Foreign Language fun
Mar. 31st, 2013 02:34 pmI'm watching the movie "Flammen og Citronen" at Amazon Prime. It's in Danish, which I can read (a little), but don't speak. Still, I'm picking up words here and there.
Then I came to a section that I understood. It wasn't every word, but I was following the conversational ebb and flow. It was in German.
This is the opposite of an experience I had years ago when I watched the movie "Soldaat van Oranje." My understanding of Dutch is much better than my speaking of it. Then about a third of the way through the movie, there was a conversation that I didn't understand -- because it was in German.
It's amazing what relative familiarity does; the tricks it plays on the mind.
Then I came to a section that I understood. It wasn't every word, but I was following the conversational ebb and flow. It was in German.
This is the opposite of an experience I had years ago when I watched the movie "Soldaat van Oranje." My understanding of Dutch is much better than my speaking of it. Then about a third of the way through the movie, there was a conversation that I didn't understand -- because it was in German.
It's amazing what relative familiarity does; the tricks it plays on the mind.