang to confirm, and was told that it was early because they were going to the theatre after. Seems sensible enough, until I found myself roped into going with them...
My DVD player, getting on in years I suppose, has established a couple of little ... quirks.
While it will happily give me a film with the sound in English, whenever subtitles are available in Dutch, it will turn those on. After I get rid of them, it will put them back on at the start of each new chapter. When the DVD menus are available in German, it will give me those rather than the English; thankfully this is quite rare (since presumably if Germany wants localised versions of the big films it can get them) and there isn't usually much to work out, but it's still annoying.
I don't think I know anyone in Germany. I'm sure I don't know anyone in the Netherlands. I know one or two people in Belgium, where I gather Flemish is virtually the same language, but they have good English (or close enough), and in any case one of them is actually Norwegian. So clearly I don't need to learn Dutch, but the DVD player insists on trying to teach me...
While it will happily give me a film with the sound in English, whenever subtitles are available in Dutch, it will turn those on. After I get rid of them, it will put them back on at the start of each new chapter. When the DVD menus are available in German, it will give me those rather than the English; thankfully this is quite rare (since presumably if Germany wants localised versions of the big films it can get them) and there isn't usually much to work out, but it's still annoying.
I don't think I know anyone in Germany. I'm sure I don't know anyone in the Netherlands. I know one or two people in Belgium, where I gather Flemish is virtually the same language, but they have good English (or close enough), and in any case one of them is actually Norwegian. So clearly I don't need to learn Dutch, but the DVD player insists on trying to teach me...
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