Today ended up being a pretty lazy day. I went with some friends to a movie in the afternoon. We saw Blancanieves (Mirror, Mirror) with Julia Roberts and Lilly Collins--mostly because I was in the mood for something lighthearted. It was probably one of the worst movies that I've ever seen. I'm not sure how much it has to do with the fact that it was dubbed in Spanish or if it's that bad in English too.
In Spain, most TV shows and movies are dubbed in Spanish. In Alicante, I haven't been able to find any theaters that offer movies in their original version. However, when I lived in Madrid, I could find showings of movies in their original version. Some Spaniards I've talked to think that the fact that most movies/TV shows are dubbed contributes to the lower level of English that Spaniards have in comparison with the rest of Europe. If all American TV shows were just in English, people would have greater exposure to the language and more of an incentive to be able to understand. This is what happens in countries like Sweden and Germany--where the level of English is much higher.
According to a recent study, Spaniards have the third worst level of English in Europe--only coming in ahead of Turkey and Russia. The study contributed a number of factors to this low rank--such as beginning age of the students, the quality of the teachers, the amount of daily English exposure (in newspaper, TV, movies), and the method used to teach (often rote memorization). While the study has some bias as it wasn't completely randomized and it was sort of a self-selecting group, it does lead to some interesting questions about the role of English education in Spain. You can read the article here.
In order to save this blog post from being depressing, I'm going to post a picture to lighten the mood. Check out the parrots I saw one day on my way to the TRAM stop!
No comments:
Post a Comment