Saturday, January 24, 2015

Wondering Aboout a Pet Peeve.

As you may have guessed, I have a bunch of pet peeves, but for brevity reasons I will only talk about one of them tonight.  If you have been following my blog postings you know I like to watch old westerns on TV.

Because I don't hear quite as well as I did decades ago, I put on the closed caption and can read along as the actors talk.  Well, I have noticed a couple of times during a western when the Indians were speaking in their own language that the closed captions just said that they were speaking in "a foreign language".  Heck, the white folks were speaking in a foreign language, English, and the Indians were speaking in Native American.  So, which language is foreign in America, English or American Indian?  Isn't England a foreign country and didn't America fight and win its freedom from the English?  So, what do you think?  Do I have the right to be slightly peeved?  Now, have good evening, you hear? 
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15 comments:

  1. The Odd EssayJanuary 24, 2015 at 8:51 PM

    That sure can be a sensitive subject... being the liberal that I am... and being a person who is struggling to learn another language, I will only say that I admire anyone... everyone.... who is bi-lingual (or more) and sure wish I'd had the opportunity to learn another language when I was young(er).... So... whatever the language you're hearing/reading... go for it!

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    1. Dizzy-DickJanuary 24, 2015 at 9:09 PM

      Dang, I haven't even mastered English yet so there is no way I could learn another language. I can't understand people with and accent, so another language is out of the question. Spelling is another of my weak spots.

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  2. GypsyJanuary 24, 2015 at 9:06 PM

    The Indians have never garnered much respect and things haven't changed much. It's politically correct to call them "Native American", while most of them refer to themselves as Indian, but P.C. doesn't equal respect. I agree with you o this one. If people really cared about treating Indians with respect we would try to understand why a sports team called the "Redskins" is offensive.

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    1. Dizzy-DickJanuary 24, 2015 at 9:15 PM

      I didn't mean to stir up a political argument, I was talking about closed caption when it stated that Indians were speaking a foreign language. How could it be foreign when it was spoken here before the English ever arrived?

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    2. GypsyJanuary 24, 2015 at 10:27 PM

      I wasn't thinking political - I guess I went off on my own pet peeve regarding the thought that Indians don't count for much, speak a foreign language, etc.

      Delete
  3. RobJanuary 25, 2015 at 12:06 AM

    If it's not your language it's "foreign". As to the rest history is a long line of one people displacing another...

    Well I guess if you go back 60,000 years you'd find everyone in a village in Africa and a lot of elbow room.

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    1. Dizzy-DickJanuary 25, 2015 at 8:48 AM

      Sometimes English even sounds foreign to me. I am just not good with languages, even the only one I speak.

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  4. EdJanuary 25, 2015 at 9:12 AM

    Rob has it right. If the captions had been in Spanish they would have still have said "speaking in foreign language" when the Indians spoke in their native language. It has nothing to do with which language is foreign in America; it has to do with what language the captions were written in.

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    1. Dizzy-DickJanuary 25, 2015 at 5:00 PM

      Spanish is a foreign language. (grin) The Indian language is native to America, all others are foreign. . . that is the way I see it.

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  5. TROUBLEnTXJanuary 25, 2015 at 9:21 AM

    DD you really need something to keep you busy,,,, lolololol

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    1. Dizzy-DickJanuary 25, 2015 at 5:02 PM

      Yep I guess I do. My son came up with his tractor and made us some raised beds for planting. That will give me something to do. I will post pictures later.

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  6. jimkabobJanuary 25, 2015 at 10:37 AM

    did the caption say "Kemosabe"?

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    1. Dizzy-DickJanuary 25, 2015 at 5:03 PM

      Actually. . . No. I guess Tonto was on another channel.

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  7. BarbJanuary 25, 2015 at 9:45 PM

    It probably says "Foreign Language" because they were speaking in their Native American tongue and the person typing in the words for the closed captioning didn't know what they were saying. I used to do hours and hours of transcription, and if there's something you can't figure out, you have to use a kind of "blank card" to insert to show there was something being said.

    I'd guess since the Native Americans weren't speaking a language that could be understood by a hearing person, the director of the film must have thought it wasn't important to the story, or the actions, etc. would be apparent to the movie watcher.

    You can see how seriously I took your pet peeve. LOL

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  8. msdixiepickJanuary 28, 2015 at 12:48 PM

    I wish they wouldn't just caption that they are speaking in a foreign language. To me that is stating the obvious. I want to know WHAT they said not how they said it. :)

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