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vahinkoelainThis week I've started a Swedish course, after not having any of those for about a year.
The Good: Our teacher made us do a listening exercise that was part of a few years old matriculation exam. And guess what? I got 17/20 right! I haven't forgotten as much as I thought!
I've been practicing German lots lately, though, and that shows. I kept trying to pronounce "sjukskriven" (= on sick leave) but it always came out as "sjuk"-schriewen *rolls eyes*
The Bad: Something in the listening exercise made me really upset. It was a short snippet that went something like this: "Dear [Radio show], I'm writing to you because... my wife hit me. She hit me and yelled that I wasn't strong enough for her. ... I love her dearly, but I just wish she'd stop hitting me. She's got such a strong temperament. How can I make my wife stop hitting me?"
This was just the part I heard - he might have gone on about how he felt/did not feel intimidated by her, but I'm not sure.
First of all, it just upset me to be reminded of domestic violence. It always upsets me. I mean, yeah, domestic violence is a part of our culture that we should talk about, but this is a matriculation exam! We can't discuss it here, we just have to listen. And this could have upset a student and made him/her blow the matriculation exam. (And to those who don't know, it's a really important exam!)
Secondly, I didn't really understand if it was meant to be serious or not. I mean, the things the man said sounded pretty realistic as things that a battered husband would say (giving her excuses like "it's just her temperament"), at least in my opinion, but the voice actor REALLY overdid his sad tone of voice. It wasn't "I am sad and slightly worried about my situation." It was "I am a little wussy who is really, really, really afraid of his wife! I'm so pathetic!"
I'm 100 % sure that it wasn't me projecting my prejudice onto his tone. It was definitely comical. Either it was meant to be that way, which is disgusting, or the voice actor is the worst actor ever.
The Good: Our teacher made us do a listening exercise that was part of a few years old matriculation exam. And guess what? I got 17/20 right! I haven't forgotten as much as I thought!
I've been practicing German lots lately, though, and that shows. I kept trying to pronounce "sjukskriven" (= on sick leave) but it always came out as "sjuk"-schriewen *rolls eyes*
The Bad: Something in the listening exercise made me really upset. It was a short snippet that went something like this: "Dear [Radio show], I'm writing to you because... my wife hit me. She hit me and yelled that I wasn't strong enough for her. ... I love her dearly, but I just wish she'd stop hitting me. She's got such a strong temperament. How can I make my wife stop hitting me?"
This was just the part I heard - he might have gone on about how he felt/did not feel intimidated by her, but I'm not sure.
First of all, it just upset me to be reminded of domestic violence. It always upsets me. I mean, yeah, domestic violence is a part of our culture that we should talk about, but this is a matriculation exam! We can't discuss it here, we just have to listen. And this could have upset a student and made him/her blow the matriculation exam. (And to those who don't know, it's a really important exam!)
Secondly, I didn't really understand if it was meant to be serious or not. I mean, the things the man said sounded pretty realistic as things that a battered husband would say (giving her excuses like "it's just her temperament"), at least in my opinion, but the voice actor REALLY overdid his sad tone of voice. It wasn't "I am sad and slightly worried about my situation." It was "I am a little wussy who is really, really, really afraid of his wife! I'm so pathetic!"
I'm 100 % sure that it wasn't me projecting my prejudice onto his tone. It was definitely comical. Either it was meant to be that way, which is disgusting, or the voice actor is the worst actor ever.
