Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Greeklish and "pull over the donkey"!

In the uni, while taking a subtitling/dubbing course we were told that one should look at and study the way imported audiovisual products are translated for a country. The choice will give us the degree of tolerance this country has towards the foreign and the unknown. Greece opts for subtitles over dubbing (your conclusions :-)...

Personally I am for preserving ones culture and protecting the things that make us different and constitute a country's history, whereas at the same time there is room left for openness and education on other cultures and customs and languages. Of course all the above can be accomplished in a somewhat ideal world that hasn't turned foreign language education into a profitable commodity (as is the case nowadays in my country). It is all in the balance and as a Greek philosopher once said "pan metron ariston" (excellence is in keeping and preserving the balance).

On a more funny and interesting note on the subject I give you our...greeklish (blend for Greek and English:-). I don't watch much TV but I love funny and clever advertisements. Here is one that proves my point that the English language is here to stay...

Info: This add is about a Greek cable TV channel (it shows all the US series like LOST, Prison Break, House, movies and many more). The concept is really funny. It's about a Greek police officer in a village, affected by all the TV series and action movies he watches. He tries to stop an old lady who "drives" a...donkey. Since the officer doesn' t know how to say 'donkey' in English he transfers the Greek word 'gaidaros' (donkey) into English thinking that it is OK. Of course the old lady has no idea what he is talking about so she says "officer why are you speaking in English?". He goes on (as you'll hear) "your papers or I'm gonna SHOOT" and the granny says "you SHOOT" (when we say 'shoot' in Greek we ask somebody to stop shouting or to be quiet-kinda like "shush") so again homophones get in the way for the funny effect!


6 comments:

Megan said...

My laptop is not being nice right now - can't view the video.

I will be back later after I reboot...

Candie said...

I totally agree and I've been saying that for years,yes to movies,series ect..in their original language,with subtitles.
In France we don't but we can't complain cause it's well made at least,not like in some countries I've seen,like Italy for example.
In Russia it's even worse!

When I was in U.K.,they were putting movies in their original language.It doesn't bother me at all,so I've seen movies in spanish,pakistanese ect..it's a great thing.Now,I can't bear watching american movies in french,even though,again it's kind of well made in France.

New Yorker wannabes said...

Hey you all.

I just remembered sth a French professor once mentioned. There was this TV series (dubbed) for French TV. Suddenly the voice 'playing' the hero on the show, for so many years,...changed.

People started calling the channel, demanding that they bring the old actor back. "we are terribly sorry" the network said..."but, the actor you want has passed away". The show (and viewers) was never the same after that...

meg said...

I know I could never learn another language!

New Yorker wannabes said...

HEY MEGGIE!

Thank you for stopping by...oh I am sure that if you try you'll be amazed with yourself and what you can accomplish!

Take care now
peace and love
xoxo

Crafty Green Poet said...

I much prefer subtitles, one of my favourite ways to improve my italian, German or French is to watch a film in that language and the subtitles mean I don't miss anything!