Re: the Country Park vs Gosford Park

On Tue, 30 May 2006 14:27:52 +0100, "Marjorie Clarke"
<dontusethisaddess@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

"Sebastian Lisken" <Sebastian.Lisken@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
message news:e5g5a5$b94$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
For the last several days I've devoured Gosford Park, the movie by Robert
Altman. Through Google Groups I know the movie was mostly well received
here in Feb 2002 with some notable dissenters. :-) I came across it when a
group of friends in Berlin, some of them native speakers, were showing it
and I was surprised and a bit frustrated at how little I could understand.
Not because of vocabulary but for the very difficult (but probably
realistic) sound conditions - some of the lines are whispered or very
unclearly spoken and sometimes there is a lot of background noise. (And
then there's Kelly MacDonald with her Scottish Accent.) Well, I was
fascinated and decided this was a case for "deep studying", much as I had
previously done it with radio programmes, and of course the one programme
which seemed to get me closest to "realistic" dialogue had always been TA.
So I went back home to Bielefeld with a disc and after repeated viewing
(and using several web sources for extra input) I believe I have now got
most of the dialogue (of which I'm a bit proud, it really is a different
level from radio of any kind and I have had little exposure to English
movies or TV drama). It's always a great experience when you can
understand something you previously couldn't (because you understand more
of the context) but some things I would still not know but for the
coincidence that they are quoted on the IMDB page for the movie.

May I compliment you on your English, Sebastian? I know quite a few
non-native speakers who speak really good English, but hardly any of
them can write as well as this. If I have to write anything in German
it takes hours, and I still have to get it looked over.

Well done you - as you can see from the ensuing discussion, even those of us
who are exposed to English-language TV and films all ths time still struggle
sometimes. I find, as others do, that there is a tendency for modern films
etc to allow an awful lot of background chatter, music etc, which can make
it difficult to follow the main dialogue (or even identify which it is). I
find it worse in American films where the accents and vocabulary are not so
familiar. A few weeks ago we started to try to watch "Last of the Mohicans"
on TV but gave up after about 10 minutes because it was such hard work
trying to make out what they were saying.

I find I often understand more when I see a film here in Basel, with
French and German subtitles. You get quite good at translating back
out into English as you go along. I suppose an alternative would be to
watch things on DVD and use the subtitling for the deaf.
--

Jo

It takes a calm and rational mind to be able to live in disorder.
Alain de Botton
.

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