Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

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Lawyer&Mom
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Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Sun Dec 29, 2019 6:12 am

jeff_lindqvist wrote:I think Norwegian TV is a really good way to expose yourself to various accents/dialects.

(Based on the trailers for the two series you've mentioned, I heard at least three in each: the first had mostly Eastern, some Southern/Western and Northern, plus the Danish actress Ghita Nørby; the second mostly Northern, some Southern/Western and Eastern.)


I’m so far from being able to pick up on accents I didn’t even notice the old lady was Danish!
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Lawyer&Mom
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Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Tue Dec 31, 2019 5:31 pm

Watched “The Awakening of Motti Wolkenbruch” on Netflix. Alas, it is not a good movie, which is a shame because it has a nice cast and some good cinematography (Zurich looks lovely!) and really how many contemporary Jewish coming of age stories are being made in the German speaking world?

Unfortunately, all the characters, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, have the depth of two-dimensional cardboard cutouts. No one feels remotely real. It’s an Orthodox “Big Fat Greek Wedding.” I guess the characters are supposed to feel honored just for being portrayed on the big screen. Ugh. And Switzerland submitted this to the Academy for best foreign film consideration. Double Ugh.

One linguistic item of note: An remarkably reasonable amount of Yiddish! Shtisel, wonderful Israeli show, also on Netflix, does a infinitely better job of depicting the Orthodox world, but doesn’t really use a lot of Yiddish, considering Yiddish would be its characters primary language. I assume Yiddish is difficult for Shtisel’s Hebrew speaking cast. Motti takes advantage of its German speaking cast who presumably have an easier time with Yiddish dialogue. Another linguistic curiosity: How come I can understand the German? Do university students in Zurich speak High German, or do movies just avoid Swiss German to reach a broader audience? Or both?
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Lawyer&Mom
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Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Thu Jan 02, 2020 4:48 pm

Happy to recommend a much better German film on Netflix: Holiday Secrets. Don’t judge it for having such a basic title. This is four generations of secrets and one gorgeous beach house! With an excellent cast and even better lighting! Technically it’s a three part mini-series, but the episodes are short, it’s basically a movie. I love that despite the plot twists the characters are realistic. They seem like a real family. This could totally happen. There is a lot of jumping back and forth in time, but they cast the younger and older versions of the characters so well you can keep track of everyone. Yay!
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Lawyer&Mom
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Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Fri Jan 17, 2020 5:19 pm

Goals for 2020:

Reading, reading and more reading. My lifetime page tally: French - 3,055; German - 1,536.

Neither of these counts are entirely accurate, they both reflect books that I know I’ve finished, and goodness knows I haven’t finished all my target language books! But I’d like to get both of these counts up to 10,000. It’s a big number for both languages, but I feel like I’m really hitting my stride with reading. Things should speed up nicely!

(French has more pages, but I’m actually about even in my reading abilities. I did I whole German degree which included much more book work, writing, speaking etc. Clearly not enough reading however!)
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Lawyer&Mom
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Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Tue Jan 28, 2020 4:39 pm

I was stuck at home yesterday with a stomach bug, and ended up watching half a season of Grace and Frankie on Netflix dubbed in German. Grace and Frankie isn’t a great show, but it’s a good enough show with a strong cast and some heartfelt moments. (I watched the first season in English on my maternity leave several years ago, and never felt the need to keep up afterwards.) But the German dub was really excellent. The actress voicing Lily Tomlin is especially clear and easy to follow. The sitcom format is great too, so much dialogue, and everyday dialogue at that. Better than a workplace procedural in that respect, and way better than all the mumbling detective shows of the world. I could definitely see myself watching more in the future. I wish Germany had a great sitcom of its own, but until then, god bless Netflix originals!
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Lawyer&Mom
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Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Fri Feb 07, 2020 4:16 pm

Dropped Grace and Frankie for the moment and binged three seasons of Atypical in German. As an Autistic person, I love and hate this show with a passion. I don’t mind that the lead actor isn’t really Autistic, it’s the lack of Autistic writers that really hurts the show, especially in the first season. It’s interesting to watch the show course correct in the second and third seasons, and the relationship between the siblings is consistently fantastic. I’ll watch more if they make more.

Started watching The Good Place in German. Wow. They talk really fast! It’s a nice mental workout. The dub isn’t as well synced as some other shows, but it must be difficult with a show with such fast paced dialogue. My brain is really loving all this German, French is taking a back burner for the moment.
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Lawyer&Mom
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Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Sun Feb 09, 2020 1:31 am

Two nights in a row I have fallen asleep trying to watch a third episode in a row of The Good Place. The dialogue is that dense, after watching two episodes in an evening it just breaks my brain. Let’s see how I do tonight!
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Lawyer&Mom
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Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Sun Feb 09, 2020 4:04 pm

Okay, I did it, but three episodes is absolutely the limit!
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Lawyer&Mom
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Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Mon Feb 10, 2020 6:47 pm

Congratulations Parasite! As a both a language and film fan, it was a pleasure to see a subtitled film win the big prize at the Academy Awards last night! I had fun celebrating with the lovely Korean ladies at my local cafe this morning, and it will be Korean food for lunch today!

I haven’t actually seen the film yet, but that’s no reason not to enjoy the win! (The only best picture nominee I’ve seen is Marriage Story because it was on Netflix. I very, very rarely see anything in the theater, so it’s always a wait until films are available streaming.) I just found out Parasite is now available as a rental on Amazon, so I’m looking forward to it.
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Lawyer&Mom
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Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Wed Feb 12, 2020 5:17 pm

What the fork? The second season of The Good Place isn’t dubbed in German! I had to switch to French dub. I’m still able to follow, but my comprehension is markedly down. This is a bummer, I’d really like to be able to catch the details with this show.
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