Comments for sursumcorda.salemsattic.com/post/vitus

Comment #844

2009-11-02T02:20:23Z

Now I really wish I could see it with you. I watched parts of it again, this time paying more attention to the language than to the plot. I'm fairly certain now that there is a lot of Swiss German in it, and also much High German. The Swiss German is in the more informal, intimate settings, such as family times, and the High German at school, in the workplace...and when Vitus is being scolded, though the last is also sometimes English. Of course this is 99.99% speculation on my part, hence my desire for you to see it. That and the fact that I think you'll enjoy it, of course.

Comment #843

2009-11-01T11:21:05Z

Teo Gheorghiu is Swiss-Canadian, born in Männedorf (Zurich). His mother is Canadian and his father Romanian, and he attends the Purcell School in England. Online stories differ slightly—surprise!—on the details, but that's the gist. I was wondering how he got a Swiss passport with two foreign parents, but it may be that he gets the "Swiss" label by virtue of birth and upbringing, not passport. He's fluent in four languages, they say: I would guess English, Romanian, Swiss German, and German, with English being his "mother tongue," or at least his mother's tongue, given his surname, which sounds more Romanian than Canadian. That and the fact that he's been living in England since 2001 would explain defaulting to British English.

Here's a great interview from about a year ago.

Comment #842

2009-11-01T09:07:32Z

I'd like to know more about him, because it sounds to me like he is quite comfortable with Swiss German but defaults into a nice British English (or at least not American). I'm quite impressed with how relaxed he is at the keyboard, and of course how well he plays. It would be a fun film to see sometime.