Television in Suisse Romande (the Western, francophone region of Switzerland) consists primarily of French and, to a lesser extent, German-language channels. There are also a handful of channels in Italian given that it’s the third most prevalent language in Switzerland. While a few English language channels are also available (e.g., CNN International, the BBC), they are almost exclusively news-related.
Given the limited English selection coupled with my desire to further develop my French, I typically watch the French language channels, whose content ranges from original French (or Belgian / Swiss) programming to foreign programming dubbed in French. Thus far, I’ve yet to become very attached to any of the original French language programming, aside from news and current events-related shows. Instead, I’ve been much more partial towards the English programming (almost exclusively from the U.S.) that has simply been redone with French voices.
The mix of U.S.-based shows is – for lack of a better word – "interesting". It is a collection of shows dating back to the seventies, ranging from critically acclaimed (e.g., ER, Law and Order (original and SVU), Friends), to simply popular (e.g., Melrose Place, Dawson’s Creek), to seemingly random selections (e.g., Knight Rider, Starsky and Hutch). There are also a significant number of animated shows such as the Simpsons, Family Guy and South Park.
For the most part, the voices in French are pretty well matched up with the original voices of the English-speaking counterparts. That said, every so often you’ll see a show where there’s a striking difference, which comes off as both funny and a bit hard to process. When you’re used to a specific character having a certain voice in the original show, it’s a bit weird to hear a completely different voice (irrespective of the different language). It’s hard to provide a concrete example, so I’ll rely on pure abstract – picture yourself watching Seinfeld in French and Jerry’s voice sounds more like that of James Earl Jones…
Given the limited English selection coupled with my desire to further develop my French, I typically watch the French language channels, whose content ranges from original French (or Belgian / Swiss) programming to foreign programming dubbed in French. Thus far, I’ve yet to become very attached to any of the original French language programming, aside from news and current events-related shows. Instead, I’ve been much more partial towards the English programming (almost exclusively from the U.S.) that has simply been redone with French voices.
The mix of U.S.-based shows is – for lack of a better word – "interesting". It is a collection of shows dating back to the seventies, ranging from critically acclaimed (e.g., ER, Law and Order (original and SVU), Friends), to simply popular (e.g., Melrose Place, Dawson’s Creek), to seemingly random selections (e.g., Knight Rider, Starsky and Hutch). There are also a significant number of animated shows such as the Simpsons, Family Guy and South Park.
For the most part, the voices in French are pretty well matched up with the original voices of the English-speaking counterparts. That said, every so often you’ll see a show where there’s a striking difference, which comes off as both funny and a bit hard to process. When you’re used to a specific character having a certain voice in the original show, it’s a bit weird to hear a completely different voice (irrespective of the different language). It’s hard to provide a concrete example, so I’ll rely on pure abstract – picture yourself watching Seinfeld in French and Jerry’s voice sounds more like that of James Earl Jones…
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