Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Watching TV in der Schweiz

Out of boredom, loneliness, and under the guise of improving my German, I watch A LOT of television.  Films, sit-coms, dramas, documentaries are all fair game.  Although I think that watching productions from German-language countries would be better than watching UK and US shows dubbed into German, I sometimes find myself dipping my toe into the tub of familiarity by watching well-worn re-runs from my home country.

Most of the shows from back home shown here are easily spotted.  Grey's Anatomy in der Schweiz becomes Grey's Anatomy: Die jungen Ärzte (the young doctors).  The German title is more of a mouthful, but not difficult to figure out.  How many seasons has Grey's been on TV?  They might need to change the name to: Grey's Anatomy: Die nicht mehr so jungen Ärzte simply for accuracy's sake.

A few shows, however, when translated back into English from their German names, either make little sense or are just plain funny.


90210
What Americans call the show: nine-oh-two-one-oh
What German speakers call the show: ninety/two-hundred-ten

Home Improvement
What Americans call the show: Home Improvement
What German speakers call the show: Listen to Who is Hammering There


Mean Girls
What Americans call the film: Mean Girls
What German speakers call the film: Commitments of a High School Diva

I would like to make clear that I do not watch either of the above television shows listed.  Well, I have not watched Home Improvement in about twenty years, or so, and I have caught the odd 90210 episode as it seems to be in syndication quite heavily back in the States.   I have not seen the film Mean Girls, although I hear it is probably the one vehicle for 'LiLo' that showed her acting chops.  I suppose I really should not be so choose-y when it comes to programs and regard it all, cheesy or not, as a German exercise.  So what's next in the TV watching queue?  I can't decide between a rousing episode of Hawaii Fünf-Null and the film 6 Tage 7 Nächte with Harrison Ford. Hmmm...I have no idea what the film 6 Tage 7 Nächte is in English.
So, Aloha?


2 comments:

A piece of your mind here:

Federal agents in SF

Government goons were meant to visit the streets of the San Francisco Bay Area this week, but it turns out they'll not be called in to h...