I'm once again able to blog while watching TV in the comfort of my own home, although it's not quite as nice as the wi-fi setup at our old place on Tverskaya. Let me explain. We moved a month and a half ago to a temporary apartment in preparation for moving back to the US, and I've only just now realized that ROL online internet cards (which use dialup) aren't really that bad a deal, and 45.2kbps is a perfectly tolerable speed for many online tasks.
So, we're watching "Sex and the City" on NTV (where it's "Seks v Bol'shom Gorode," of course), and I couldn't help but noticing a moment where the usually excellent translators fell down on the job (like with many dubbed TV shows, on this one you can hear the original English-language dialogue, although it's quieter than the Russian-language voice-over) - Miranda is complaining to Carrie on the phone about some relationship problem, and in English she says, "I'm so f***ed up," which is translated as "Это так ужасно," which means roughly "This is horrible" in English. Not a very momentous observation, but I really just wanted to revel in the fact that I can now make such observations in real time. Thank you, ROL.
Friday, August 12, 2005
Lost in translation
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3 comments:
Have you been home since you've gone to Russia?
When I came back to the US from Moldova for the first time it was strange. One of the first things I had to get used to again was holding doors for other people, besides my fiancée.
I've been home at least twice a year for either business (luckily my former employer is headquartered in DC, which gave me the chance to actually go home when I had to go there for meetings) or on vacation. We've spent the first 2 weeks of January in the States each of the past 3 years, I think, but it's always some kind of a whirlwind road-trip. But the last time I was in the US was 8 months ago, which seems like a pretty long time to me.
I assume you're referring to the fact that door-holding doesn't always go over well in the States; well, I'm counting on the fact that DC is a southern city at heart to allow me to get away with that minor sin. I am more worried about all of the relationships I'll be leaving behind in Moscow and all of the familiar sights, sounds, and attractions, which I'll definitely miss. Right now, I understand more than ever the expats who have been here for 10 or 15 years and don't plan to leave. But when I stop to think about it, it's a good thing to be leaving - I need to reconnect with my family & friends in the US and have a change of pace.
The scary thing is that I may not even realize all of the things I'm going to have to change about the way I act on a daily basis (getting back to the door-holding example) because I'm so out of touch with how people behave in the US. I guess I'll find out if that's the case soon enough. So, were you in the Peace Corps in Moldova (I ask that only because it's the most common way for Americans to find there way over there)?
No, I was not in the peace corps. I was visiting my fiancée, who had gone home for a few months to turn in her thesis and take some state exams.
Coincidentally, I met some peacecorps volunteers on a maxi-taxi from Chicago and some other Austrians doing charity work at a place called Cinema Club, which is a small venue where you can pay $20 to have them show whatever DVD you want on a small home-theatre set-up.
That night I had paid for us to watch "The Unbearable Lightness of Being," which in hindsight is quite an irony to show in a former-Soviet country.
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