MovieChat Forums > Dalziel and Pascoe (1996) Discussion > Question for American Viewers...

Question for American Viewers...

posted 9 years ago by robstackley
14 replies | jump to latest

I was raised on PBS, "Dr. Who", "Monty Python", "Prisoner", etc...my love of British programming has grown all my life.

I love "D & P", and my question for other American viewers is...does anyone else have challenges understanding the dialogue? Let me state for the record that I'm not one of those who believe TV dialects should be watered-down for global consumption...quite the contrary. There are simply times in "D & P" when I struggle with totally understanding what they're saying.

Since my PBS doesn't offer "CC" for "D & P", I ordered the DVD prints from Netflix so I could watch with English subtitles. Wow, what a difference!! One thing that struck me from this experiment is that part of the problem stems from the locals seeming to simply drop definite articles from their speech...the example I remember best was the daughter saying, "I only went supermarket", while the subtitling reads, "I only went to the supermarket". Also, in the same episode, ("Clubbable Woman") Arthur's tasty wife has a really interesting (and HOT!) accent that I couldn't even throw a UK dart at...it was like no accent I'd ever heard before.

Anyway, I digress...I was just wondering if any other American viewers struggled with the dialect.

[–] SrEditor 9 years ago

I'll chime in, although my experience is not what you're looking for.

I gave up doing without cc years ago, right after I discovered that, even though my hearing is not impaired, I understood so much more when I used subtitles...even when the show is American standard, which I'm most familiar with.

So many things are said sotto voce AND in the US the "Valley Girl" accent, which tends to blur words and drop the ends of sentences into oblivion, has influenced that "standard," causing many otherwise clearly enunciated statements to be unintelligible.

Because I use cc for everything, I had no trouble with D&P.

[–] robstackley 9 years ago

Hi, Sr...

That was actually very enlightening and interesting to read, and I thank you for taking the time to respond. I wonder if another element to your observation is the advent of 5.1...that the range of spoken words can be so varied due to surround sound...

I was also comforted to discover that "Doctor Who" is sped up in the U.S. to facilitate commercials that are not present in the U.K....'cuz for awhile I was thinking, "What the heck, is this 'Doctor Who' or 'Gilmore Girls'?"

[–] de3206 9 years ago

I watch SO many UK copper shows, that i can understand most of the dialects, mostly i think because i did use CC on every show that offered it, so i guess i sort of half-a**ed learned them. Really heavy Geordie or Welsh still leaves me guessing half the time.

[–] robstackley 9 years ago

I've gone through a couple more discs...and I've noticed that, much to their credit, they've really left the local phrasing intact..."Grassing" on your mates, which I would never have comprehended without being able to contextualize it through sub-titling..."Nowt" and "owt",...

As a Chicago native, I realize that I could write a script that would be rough waters for the rest of the world, and, believe me, I wouldn't have it any other way.

[–] de3206 9 years ago

I think you will find this in all the good UK copper shows. Foyles War for one, even more in Inspector Gently where you get that north accent. Tyneside way. And Vera, with Northumbria..

I'm an American too, and after a year of training using closed captions, I can understand most of the regional dialects and just enjoy the shows.

If you want and oldie, and want to try Edinburgh, Taggart is great for that education

[–] robstackley 9 years ago

Thanks so much for the info, de...in my area, WTTW and all its' weird affiliates broadcast some of those titles under the umbrella of "Masterpiece Mystery", and I've stockpiled a lot of them on the DVR...I just haven't gotten to them yet! Also, one thing that fascinated me, is at the beginning of the "D & P" discs, there are the obligatory trailers for other crime dramas, and I was beoggled to discover that one of my favourite actors, Ian McShane, starred in a crime drama in his "yoot"...and I want to check those out as well.

[–] de3206 9 years ago

Almost all of them are available on Amazon Video with the Acorn add-on subscription
Foyle's War (my all time favorite), Midsommer Murders, Vera, inspector gently, inspector Lewis and Endeavour, both masterpiece mystery along with the new one Grantchester.
I love all the good UK copper shows. Let me know when you run out of those

[–] SrEditor 9 years ago

Sorry to tap into your conversation with rob... but I'm looking for additional guidance on Taggart.

Assuming that I find a source, do I have to start at the beginning? As a rule, I do start a show I haven't seen before from the beginning...but the beginning of Taggart is back with the dinosaurs 😉!

[–] de3206 9 years ago

Taggart is on Acorn, which you can subscribe to via Amazon video these days, and no, you don't have to start at the beginning. It's not like shows today, where there is much of a continuing storyline. It's like Dalziel and Pacoe, you can pick it up pretty much anywhere on the line.

Its very much a product of its time, a dinosaur as you say, but although it's not great, because of its age, I like to watch it occasionally just because the setting is different.

I don't binge watch it though. Small doses. And if I recall, you don't like Frost. This doesn't pretend to be funny, as Frost does, but it sort of feels similar.

Crusty old Taggart and Oxford (or Cambridge) educated young pipe smoking DS.

[–] nicky-682-764451 8 years ago

Can I just point out that Taggart is set in Glasgow! I think early on there were a couple of episodes that took them to Edinburgh but the vast majority are set in Glasgow.

[–] JGandB 9 years ago

It can be a challenge to my American ears but I love hearing all the different dialects.

One question...how is "Dalziel" pronounced and where does that come from?

[–] SrEditor 9 years ago

The pronunciation is Dee'-el.

There's a whole thread on here somewhere (or at least there used to be) explaining all its etymology (Scottish, IIRC).

[–] pgooden 8 years ago

Yes sometimes I do have trouble- same as with the actor who plays Sherlock in Elementary , but I still enjoy the series

[–] LCShackley 8 years ago

I enjoy watching the captions when the captioners don't understand what the characters are saying, but they guess anyway.