Monday, January 12, 2009

We watch television, although only BBC World is in English. The other chanels do show English programs though; particularly films, though sometimes documentaries. So we see quite a bit in the way of subtitles. We´re a bit slow at sounding out the Greek leters and some of the combinations ae quite different; for example the mp letter combination gives the b sound. But it´s interesting nontheless. The Swedish chanel is quite interesting, with many words similar to the English or, often, to the Scots usage. Thus child is barn, comparable to bairn. Sometimes as interesting as the program itself, although there are often good British programs in the very late evening. We also get a chanel from Dubai where the programming is almost entirely American of a relatively uninspired sort (chat shows, soaps), apart from the occasional film and local news. Here everything has Arabic subtitles but it´s done nothing for our literacy. Periodically one thinks that it should be possible to learn what any six year old can learn with a little application, but the swirls and dots remain impenetrable.