Since I had this week off, I’ve been watching quite a bit of TV. Probably more than I should. I’ve been trying to watch some Bosnian TV every day, to get used to hearing the language, but after about a half-hour, I am overcome by temptation, and switch to one of the channels in English.
When I was trying to think of a blog topic today, I didn’t feel like writing about anything too heavy. As I was giving up, and about to turn on the TV, it occurred to me that I could blog about TV! Sarajevo’s mix of cultures, languages, etc, is quite evident on TV, and flipping channels can actually be quite educational and interesting. So…
Here’s a basic summary of what our cable TV is like:
Channels 1-30 are mostly in Bosnian. There are a lot of local news shows, which seem very similar to local news shows in the US. There are some public access channels as well, one of which sometimes shows the orchestra. (I saw a brief clip of our Brahms 4 concert one evening!) It seems like there are a few Bosnian sitcoms. And sometimes sports are on, particularly soccer.
Some of the “Bosnian” channels are actually Croatian, Slovenian and Serbian channels. It’s usually hard for me to tell them apart, because the languages are so similar. I can distinguish the Slovenian channel because there’s a little word on the side of the screen that says “Slovenia” on it. The only other way for me to tell what’s what is that the Serbian channels have Cyrillic writing, and both the Serbian and Croatian channels have local news that focuses on their respective countries. I think there might be separate channels for Republica Srbska (the Serbian territories within Bosnia) and Serbia itself.
Also, I’ve noticed that the “Bosnian” channels sometimes play soap operas in other languages, with Bosnian subtitles. I’ve seen soaps in English, Spanish, and Russian. Watching Russian soaps with Bosnian subtitles is quite mentally taxing!
The channels in the 30s are mostly in English. Channel 33 is my favorite. It’s called “Foxlife”, and plays sitcoms all day, including How I Met Your Mother, Nurse Jackie, Sex and the City, and Entourage. I think the subtitles are Croatian, because “Hello” is translated to “Bok”, a common Croatian greeting. There is also “Foxcrime”, which plays crime shows (of course) and “Universal” which plays movies, and sometimes “ER”. Some of the channels in the early 40s are in English too, including CNN on 43. CNN is the only English channel without Bosnian/Croatian subtitles.
Next, there are a bunch of sports channels. Some of them give commentary in Bosnian, and some in English. At any given time, there is usually soccer, American football, golf, baseball, and cricket. I’ve asked my Bosnian friends whether people play cricket here, and they say no, so I’m not really sure why they always are showing cricket on TV!
The last 20-30 channels (Channels 50-70 something) are a mix of German, Italian, and music television. I find it interesting that the English channels have subtitles, but not the German and Italian channels. The German channel plays a lot of American sitcoms with German dubbing. Sara loves this channel. The Italian channel plays a lot of game shows, singing competitions, and sometimes movies. Morena loves this channel. So maybe I will end up learning some Italian and German words from the TV shows that my friends watch.
There is a lot of music television on Bosnian cable! There are two MTV channels and VH1, and they actually play music videos instead of reality shows. There are also a lot of Bosnian musical performances on TV, mostly of pop and folk music. After watching some singing competitions, I must say that Bosnia, despite being much smaller, seems to have better amateur pop singers than the US. (Well, at least than the people who get on American Idol.) The TV folk performances are quite impressive as well, and are usually accompanied by elaborate costumes and dancing.
Shows start and end at weird times here. (e.g. 9:10am, 11:55pm, etc) I think it’s because there are fewer commercials. In fact, I think there are about 20 commercials in Bosnian, and they just keep repeating them on all the channels. Haha. I already know most of them, like the a soup commercial where they say “ooh ooh” in the middle, and the Nivea lotion commercial with the pregnant lady moisturizing her belly. Also, each channel will advertise what’s coming up later on their network. Foxlife has really annoying commercials that manage to make even their good sitcoms sound like junk.
So there you have, Megan’s guide to cable TV in Bosnia.
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