Re: Which DVD Player is more reliable?


<snip>

Brought it home and
hooked it up, actually followed some fairly clear instructions just to
see how good they were. Must have been written by someone with
English as a first language, because the English actually made sense,
without the usual stilted words.

<snip>

Philips are actually a Dutch company, so that's probably where the manual
originated. Interestingly though, the Dutch people speak English almost as
well as English people. I can easily work most of the near-European
countries on the radio, and it is always a pleasure to speak to the Dutch,
as they understand colloquial English and jokes just as any native English
speaker would. OTOH, if speaking to a German or French or Belgian ham for
instance, although they speak very good English - certainly much better than
I could speak their languages - I always find it necessary to keep it very
straightforward and 'text book'.

I once saw something that explained this as being to do with their proximity
to England, and their low-lying land, combining to give them good TV
coverage on UHF from south coast UK TV transmitters, so they grow up
watching UK / American TV as a 'free' supplement to their own. Is that just
the best example ever of a whole country being influenced by the power of TV
? I wonder if their ability to speak better English than their neighbours,
will decline when it all goes totally digital, and only the low power
transmitters are left here, which will probably struggle to make the trip to
Holland ?

Arfa


.

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