And that subject line is just about it for my high school German, lo those many decades ago. :-)
Just a few random comments, probably nothing all that relevant to the discussion . . . I am always all admiration at fans who manage so beautifully to make their fan activity work in a language that is not native to them. More power to you.
I know there has been fandom in Germany for a long time, as I used to have a German "Star Trek" fanzine even back in the 70s. And I have a good friend in Germany who has been in fandom since the 80s, so we discuss German fandom from time to time.
But at least you guys have had a fandom presence over there. My Turkish friend (who actually married into the Air Force and has lived in the U.S. for decades) only extremely recently was made aware of an archive of fan fiction in Turkish. She is astounded to, at long last, read fan fiction in her native tongue.
Frankly, it's the whole dubbing thing that would be the dealbreaker for me. I won't watch dubbed movies when I go to the show, only subtitled ones. And when my friends and I watch anime, we won't watch anything that has been dubbed. You lose half the flavor of the show or movie that way. I know my German friend intensely dislikes trying to watch fandom favorite shows that are dubbed by German tv. Thank god for DVDs.
And it's interesting that you are talking about the "German discourse on racism," as I have recently been discussing this with my German friend. She's a teacher, and I sent her a DVD of a documentary-type series that was done her a couple of years ago, called "Black.White." In this series they made up a white family to look black and a black family to look white. So she's been watching this series with her students and generating much interesting discussion. And they invited a member of what I think is the only black family in their town to watch with them and take part in the discussion. One thing she mentioned to me recently is that one of her fellow teachers insists that her students can use only the phrase "heavily pigmented" when referring to black people, and that to use anything else would be racist.
That is *not* a phrase that would go over well in the United States, to be sure.
no subject
Just a few random comments, probably nothing all that relevant to the discussion . . . I am always all admiration at fans who manage so beautifully to make their fan activity work in a language that is not native to them. More power to you.
I know there has been fandom in Germany for a long time, as I used to have a German "Star Trek" fanzine even back in the 70s. And I have a good friend in Germany who has been in fandom since the 80s, so we discuss German fandom from time to time.
But at least you guys have had a fandom presence over there. My Turkish friend (who actually married into the Air Force and has lived in the U.S. for decades) only extremely recently was made aware of an archive of fan fiction in Turkish. She is astounded to, at long last, read fan fiction in her native tongue.
Frankly, it's the whole dubbing thing that would be the dealbreaker for me. I won't watch dubbed movies when I go to the show, only subtitled ones. And when my friends and I watch anime, we won't watch anything that has been dubbed. You lose half the flavor of the show or movie that way. I know my German friend intensely dislikes trying to watch fandom favorite shows that are dubbed by German tv. Thank god for DVDs.
And it's interesting that you are talking about the "German discourse on racism," as I have recently been discussing this with my German friend. She's a teacher, and I sent her a DVD of a documentary-type series that was done her a couple of years ago, called "Black.White." In this series they made up a white family to look black and a black family to look white. So she's been watching this series with her students and generating much interesting discussion. And they invited a member of what I think is the only black family in their town to watch with them and take part in the discussion. One thing she mentioned to me recently is that one of her fellow teachers insists that her students can use only the phrase "heavily pigmented" when referring to black people, and that to use anything else would be racist.
That is *not* a phrase that would go over well in the United States, to be sure.
ksl