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'watching TV'

kelle poolt jawq81, 6. detsember 2008

Postitused: 34

Keel: English

jawq81 (Näita profiili) 6. detsember 2008 14:22.08

Sometimes an ordinary activity can be awkward to translate into Esperanto. For example, how would you translate "I am watching television"?

Mi rigardas televido. --- I am watching (viewing, looking at) television.
Mi rigardas la televido. --- I am watching (viewing, looking at) the television.
Mi rigardas la televidilo. --- I am watching (looking at) the TV (set). (different meaning altogether)

I suppose you could say "Mi televidas." but I really don't like that construction and will only use it as a last resort.

What say you? Thanks. demando.gif

RiotNrrd (Näita profiili) 6. detsember 2008 16:47.16

jawq81:Sometimes an ordinary activity can be awkward to translate into Esperanto. For example, how would you translate "I am watching television"?
According to the CEED (not necessarily the last word on the subject, but generally good enough for government work), "televidi" means "to watch tv". So while you might not prefer that construction, it does have some support in a published resource.

Contrary to how I would have guessed, it is listed as being transitive - although I suppose that makes sense considering a sentence such as "Mi televidis programon" (I watched a tv show).

(Which reminds me: don't forget the accusative ending - your examples are all missing them.)

Miland (Näita profiili) 6. detsember 2008 17:01.38

jawq81:..how would you translate "I am watching television"?
Actually, mi televidas* was the first thing that came to my mind. But mi rigardas la televidilon or mi rigardas al la TV should be all right. Don Lord's Conversational Esperanto refers to the activity of watching TV as telespektado. So one possibility may be Mi telespektas*, especially if you are a remote 'spectator' of an important event.

*(with an implied object)

erinja (Näita profiili) 6. detsember 2008 17:29.01

I only found "telespekti" used a couple of times online, and I have never heard it used. I wouldn't recommend it.

"Televidi" seems common online but I don't know that I've ever actually heard it used. But I don't frequently talk with Esperanto speakers about watching television, so it isn't a topic that comes up too much. Televidi seems to be seldom used with an object. If I wanted to use an object, I might say "Mi rigardas [name of the program]-n en televido", rather than "Mi televidas [name of the program]-n"

"Rigardi televidon" or "spekti televidon" are also used. The versions with "la" are not that common in my experience, perhaps because it doesn't matter which specific television you are watching, this one or that one, the point is that you are watching some television, any television.

jawq81 (Näita profiili) 6. detsember 2008 17:50.49

RiotNrrd, you are right! I have a bad habit of typing something, looking it over, clicking on 'send', and then discovering some mispellings and omitted accusative endings. Surely no one but me ever does that. rido.gif

mnlg (Näita profiili) 6. detsember 2008 18:36.40

I would perhaps say "mi rigardas televidon" or "mi televidumas", when I am just browsing channels. Then again, I stopped watching television years ago, so perhaps I wouldn't say that at all okulumo.gif

danielcg (Näita profiili) 7. detsember 2008 1:44.05

I would say:

"Mi televidumas", if I'm just zapping channels.

"Mi televidas la programon X", or "Mi spektas televidprogramon X", if I'm watching a specific program.

There may be different ways of expressing the same meaning.

Regards,

Daniel

jawq81:Sometimes an ordinary activity can be awkward to translate into Esperanto. For example, how would you translate "I am watching television"?

Mi rigardas televido. --- I am watching (viewing, looking at) television.
Mi rigardas la televido. --- I am watching (viewing, looking at) the television.
Mi rigardas la televidilo. --- I am watching (looking at) the TV (set). (different meaning altogether)

I suppose you could say "Mi televidas." but I really don't like that construction and will only use it as a last resort.

What say you? Thanks. demando.gif

jawq81 (Näita profiili) 7. detsember 2008 13:32.14

This thread worked as I hoped it would work: I asked a question about an ordinary activity in our lives that I was having a bit of trouble expressing in Esperanto and four users whose command of Esperanto I have come to trust responded. Thank you RiotNrrd, Miland, erinja and danielcg.

In general, I don't like English adjectives and nouns that have been changed into an Esperanto verb. It somehow sounds artificial and contrived. But I suppose that I had better change my mind about the verb "televidi". Too many experienced users seem to accept it. So I'm rethinking things. And use of the article seems to be unnecessary. So how are these examples?

Mi rigardas Star Trek-on en televido hodiaŭ vespere. = I am watching Star Trek on TV tonight.
Tre plaĉas al mi rigardi televidon. = It is very pleasing to me to watch television.
Ĉu vi televidas vespere? = Do you watch television in the evening?
Mi nun televidumas, sed se nenion estas interese ke mi volas rigardi, mi anstataŭe legos bonan libron.
= I'm channel-hopping now but if there's nothing interesting that I want to watch, I will instead read a good book.

But "Mi rigardas la televidilon" still conjures up an image to me of someone sitting in a room gazing at the blank screen of a television set. ridulo.gif

Any comments on anything I've said? Thanks, everybody.

danielcg (Näita profiili) 7. detsember 2008 14:57.36

Hi Jawq81.

First of all, thanks for your compliment.

With regard to "mi rigardas la televidilon", strictly speaking it means "I am looking at the TV set", without any reference to whether I'm watching a specific program or not, or, for that matter, whether the TV set is on or off.

However, I would use this phrase with a restrictive meaning, for example, if I'm in a shop choosing a TV set to buy, and so "mi rigardas la televidilon" would mean that I'm considering its features, its length, width, etc.

Regards,

Daniel

jawq81:This thread worked as I hoped it would work: I asked a question about an ordinary activity in our lives that I was having a bit of trouble expressing in Esperanto and four users whose command of Esperanto I have come to trust responded. Thank you RiotNrrd, Miland, erinja and danielcg.

But "Mi rigardas la televidilon" still conjures up an image to me of someone sitting in a room gazing at the blank screen of a television set. ridulo.gif

Any comments on anything I've said? Thanks, everybody.

Miland (Näita profiili) 7. detsember 2008 15:20.14

jawq81:Thank you .. Mi rigardas Star Trek-on en televido.. = I am watching Star Trek on TV..
Nedankinde!

'On TV' is a bit tricky because the word 'on' is used idiomatically in English. But sur is used for 'on' as in la bildo pendas sur la muro, and we see programmes 'on' the screen in a similar or analogous sense. So in my opinion it's all right to say Mi vidas (or rigardas) al "Star Trek" sur la televidilo (or, more loosely, simply televido).
You could say Mi rigardas al "Star Trek" per televidilo but that sounds a bit pedantic.
Two other possibilities that come to my mind are
Mi rigardas al "Star Trek" televide (thus bypassing the need to choose a preposition);
Mi televidas al "Star Trek" .

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