What Grinds My Gears. Part 2.

I saw a TV show on History the other day - a foreign person spoke. An interpreter translated dubbing the speech with a voice-over. However, the interpreter was also trying to simulate an accent! Here is the video.
 

That was preposterous to me. Why would anyone translate a speech of a foreigner into English with an accent?! It didn't make sense.  

First of all, the interviewee spoke WITHOUT AN ACCENT, because he spoke his native language! Second, the accent-enhanced translation sounded nothing like the original. The interviewed man was Russian. I am Russian too. I can tell the difference...

Here's my scholarly take on it: an experiment. My wife and I talked in Russian for some time, allowing our English-speaking friends to listen to our speech. Then, I showed them the above mentioned video and asked if we had sounded anything like the copied accents. Out of six interviewed people, five answered “no.”

What I have described here is frequent on American TV. Simply, pay attention while watching it next time... I suppose, the simulation of the accent may have been used for entertainment purposes. However, I am convinced it misinterprets the language patterns and misleads the perception of an important cultural element.

And this, my friends, is what grinds my gears!

 

What Grinds My Gears. Part 1.

I saw a traffic jam today. Actually, I got into one. But while sitting in the bumper-to-bumper flow, I remembered something outstanding.

Approximately two months ago, I was traveling on I-43 northbound. When I reached Mequon, the traffic slowed down and then halted. "An accident ahead," I thought. However, there were no emergency vehicles in sight - I judged by the absence of sirens and police lights.

Then, as I had moved closer, I noticed a stream of black smoke rising behind the tree line ahead. "That's it - the accident for sure," I figured. "The cops are probably farther down."

But when I finally reached the spot (40 minutes later), there were no cops, no emergency vehicles, AND NO ACCIDENT!

The black smoke was coming out of a chimney of a house on the opposite side of the road. I had no idea what the owner was burning in there, but a bunch of idiots in cars ahead was definitely burning my time and patience!..

The smoke was thick and black - what else is new? But, it did not block the traffic. However, almost every car stopped for few seconds so that the moron behind its steering wheel could stare at the fume. Duh!.. Then, they would continue full throttle on the absolutely free highway leaving the long traffic congestion behind.

This is how people create problems out of nothing! And this, my friends, is what grinds my gears!