Television
Watching television in a new country is fun. More than the actual shows, I love the commercials. You see, commercials, like humor, vary from place to place, and it is interesting to see an entirely new type of idea. Add this to the fact that here in Malta we get television from many countries, and things get a bit unique.
At first, just the thought that we get television stations from Malta, Italy and the UK, along with US cable channels such as Discovery and National Geographic, was exciting in itself. I sat there and went from one to the other, incredulous that I could travel around the world with the flip of a button. And then one day I discovered something even odder. I was watching the National Geographic channel, in English, and all of a sudden the commercials came on in… Romanian. It was no accident, as even the NG logo announcing them was in Romanian. I was hooked. I began to watch NG for the commercials, and would change the channel when the show came on. I pointed this out to M, and he said it is not unusual, and that they used to get the Dutch NG before.
A few days went by, and I stopped on MTV. I had been avoiding the US channels, as the European ones still have the novelty effect on me. They were having a European top 20 countdown, with songs from different countries. Then the commercials came on… in Turkish and Hebrew. They kept alternating. And you see, the Maltese market is very small (population 400,000) so hardly anything is made specifically for it. Except for local companies advertising directly in Malta, commercials and the like are often borrowed from the UK, as English is an official language and the historical ties with Britain are recent and strong. So it seems that with the cable system, they pick and choose channels from all over Europe, with the result that I am now hooked on commercials.
Well, not only commercials. I also watch Maltese TV to try to get exposure to the language, and Italian TV as I have always loved the language, and as I did not have cable TV for the past few years, channels such as Discovery and NG and the others are nice to have as well. To be fair, I do spend relatively little time in front of the tube. But the internationalness of it all keeps bringing me back.
This has to be the best idea EVER, Gregorio! Happy New Year by the way. I’m still not sure if I should be saying happy rosh shashanna ( i know i spelled that wrong) or just say rosh shashanna. Anyways, sorry I haven’t written - the move, the party & grad school absolutely took my attention away from my email duties. But I am absolutely elated to read about your journey through Maltese culture. Be assured that I’ll be reading with glee about what happens with you. And by the way the blog looks fabulous. It almost makes me want to move my blog over from myspace to blog.com. Eh, we’ll see how much time I have (after completing my homework) to do such a thing. Anyways Greg, know that I’m thinking of you and that you’re blog totally stopped my morning exercise routine in it’s tracks.
Love you,
Patricia
I LOVE commericals from other places too! I am so happy that you made the move! How exciting! I am allways suprised at how some other countries don’t see nudity and sexuality as a big deal.
Patricia: neither way. The Holyday is called Rosh HaShanah, and the Hebrew greeting…
Are you ready for a mouthfull?
Practice it: “Ktiva vchatima tova, leshana tova umtuka”.
What?
OK, here it goes phonetically transliterated into Spanish:
“Ketivá vejatimá tová, leshaná tová umtuká”.
Too long?
Just say “shaná tová” (lit. “good year”), it will do.
Yiddish-speaking Jews will more likely use the Yiddish greeting: “gut gebetch yohr”.
And the Maltese?
Ask Greg!
I LOVE COMMERCIALS TOO. Ever since I was a child, I glance over actual TV shows and GAWK like a rabid dog at commercials. I love them. Akin to mini movies. 30 second mini movies. You are pulled in through sight and sound… and 30 seconds later, allowed to move on (with or without popcorn).