Comment on ESL homework
DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Reminds me of how TV shows / movies just depict characters from a non-English country speak their native language for like 2 seconds before switching back to… English… for the rest of the conversation…
like… huh?
oh yea cuz its fiction and they don’t want the audience having to read subtitles all the time…
Like who does that?
I came to the US at age 8 and still have to use my native language at home… like it feel really weird to be using English at home…
Do you find it weird that Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet and King Lear are all written in English? We’ve been doing this for centuries.
Having a snippet of native language is a more modern invention as far as I know (because if you can’t rely on the audience understanding the language, you need to subtitle the snippet), but it’s just a way of communicating to the audience in what language the conversation is taking place by showing, rather than telling.
The English dub of the anime Monster has a really funny interaction between the main character (Japanese), a young child (German), and an older couple (English).
Despite the voice actors all speaking English, the main character and child communicate in German. The main character also knows English so he can communicate with the English couple. There are scenes in which they are all together and the Japanese guy has to translate what they are saying to each other, but to the viewer they are all speaking English. The kid and old couple just won’t directly talk to each other.
*yeah, not yea or nay. It isn’t a vote.
Yea has been used online as a synonym for yeah for going on 2 decades at this point.
Appreciate they’re both spelt the same, but context clues should help you differentiate. For example, this is a comment on a social media platform, not a spokesperson in a decision making chamber, such as a house of representatives or boardroom; therefore we can safely assume it’s a person agreeing with a statement and not someone calling for a vote.
vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
I think MGS: 3 does this best. The entire game takes place in Russia and most of the dialogue outside of with command is with Russians so they just say that the characters are speaking Russian to each other. Pretty the scientist you meet at the beginning of the game even comments on Snakes Russian being good.
Narauko@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
The Hunt for Red October did the same, the first minutes are in Russian with subtitles and then it slips into English mid sentence as if the audience adapted to the language. Very effective actually.
Doesn’t change the fact that it’s Sean Connery’s brogue on a Russian naval captain, but at least it somewhat explains it. Clearly the captain is from wherever the Scottish equivalent for Russia is.
tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
I like how his Highlander character adds Egypt, Japan, and Spain together to produce Scotland.
vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Pretty sure the Russian equivalent of Scotland is like perm to the southern Murals. Or maybe the Cossack descended cultures, IDK the Soviet kinda fucked over this analogy.
VindictiveJudge@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Connery’s character is Lithuanian.
Narauko@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
TIL that Lithuania is Russia’s Scotland. Now I know, and knowing is half the battle.