Re: CHAT: Blandness (was: Uusisuom's influences)
| From: | Roger Mills <romilly@...> |
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| Date: | Tuesday, April 3, 2001, 19:31 |
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Dirk Elzinga wrote:
>Anecdote time.
>Another one. While I was in the Netherlands, Nelson Mandela was
>released from prison in South Africa (now I've dated myself :-).
>Since this was a significant story, there were some Dutch
>reporters covering it in South Africa. They spoke Dutch to their
>interviewees, who responded in Afrikaans; these exchanges
>apparently took place without too much trouble. What I found
>amusing was that they subtitled all of the Afrikaner dialogue on
>Dutch television.>
One day in Indonesia, while waiting at the bank for a transaction to happen
(talk about "bureaucrats with a little power"!!) an elderly westerner sat
down beside me and spoke to me in Dutch, which I read but do not really
speak. So with apologies I answered back in my Lotte-Lenya German, and we
had a quite coherent conversation for 10 minutes or so.
Watched a British TV detective drama the other night-- subtitles would
certainly have helped.
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