trilingual at two, mother is a technobobo
last weekend, i bought a tagalog cartoon dvd for jan, allegedly the first all-filipino animated series on dvd. well, i wouldn’t know. i don’t know what the kids watch back home.
anyways, i got it in the hopes it would help jan learn the filipino language, and well, introduce him finally to the pleasures of sitting in front of box. afterall, he’s more than two, and he’s probably the only child i know who doesn’t watch tv. well, ok, not strictly true; he watches the evening news with his dad. ngek!
so there i was, eagerly feeding the dvd player (yes! we found the receipt and got the kaputt player replaced!) and checking it out. wow! the tutubi patrol animation comes to a par with disney or looney tunes! and with english subtitiles, it might even help hubby to learn some tagalog, as well. it’s difficult to believe this is all-pinoy!
except that… i saw it in black and white. apparently, our dvd player and jurassic tv are strictly PAL and play films made with NTSC system in black and white. shit.
and i watched dekada 70 last week, thinking it was ingenious of the director to make the film in black and white. double shit.
i mean, what is this with these various systems? why make some PAL and some NTSC? why make some region code 1 and some region code 2? why make some DVD+R and some DVD-R? why some 110v and some 220v? arrrrgh!
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30 Responses to “trilingual at two, mother is a technobobo”
November 30th, 2004 at
on techno-kabobohan: ha ha ha !!! hindi ka nag-i-isa dyan kapatid!!! pag-dating sa ganyan…duh?! speak english please…
November 30th, 2004 at
mama-san, business lang yan lahat. shempre people will create a format na hopefully, papatok sa tao. and dig this: don’t you hate the region 1, 2, 3, etc of these dvd players? i don’t know what region you have, but here in belgium, region 2 kami. bad trip kaya! tapos sa tateh, region 1. e shempre hello, galing akong pinas, di marami akong dvd na region 1.
as for dvd’s na pang-pinoy, meron ako ditong dvd na “mga awit bulilit”, shot in himlayang pilipino (yes, before they tore it down for naia 3 na hindi naman binuksan for eons). maganda siya, kasi traditional folk songs natin naron, meron ding mga “paa tuhod balikat ulo” and “enero… disyembre” and “ang pagsisipilyo araw-araw daw po ay mabuting gawain…” and “bayang magiliw perlas…” and “panatang makabayan (would you effing believe that? hahaha)” and “pen pen de sarapen”… etc blah blah ad infinitum… i’m actually singing out loud while typing this out para tama ang lereks…
ito off tangent, pero you so remind me of my sister in law. sya si ‘dolphin chronicles’ sa links ko.
November 30th, 2004 at
Uy, don’t be too hard on yourself! Kung tunay kang techno-bobits, paano mo kaya napaandar yung mga equipment sa lab? Hmmm, sige nga!
November 30th, 2004 at
i think there’s a multiregional DVD player but I’m not sure. I know, its such a hassle.
November 30th, 2004 at
tinhekmi is right. many dvd players sold in the philippines are region free and can be set to either PAL or NTSC depending on the dvd. that’s how i get to enjoy my BBC programs on UK produced DVD.
at any rate, hope you enjoy watching dvd with the little one.
November 30th, 2004 at
yup, meron na ngang multi-regional dvd players. but it wasn’t like that in the beginning.
November 30th, 2004 at
haha yan din ang tanong ko kasi nakaka-frustrate talaga kasi nga PAL din kami dito sa NZ. So what we did was buy multi-system VHS player and TV for our use then bought a multi-system VHS player for my parents’ use back home para mapanuod naman nila ang aming home-made videos! may haka-haka si hubs dito pero tamad na ako mag-explain! hehe
November 30th, 2004 at
ay, natawa naman ako dun sa dekada 70 thing. hehe. eniweys, does papa piolo look as good in black and white as he does in full color? i bet he does!! he is, afterall, papa piolo!!! sigh…
November 30th, 2004 at
“…thinking it was ingenious of the director to make the film in black and white.” Hahahahaha! Muntik na ‘kong naihi sa katatawa!
December 1st, 2004 at
Buti na lang ruth di ka nag Blog ng Movie Critique about it… ” Praises to the director for the ingenuity …making it black and white comparable to the ranks of schindlers list blahblah…”
After all the piolo frenzy and that film, you missed out on one factor…and of all the things KULAY pa LOOOL!!! a Classic dvd joke. makaupdate din nga ng knowledge on dvds…
December 1st, 2004 at
but wasn’t dekada 70 a really wonderful film?
i was amazed at the jeeps
i mean, i remember them from very early childhood 
December 1st, 2004 at
svelte, pinayhekmi and catsudon: yes, the dvd player we had before was multiregional, or code zero, as they call it here. when we got it replaced, i figured i didn’t need a multiregional one afterall as long as it plays pinoy vcds. our fault was, we didn’t check if it could also play NTSC.
hay naku, either we get this dvd replaced again, or get a PAL/NTSC tv. but hubby’s getting embarassed with this replacement hoopla, we’ll probably end up coughing out money for a new tv. i hope we get the right one this time.
December 1st, 2004 at
karen, aba, pag hindi umaandar ang equipment, tawag ng technician! kamalayan kong magkali-kalikot ng mga yan, no!
December 1st, 2004 at
buttgirl, shy mango: o di ba, blooper talaga? pero fafable fa rin si fiolo, kahit b&w! hehe
jing: mismo! akala ko sinadyang mala-schindler’s! buti na lang na-discover ko blooper ko before i blogged about it.
delish: and the corny jokes! grabe, brings me back down the memory lane talaga. and vilma’s clothes, ganun na ganun ang mga damit ng nanay ko, parang mga duster, haha!
December 1st, 2004 at
Kahit ano pa’ng sabihin mo, ako ang original technobobo. I wouldn’t even have a site if not for fafa Jay… hehe. E magplug nga lang ng mga appliances, takot ako e. Kelangan in place na siya, at wag na wag mong tatanggalin ang plug, kundi di ko siya magagamit… hahaha!
December 1st, 2004 at
ay oo nga, miss jet. mas grabe ka pa pala. may trauma ka ba sa electric appliances?
December 1st, 2004 at
haven’t tried the one you sent me pero B&W? pag nagtanong si C2 bat ganon color sasabihin ko kasi pinoy nyahaha di niya ma-ge-gets yung techno explanations
December 1st, 2004 at
justice, if you’re able to watch pinoy movies with color, then it should also work. check mo na agad.
December 1st, 2004 at
Meron pong multi-region na DVD players, but you have to complement that with a MULTI-SYSTEM TV as well so it could play back NTSC, PAL and SECAM. Dito sa UK, they call it with “NTSC Playback” kse PAL dito. But it gets worse kse I once brought my TV from Spain dito sa UK and there was no sound! Turns out, iba ang audio frequency dito sa UK than the rest of the mainland Europe. Asar! So, I had to sell that and get myself a new one here.
I suppose the regions are anti-piracy measures. As for the different playback systems, beats me…hmm, ma-research nga…
December 2nd, 2004 at
question pala regarding your trilingual son… doesn’t he get confused with the three languages? does he realize that he’s speaking three languages, or is just one rich language for him? i have a friend kasi who has a bilingual daughter. trilingual if you include bisaya.
it’s interesting coz most of the time, she uses both the english and the tagalog words to express something… like, “daddy, this is good. ayos.” or “it’s cold. lamig.” or “bye! sige!” … do you observe something like this with your son?
December 3rd, 2004 at
ruth, the dekada ‘70 comment was hilarious! btw, what was the filipino cartoon you bought for your son? as to the technobobo thing, been there, done that too. like jet, i have this phobia of putting in the plugs. paano kung makuryente ako, no one will know nangangarag na pala ako. hirap especially if you live alone. ikaw set up lahat, etc. but nothing compares to sitting back and watching, say, dekada ‘70 even if it’s in black and white di ba?
December 3rd, 2004 at
buttgirl: at the moment, jan is bilingual lang; had virtually no exposure yet to filipino, unless you count those sporadic times that i’m with pinoy friends. his major lang. is german, english being the secondary. it used to be the other way around, pero lakas ng influence nung playgroup eh. yes, medyo parang confused sya, combining both languages in one sentence: “nicht go home!” pero am confident it will segregate properly later on. afterall, justice’s daughter is the same and seems to master both languages equally well.
December 3rd, 2004 at
yupki, the dvd is called tutubi patrol, produced by toppeg animation. ang galing! and what i like is that it teaches values most western cartoons don’t. (biased, hehe..)
ako, my nightmare naman is forgetting to unplug/switch off stuff. pag may dumadaang firetruck in the direction of our flat, i’m always making a mental inventory of the last items i used, and try to remember if did shut them off. praning, no?
December 3rd, 2004 at
buttgirl: oh i forgot to add: jan does recognize that there are two diff languages. sometimes he says: daddy says auto, mommy says car. i have to remind him, but he can switch to english when talking to me. ang fault ko lang, minsan, lalo na pag pinagagalitan ko, i’m the one switching to german, hehe…
December 3rd, 2004 at
actually, it’s amazing, kasi at this age C2 already starts to ask me what is this and that in tagalog…interesado na siya and ready for the 3rd ’sprache’, so timing itong CD that you told me about.
it’s funny nga kasi medyo slang siyang magsabi ng words in pinoy so lalong cutie
December 3rd, 2004 at
Beauty, sabi ko paano mo napaandar yung lab equipment, di ko sinabing paano mo naaayos! LOL!!! Ikaw talaga, advance mag-isip. Kung nakakapag-assay ka, kaya mo ring paandarin yang DVD player na yan! Sus! Ano panama niyan sa autoclave? Mwahahaha!
December 4th, 2004 at
ah, so maybe it’s just like us pinoys learning tagalog and english at the same time. katuwa naman. it’s really amazing how kids can absorb all these things in such a short span of time. Promil baby pa anak mo. Before you know it, mas magaling na syang mag-german sa yo!
December 4th, 2004 at
he watches the evening news with his dad<—-hehe ganyan ata ngayon! si seb din with Uli BBC news ev’ry night sowsko! big no no daw tv eh no choice sya if he really have to watch the news! kaya hayan! hehe confusinggg nga mama! hanggang ngayon hindi ko pa rin alam paano i off yung fax tone pag kausap kita! nyaaaaaaaaks kitam hindi ka nag iisa*wink*
December 10th, 2004 at
hahaha
on DEKADA 70… the super fit shirts and ultra short shorts kaya… worn by the men at that!!! hilarious!!!
other fones frighten the life out of me… then again, i love my camera naman… 
pero as a rule, basta engines and techie stuff… wala akong alam 
on TECHNIKABOBOHAN…. kaya nga Nokia phone ko, user-friendly eh
December 14th, 2004 at
that was a very funny boobooo though, you shouldn’t curse yourself to death
hehehe. we all go through these funny moments…
and your child watching the news with his dad, aliw!