The Foreigner's Guide to Slovakia

My father-in-law is staying with us for a few months longer. He understands little to no English and so watching American TV holds little interest. Thankfully, my husband is very computer-savvy and has hooked up the internet to our TV. There he connects to the Slovak TV station Markíza and my father-in-law can watch all the Slovak TV he wants with just a click of a mouse.

But let me back up a little and explain about Slovak TV in general. In addition to the cable subscription that of course allows access to more than a hundred stations in several different languages, there are three broadcast television stations available through terrestrial broadcasting:

• Markíza
• Joj
• STV
  
  

In my opinion, Markíza seems to be the most popular channel. Many people watch the evening news at 7pm on Markíza and watched Superstar – The equivalent to American Idol, when it was on.

I watch the Slovak evening news almost every day and understand so little (sometimes nothing). It got me thinking as to what shows I think are good when you don’t understand much but want to be either entertained, and/or practice your Slovak skills. Here’s my list (in no particular order):

• Modré z neba (Markíza) A person writes in to Markiza, asking them to make a wish come true for a deserving person they know. Make sure to have a handkerchief handy, this show likes to make people cry, guests and viewers.
  
  

• Bez servítky (Markíza) Five people who, over the course of five days, each host the other four for dinner. Each meal is rated and whoever has the highest score at the end wins a cash prize.
  
  

• Česko Slovenská SuperStar (Markíza) The equivalent of American Idol, this season’s reality singing-contest show finished in January. Due to the overwhelming popularity, however, it will certainly be back. This last season was different in that Czech Superstar and Slovak Superstar shows combined to create Česko Slovenská SuperStar with castings in Prague, Brno, Bratislava and Košice. Moderators and judges were both Czechs and Slovaks. I really liked seeing this collaboration. Not only did it widen the talent pool, it was a great opportunity for cross-cultural exchanges between Czechs and Slovaks.
  
  

• Pošta pre teba (STV) A person wishes to publicly express something to another person and who has just found the courage to do so. The show brings people together, such as a sibling who haven’t seen the other in decades, a person renewing an old friendship, or someone simply thanking another for profoundly changing their life.
  
  

• Ordinácia v ružovej záhrade (Markíza) A very popular soap opera centered around a maternity ward in a hospital.
  
  

There are plenty of game shows on TV but I haven’t found one that I’d particularly recommend. There are also plenty of American TV shows that are dubbed into Slovak. If you are familiar with the shows, it might be interesting to watch them in another language.

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