Russian T.V. in the USA

[Waitinggent 2]

Wow, that really is hardass. You sound like the dictator of your home. My fiance is quite reasonable and intelligent and I think she can tell me what she needs to be happy in America, and if she would like Russian T.V., that is good enough for me. Regardless of where she is living, she is still Russian and I don't have a problem with that, nor do I have a desire to forcefully Americanize her. A "smooth transition" is fine with me, if the alternative is some form of sink or swim transition, or shock therapy.

I absolutely refuse to have Russian TV in my house. If she's in America, she can watch American TV in English.

Not to be a complete hardass on the subject, but the more you "smoothly transition" her life, the longer it'll take for her to get acclimated.

[LvivLovers 39]

QUOTE (Март

@ Dec 22 2009, 02:12 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Also, for downloads, I suggest http://torrents.ru/

Oh, man. I showed Oleksandra how to use torrents. The very next day by the time I woke up she had already had like 150 things queued up and had downloaded about 50GB already!!! I had only showed her the basics and not explained the details. She didn't realize that most of the stuff was queued and only a few downloaded at any one time. So she just kept adding and kept adding. Good thing I found out as early as I did!

A couple of other things that she really liked...I installed a program that lets her save YouTube (or other streaming services) videos to her hard drive so she always has them without lag problems. Then I set up a media server on one of our PCs so she can watch them via our PS3 on a 127" projection screen. If not for all the school work she'd be glued to that 24/7!

[AKguy 1]

A couple of other things that she really liked...I installed a program that lets her save YouTube (or other streaming services) videos to her hard drive so she always has them without lag problems. Then I set up a media server on one of our PCs so she can watch them via our PS3 on a 127" projection screen. If not for all the school work she'd be glued to that 24/7!

I'll be in Russia at Anna's flat in 8 days and that's one of the first things I'm installing on her laptop, the video downloader... I get "requests" once a week or so to download about 40 youtube videos so I can email them to her.

[LvivLovers 39]

I'll be in Russia at Anna's flat in 8 days and that's one of the first things I'm installing on her laptop, the video downloader... I get "requests" once a week or so to download about 40 youtube videos so I can email them to her.

Cool. Hope you have a great trip! Make sure she has a big hard drive if you are going to turn her loose. haha Oleksandra has filled a couple TB already. She insists on having everything in her own collection "in case it disappears"!

[Jeff and Tatiana 0]

Well for me Tatiana speaks english fluently and honestly has a degree in English as a educator. hehe, So her wanting to watch Russian TV, well that is not a big deal. She cannot wait to get here so she can get caught up on her CIS Miami and CIS NY and her NCIS shows. lol. She is a crime drama junky.

I also use the PS3 as a media playing device for my Theater Room. It is just so great to watch something you d/loaded even if it is a little clip or something. I have even at times, just taken all the you tube stuff, droped it into movie maker and merged it into one file. Then play it on the big screen.

-Jeff

[BluesTraveler 0]

She has even gone so far as to take some Russian DVDs she brought with her and add subtitles to them by hand (a really time-consuming process) so we could watch them with her. She just really lights up when she can share her movies with us.

Do a google search and you can download the subtitles for just about any movie you can imagine. The subtitle files are in plain text with the time marks and the corresponding text.

[Waitinggent 2]

How exactly does that work? On what device are you referring to?

Do a google search and you can download the subtitles for just about any movie you can imagine. The subtitle files are in plain text with the time marks and the corresponding text.

[slim 1,525]

Ditto. No Russian TV at our house. Wife did not want it anyway. She knew she would improve her English much quicker listening to American TV. She actually prefers to read so we are buying good books in Russian, and she is reading the Russian news on the internet. I'm probably the one that should be watching Russian TV to improve my Russian.

My wife does the same thing. She has a library of books here and isn't too interested in TV. She has some movies and will watch stuff online sometimes but she's never really pushed for Russian TV. She'll get a "care package" from back home with movies, Komedy Klub, etc., and that'll keep her going for a while.

I try to impress upon her that there's not a lot of time to watch TV and movies when you're busy working full time.

I don't think I'm biased in saying tht their special effects aren't very special!

Nope, you're definitely not being biased - they SUCK!

On an unrelated note, she just finished her first full semester in college and got 5 A+'s. I like to think I'm just a great tutor!

Way to go, Oleksandra!

So this was a "family grade?"

What I meant was that I don't want to be put in a position by my husband who gives me a grief about watching Russian stuff Maybe it's couterproductive for those women who just came in to the States and trying to learn English, but I think at this point my English is OK and I should be allowed to watch Russian movies

My wife is free to pay for whatever channels she wants. I didn't specifically opt to not get any Russian language channels when she came here, it's just a pain in the @$$ and kind of expensive. Plus, I would rather she do "as the locals do" while she's here.

I hate to be a ####### about it, but her life is here now, not in Russia. If she doesn't like that, she's more than welcome to pay for as much Russia as she wants. Til then, I'd be happy just having her pay for some America.

Wow, that really is hardass. You sound like the dictator of your home.

That's not what it sounds like here. Around here I'm known as "f'king loser who can't take care about his wife and never do nothing in his life. Only blat, waste time on blat, internet and stupid f'king visa journey, blat." For a dictator, I sure do spend a lot of time at work while she's here at home doing whatever it is she does.

My fiance is quite reasonable and intelligent and I think she can tell me what she needs to be happy in America, and if she would like Russian T.V., that is good enough for me. Regardless of where she is living, she is still Russian and I don't have a problem with that, nor do I have a desire to forcefully Americanize her. A "smooth transition" is fine with me, if the alternative is some form of sink or swim transition, or shock therapy.

Check back when she's more than a fiance. Dare I say all that, "she can have whatever she wants" mentality may be gone.

[LvivLovers 39]

Do a google search and you can download the subtitles for just about any movie you can imagine. The subtitle files are in plain text with the time marks and the corresponding text.

Good info. Do you know if there's any app that will merge those into an .avi, .mpeg, etc.? That would rock. In any case, that'll help, so thank you!

[LvivLovers 39]

Way to go, Oleksandra!

So this was a "family grade?"

All depends how you look at it I guess. I guess it was a family grade in that she wouldn't have done as well without my help. Funny thing is that I never did so well in college. I spent quite a bit of time reviewing her writing, helping her improve grammar, helping with math word problems, etc...basically all the English stuff. Her English is really good, but in complex writing she sometimes doesn't get the exact meaning.

[etripke 0]

I have had DirecTV for years. I bought the International Programming for my wife and she has had it since her arrival. We had Ukrainian programming at first, but later switched the Channel 1 Russia. I don't mind watching it, some of the programs are interesting and entertaining and I get some glimpse of what is making news over there. Overall it is worth the cost to us.

I know some may not want their wives/husbands to have this. That's your choice, but it ultimately offers them some choice and "control" over the household and within the marriage.

Edited December 23, 2009 by etripke

[AKguy 1]

Good info. Do you know if there's any app that will merge those into an .avi, .mpeg, etc.? That would rock. In any case, that'll help, so thank you!

Are you looking to rip a DVD to an MPEG or AVI? That's simple enough, then you can you a couple of different media players (Media player classic, VLC) to read both the movie and subtitle files together. If you've already got the AVI or MPEG, then it's one step less.

I've never looked for a program that would hard encode the subs into a video file, but I'm sure they're out there if you want to go that route.

[LvivLovers 39]

Are you looking to rip a DVD to an MPEG or AVI? That's simple enough, then you can you a couple of different media players (Media player classic, VLC) to read both the movie and subtitle files together. If you've already got the AVI or MPEG, then it's one step less.

I've never looked for a program that would hard encode the subs into a video file, but I'm sure they're out there if you want to go that route.

Ah ok. If there's a way to play them together I wouldn't need to re-encode the subs. I've never tried doing anything with subtitle files. Sounds like I just need to play around with them...wow...my wife is going to freak out if there's an easy process for this. Thanks much for the info.

[visaveteran 1]

So...do you all watch porn in English or Russian?

I am with Slim on Russian TV and movies. Total immersion in English. When in Rome, do as the Roman do. No matter how you slice it, English or Russian, someone's not going to understand what's going on during a show unless someone understands both languages. Better to err on the side of the local language and promote teaching of the necessary language of English.

I understand the argument to soften the transition but it's annoying to hear Russian in one room of the house and English down the hall. Whenever I hear Russian I think a fight is about to break out. And it sounds like shouting. What a unique language. I think in general, Russians speak a couple of octaves higher than we do...at least the women do. I wonder what our neighbors must think?

If a Russian TV will cure homesickness, then get it. But that money could go towards ESL classes or a good bottle of Vodka.

[slim 1,525]

So...do you all watch porn in English or Russian?

Both!

I am with Slim on Russian TV and movies. Total immersion in English. When in Rome, do as the Roman do. No matter how you slice it, English or Russian, someone's not going to understand what's going on during a show unless someone understands both languages. Better to err on the side of the local language and promote teaching of the necessary language of English.

If it was as easy as paying $10 more per month or something, we'd have them. But, they're not offered through our service provider without some pains and a lot more money so we don't have them.

I think immersion is important, especially when it comes to TV. If you're constantly watching ONLY Russian TV (or an American going to Russia and watching ONLY American TV) then you'll never fully make the switch to your new country. So much of the media has nothing to do with language. It's about culture. How else is she going to get fat, lazy and b!tchy without American TV telling her to?

I understand the argument to soften the transition but it's annoying to hear Russian in one room of the house and English down the hall. Whenever I hear Russian I think a fight is about to break out. And it sounds like shouting. What a unique language. I think in general, Russians speak a couple of octaves higher than we do...at least the women do. I wonder what our neighbors must think?

What's really funny is when we first moved to this apartment our next door neighbors were Lithuanian. Having only heard "the King's English" for my whole life (with a little bit of urban flair and/or hillbilly twang at times) I was worried those around us would call the cops when my wife was "expressing her emotions" late at night. Well, thanks to our neighbors, it was pretty acceptable and my wife fit right in with all those "crazy Europeans" on our street.

I have noticed when hanging out with her friends that it's quite OK to be loud, regardless of where you are or what time it is. How do you counter someone being loud? You just get louder! - Beating them up seems to be acceptable too.

If a Russian TV will cure homesickness, then get it. But that money could go towards ESL classes or a good bottle of Vodka.

I'll stress it again - her life is here now. All this "I want her to remeber where she's from and never lose touch with her friends and family" ####### is just fine if you're financially well-off enough for her to be able to continue to do so. If you're in the case where she needs to come here and work for a living, contribute to the well-being of your home and participate in making something of a life here in America, something even as simple as Russian TV channels will detract from that.