Shakespeare: Original pronunciation (The Open University)

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  • Опубликовано: 22 дек 2024

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  • @eXcommunicate1979
    @eXcommunicate1979 8 лет назад +1663

    There's a wonderful father-son dynamic in this video.

    • @arturwojciechowicz3124
      @arturwojciechowicz3124 5 лет назад +11

      Shakespeare sounds like county English then and now. BBC made English a bit robotic but it was in 20's-30's.

    • @LeslieAM32
      @LeslieAM32 5 лет назад +5

      I know!! I loved it!!

    • @mrinvader
      @mrinvader 5 лет назад +7

      Enviably awesome dynamic

    • @playingbadgolfwell9732
      @playingbadgolfwell9732 5 лет назад +25

      Agreed. And it's apparent that they have such esteem for one another as professionals.

    • @volvanochaser1099
      @volvanochaser1099 3 года назад +4

      The father shows professionalism by wearing a suit for this, but the son is dressed as if his attire doesn’t matter

  • @thurstonxander
    @thurstonxander 5 лет назад +1555

    I love the pride in the fathers eyes while watching his son perform. As a dad, this made me smile.

    • @nouveau_nouveau
      @nouveau_nouveau 4 года назад +39

      As a son, this also made smile

    • @timflatus
      @timflatus 4 года назад +37

      I love the look that passes over Ben's eyes as he tries to remain focused on his father's spiel that he's been listening to since childbirth. :D

    • @tranquilrabies
      @tranquilrabies 4 года назад +30

      Loved this Shakespeare nerd father-son duo! They would probably be having this same conversation even if nobody was around.

    • @mitchellhawkes22
      @mitchellhawkes22 3 года назад +14

      Best part of the video, that pair.
      Makes me miss my dad, who couldn't recite verse, but was my business partner and a fascinating bloke.

    • @MaxOakland
      @MaxOakland 2 года назад +3

      It’s cute. I like how they can work together

  • @rolfwolf1346
    @rolfwolf1346 8 лет назад +2420

    As a native german speaker, it was actually easier for me to understand OP than the modern version. It seems to me that OP conforms more accurately to the way letters are pronounced when spelled individually. It sounds more "German".

    • @emmetor
      @emmetor 8 лет назад +109

      You should search for that Eddie Izzard video where he buys a brown cow from a farmer in Friesland, using middle english

    • @TheTaterTotP80
      @TheTaterTotP80 8 лет назад +58

      Well it's a Celtic language and Germanic. There's a lot of research now into how Germanic it really is, both Germanic and Celtic languages possibly come from the same Proto base and Celtic influenced Germanic languages a lot, but for a long time that's gone understated.

    • @LoanwordEggcorn
      @LoanwordEggcorn 8 лет назад +141

      +TheTaterTotP80 English is a Germanic language with a few Celtic borrowings. It has a lot more French borrowings.

    • @한성빈-t3f
      @한성빈-t3f 8 лет назад +7

      thats because old english is built upon german dumbass

    • @LoanwordEggcorn
      @LoanwordEggcorn 8 лет назад +47

      Einarr Michaelsson Correct. English is Germanic with mostly French borrowings. If one goes back far enough in the language family tree, most, but not all, languages in Europe in recent centuries have a common ancestor in Proto-Indo-European. That was quite far back in human history.

  • @oulipolesceptique9449
    @oulipolesceptique9449 5 лет назад +192

    I had no idea that David Crystal would be narrating this video with his son. Having read pretty much every book that the father has written about language, but never having heard him talk, I was immensely pleased to find this video, and to find that his son is as much given to the study of language as his father.

  • @naturlichich218
    @naturlichich218 6 лет назад +1094

    Ben has quite an epic voice. He should record audio books

    • @1elt
      @1elt 4 года назад +3

      👍🏻👍🏻

    • @danielsqd
      @danielsqd 4 года назад +28

      So deep and so soothing

    • @dreaming_cthulhu
      @dreaming_cthulhu 3 года назад +24

      He’s also super handsome

    • @aw2740
      @aw2740 2 года назад +2

      ASMR

    • @bluesque9687
      @bluesque9687 2 года назад +6

      Yea record Shakespeare's books especially!!!!

  • @kayamateful
    @kayamateful 11 лет назад +71

    My favorite thing about this whole video is the relationship between dad and son. Imagine having the same intellectual interests as your dad and being able to study it together -- how cool.

  • @brt5273
    @brt5273 4 года назад +165

    "There's something about working our way back to Shakespeare, rather than dragging him into the 20th century" Very true, and as stated earlier it changes more than just the pronunciation of words. There is a shift in consciousness and an experience that is unrealized otherwise.

    • @JR-zi9vj
      @JR-zi9vj 2 года назад +3

      Cultures comedy, expression, irony, satire change entirely in languges especially when u go back hundreds of years

  • @robins7730
    @robins7730 5 лет назад +863

    For some reason the OP sounds just like Hagrid's accent to me.

    • @pianofry1138
      @pianofry1138 4 года назад +38

      I was gonna say Agird too Aryy

    • @TheAngryCoyote
      @TheAngryCoyote 4 года назад +33

      I thought Barbossa from PotC

    • @fds7476
      @fds7476 4 года назад +109

      Yeah, because Hagrid's and Barbossa's dialects are from approximately the same region:
      Somerset and Avon.

    • @georgejo7905
      @georgejo7905 4 года назад +15

      scots kept it alive

    • @metteholm4833
      @metteholm4833 4 года назад +3

      It sounds rather like some irish -and Yorkshire mix.

  • @saltycrunch
    @saltycrunch 8 лет назад +889

    Ben (the son) Crystal needs to narrate Shakespeare for audiobooks.

  • @catherinekyngdon327
    @catherinekyngdon327 7 лет назад +89

    I really couldn't 'read' Chaucer's Tales until one day I began to read it with the accent of my former, very elderly, English neighbour. Couldn't stop me then. It rumbled along, brightly and merrily. I could understand it and it rhymed beautifully.

    • @Bklyn93
      @Bklyn93 Год назад +15

      Could you perhaps make a video of you reading it in said accent? I’d be curious to hear

  • @happyuk06
    @happyuk06 8 лет назад +78

    Superb. The BBC should start broadcasting late-night Open University modules AGAIN.
    There was nothing quite like coming home bladdered on a Friday night and sitting through these lectures, which though they tended to go right over my head, I still felt like I was being educated somehow.

  • @IamGulzow
    @IamGulzow 5 лет назад +817

    I have honestly never been a big fan of o'l Billy Shookhisspear, but hearing it in op makes it sound down to earth and charming rather than highfalutin and pompous. I could get into this.

    • @rage8010
      @rage8010 5 лет назад +72

      Interesting, I agree. I think your comment puts it into words for me.
      It changes the whole tone tbh. Much better imo.

    • @mikeschouten4732
      @mikeschouten4732 5 лет назад +8

      Well said...I’ve always felt the same.

    • @ThinWhiteAxe
      @ThinWhiteAxe 5 лет назад +20

      @Bigdog Billdog yep, and very bawdy at times 😅 he knew what was popular

    • @SXJAYSX
      @SXJAYSX 5 лет назад +13

      Also I could listen to this guy read me his grocery list and still fall in love lol

    • @pragon1173
      @pragon1173 5 лет назад +28

      You should see drunk productions of Shakespeare and you'll see how grounded his works are

  • @joewalker643
    @joewalker643 8 лет назад +490

    I knew it! It's something that has always bothered me about "The Tyger" a poem by William Blake. The main part goes "Tyger Tyger burning bright, in the forest of the night. What immortal hand or eye, dare frame thy fearful symmetry." It always bothered me during gcse English that he went to such great lengths to make the whole thing rhyme apart from eye and symmetry and I put it to my teacher that perhaps the word at the time was pronounced more like sim-e-try and she had no clue. I knew it.

    • @stephenf.8186
      @stephenf.8186 6 лет назад +84

      Joe Walker / in this instance, the word 'eye' is pronounced - aye, that would rhyme with symmetry - as should be pronounced - 'sim-e-tray' (short - e). | The 'ay' in pronouncing 'eye' are slurred together almost as if the 'a' can barely but noticeably be heard. Kind of either old-style cockney or Irish accent on the word 'eye'. | 'Symmetry', is not pronounced 'symme-try', but here, as well, the 'y' has an 'a' invisibly sitting on its left, and is also slurred in to the 'y'. ~Now read the lines again, pronouncing them in the above noted fashion. Hope this makes sense. | Again, 'aye' & 'simetray'. | The 'y' in symmetry is cut short, not dragged out. [Don't forget the accent when pronouncing]

    • @badjemima
      @badjemima 5 лет назад +12

      I think by the time Blake was writing, we were in the modern English period. Shakespeare lived 200 years earlier.

    • @StarlitSeafoam
      @StarlitSeafoam 5 лет назад +20

      @@badjemima It's called the Modern English period, but the most widely spread accent in London at the time was probably closer to OP than modern accents. Whether they still pronounced "eye" and "-y" endings exactly as in Shakespeare's day probably depended on the person, since some areas might have held onto the pronunciation longer than others. I *think*, though I'm not sure, that there might be some areas that still use a similar pronunciation. I don't know where Blake was from originally, but he lived in London for years, so quite possibly spoke with an OP like accent. Accents probably changed a bit slower thanks to there being no way to transmit the sound of human speech except actual contact.

    • @daviddemar8749
      @daviddemar8749 5 лет назад +8

      Me too ! It stumped me in high school and college and for decades afterwards. It's jarring in modern English, but it's stellar in OP !!!

    • @andrewdevine3920
      @andrewdevine3920 5 лет назад +5

      Well, you must be very smart. Give yourself a pat on the back.

  • @nonotreallyok
    @nonotreallyok 8 лет назад +229

    I need these two to do a podcast of the complete works of Shakespeare.

    • @beth9015
      @beth9015 5 лет назад +23

      Ben already has several audiobooks including Shakespeare in OP.

    • @LQOTW
      @LQOTW 2 года назад

      @@beth9015 Awesome, thanks!

  • @pineapplepeanuts
    @pineapplepeanuts 7 лет назад +568

    He mentioned the humor. I took an English lit class and got to reading Shakespeare for the first time and noticed the same thing. Couldn't believe how raunchy and irreverent his work was. Everyone assumes that his work is like holy scripture that should be read in a Catholic ceremony or something. Not the case. Very racy at times. And the puns are genius.
    This info on the accent sheds even more light on it. Great stuff.

    • @04nbod
      @04nbod 5 лет назад +47

      I knew Shakespeare could be bawdy but I had this reaction to Charles Dickens. We expect the Victorians to be so austere but he is hilarious.

    • @pillbobaggins2766
      @pillbobaggins2766 5 лет назад +28

      He also invented a lot of phrases we use today like “wild goose chase”

    • @elizabethh8579
      @elizabethh8579 5 лет назад +25

      A similar lofty ideal can be applied to Mozart.

    • @GenieGin13
      @GenieGin13 5 лет назад +34

      absolutely! for the average person who didn't do music, they know mozart the music prodigy and a fancy composer. for musicians classically trained, we can't not have a laugh about it. "Leck mich im Arsch" (literally "Lick Me in the Ass")

    • @Goldenretriever-k8m
      @Goldenretriever-k8m 4 года назад +5

      well the bible has a lot of violent and raunchy stuff in it too

  • @omarahmed83
    @omarahmed83 4 года назад +813

    Normal People: I'm hungry mom
    Shakespeare: Birthgiver, let it be known that this stomach consists of emptiness

    • @MATRIXDEMI
      @MATRIXDEMI 4 года назад

      ruclips.net/video/HkO0Nk6V1_s/видео.html

    • @benparsons4979
      @benparsons4979 4 года назад +30

      I have a friend who actually speaks like that on occasion and it's the most annoying thing

    • @omarahmed83
      @omarahmed83 4 года назад +2

      @Quentin Shock lol 😆

    • @safinarana1974
      @safinarana1974 3 года назад

      😁

    • @fajarnur3750
      @fajarnur3750 3 года назад +6

      It’s beautiful tho

  • @dawayGodmademe
    @dawayGodmademe 10 лет назад +88

    The young bloke's voice in op is GORGEOUS. I have already begun planning our wedding.

  • @haleydunning3819
    @haleydunning3819 6 лет назад +288

    that "actor impression" Ben did made me laugh my ass off, I know way too many actors who sound EXACTLY like that

  • @RonRicho
    @RonRicho 8 лет назад +34

    Aside from the brilliance of this short video this is a glimpse of a wonderful father/son relationship and I am a bit more than envious.

  • @l1233799
    @l1233799 5 лет назад +806

    Here from the Today I Found Out channel

  • @ejcm55
    @ejcm55 7 лет назад +29

    To me this was like music appreciation. Yes. Ben's voice is compelling in any register. You have introduced me to concepts I have never considered. Thank you both.

  • @MichaelBerthelsen
    @MichaelBerthelsen 8 лет назад +283

    Pardon the language, but that sounds badass. It's an amazing experience to hear the OP, and how much more alive it feels, compared to modern English.

    • @Morfeusm
      @Morfeusm 8 лет назад +15

      Michael Berthelsen you have nothing to apologize. It's fucking amazing accent! It really shows what means to put something out of context. It sterilize the plays in a way, methinks...

    • @CelestialExility
      @CelestialExility 4 года назад +2

      I know this was 3 years ago, but...
      “Pardon the language”... Boomer spotted

    • @MichaelBerthelsen
      @MichaelBerthelsen 4 года назад +1

      @@CelestialExility I'm 32, dipshit.

    • @iKSmurf
      @iKSmurf 4 года назад +1

      @@CelestialExility A boomer in his prime.

  • @jaymcmurdo5584
    @jaymcmurdo5584 8 лет назад +96

    Hounds = 'ewnds = West country
    Lines = laynes = West Country
    Rounded 'R's = Irish, West Country
    Dropped 'h's = Yorkshire
    Film = 'fillem' = North East
    Fire = 'Fiyer' = North East
    Port of Mars = Port o' Mars = Yorkshire
    Hour = 'orr = Northern Irish
    Interesting!

    • @StormkeeperXS
      @StormkeeperXS 8 лет назад +14

      "Fillum" for "film" (or similar) also appears in Irish.

    • @flossie5432
      @flossie5432 8 лет назад +4

      It does, but my great grandad was still calling film "Fillum" in the 1930's.And he was from Shropshire-not too far from Warwickshire or the Midlands ,where the OP accent derives in this video.

    • @gewgulkansuhckitt9086
      @gewgulkansuhckitt9086 5 лет назад

      Also, Fire = "Fiyer" in the song "Fire" by the Ohio City Players.
      ruclips.net/video/1xqMY8UAGgg/видео.html

    • @SG-1-GRC
      @SG-1-GRC 5 лет назад +1

      Fiyer is Yorkshire as well. Depending on how rural the speaker is. I've heard fire pronounced like that in Holmfirth. To me OP sounds like a mix of Yorkshire and Norfolk/Suffolk accent. Often archaic pronunciation and older words have been preserved in more isolated parts of the country. I used Thee and Thou as a child as did my peers. I only dropped it when I had speech therapy to overcome a lisp. Although Thou was pronounced Thar and thy self was thissen.

  • @Anna-lo5up
    @Anna-lo5up 4 года назад +1661

    so you're telling me the West Country have been speaking CORRECTLY this whole time?

    • @BillClinton228
      @BillClinton228 4 года назад +42

      Irish... yeah seems like it.

    • @eruantien9932
      @eruantien9932 4 года назад +95

      Actually, it's neither. I can hear bits of Irish and bits of West Country in there, but there's bits of other accents in there too. Which makes sense really, London at the time was as much a melting pot as it is now, and people were also leaving London to go to other places; this is why we hear Irish and West Country, and why in some bits or OP performances you hear bits of Australian accents and US accents too.

    • @Anna-lo5up
      @Anna-lo5up 4 года назад +68

      @@eruantien9932 there were no British people in Australia until 1788. There were no British people in what is now the USA until 1607. Shakespeare died in 1613. There was no such concept at the time- let alone 'American' or 'Australian' accents, so what you're saying about those is completely irrelevant. My comment was actually a light-hearted dig because a lot of people in the UK have preconceptions about West Country people which don't particularly fit in with the thespian scene, and Irish people sound completely different to OP, so that leaves, well, West Country....

    • @EliteRock
      @EliteRock 4 года назад +1

      Yep, even if they do have trouble with 'open' vowels. The name of the city of Bath might well be correctly pronounced as it's spelled ('baath'), rather than the way those from the Thames Valley do ('barth'), but at least the latter can do the both the open and closed 'a' (along with the other vowels) required for both pronunciations.

    • @jonathanaldecoa1099
      @jonathanaldecoa1099 4 года назад +12

      Owen Palmer indeed good sir, sounds very West Country. You can hear West Country in Appalachia America and the islands off North Carolina as well.

  • @kirsteni.russell5903
    @kirsteni.russell5903 6 лет назад +49

    OP is delightful! I would love to hear a Shakespeare play rendered in that "earthy" accent.

  • @mixolydian2010
    @mixolydian2010 8 лет назад +74

    I am blown away bye the innuendo, puns they have demonstrated. Reminds me of my time battling through Finnegan's wake there are many puns around Shakespeare and many more of the cycle of death and birth and sex. The text as read in OP was a revelation, wonderful video and work they have done.

    • @Efreeti
      @Efreeti 7 лет назад

      Exactly my reaction to hearing it as well!

  • @frantic1971
    @frantic1971 8 лет назад +316

    Does anyone else think that Ben Crystal (the younger man) has the dreamiest voice? I could listen to him all day....

    • @2HRTS1LOVE
      @2HRTS1LOVE 5 лет назад +25

      He needs to read audio books.

    • @kathybramley5609
      @kathybramley5609 5 лет назад +1

      @@2HRTS1LOVE He probably does...

    • @_Cato_
      @_Cato_ 5 лет назад +7

      jack johnson
      I mean, it also helps that he's a handsome dude

  • @andymac4883
    @andymac4883 5 лет назад +58

    The comment on the pun of loins/lines in the prologue to Romeo and Juliet makes me wonder if another possible pun was intended; the way scene is pronounced like sin. "In fair Verona, where we lay our sin."

  • @petrosE75
    @petrosE75 6 лет назад +28

    Great video! You and your son have an amazing passion for history. More than that, your father-son relationship speaks volumes of your dedication as a parent.
    (I visited the Globe once. The history was palpable.)

  • @kevina6416
    @kevina6416 3 года назад +12

    I love how pointless and yet not pointless this line of work is. It's beautiful if you think about it. I wouldn't have it any other way. Keep up the good work. I hope new generations follow in your footsteps and keep history alive.

  • @stevekaczynski3793
    @stevekaczynski3793 8 лет назад +179

    The impression I get is that Shakespearean Londoners spoke rather like West Country people today. Irish and Scots also preserve some aspects of older English pronunciation. Even Americans, perhaps.

    • @stevekaczynski3793
      @stevekaczynski3793 8 лет назад +2

      Yes, and scholars studying his work claim to find Warwickshire dialect words here and there. But he wrote his plays for a London audience in the first instance and the actors were probably mostly Londoners too. He could not have afforded to be too Warwickshire, I suspect.

    • @stevekaczynski3793
      @stevekaczynski3793 8 лет назад +1

      Given the difficulties of travel in those days, I suspect most of them were from the southern half of England at least. In "A Dead Man In Deptford", Anthony Burgess has Londoners trying to lynch a man from northern England because they believe he is Flemish. Looking at Shakespeare's contemporary playwrights and where they came from, Marlowe was from Canterbury, Ben Jonson was born in London though his family reputedly originated in the Borders near Scotland, Thomas Nashe was from Suffolk and Gabriel Harvey from Essex. In fact Shakespeare's origins lay further north than most of them, and he may well have had a distinctive accent in London terms.

    • @AndresLopez-rv9sz
      @AndresLopez-rv9sz 8 лет назад +5

      "Even Americans, perhaps." LMAO!!
      I love us Americans, but I have to admit that we have the least expressive, least interesting of all the major English-language accents!!! :P

    • @AndresLopez-rv9sz
      @AndresLopez-rv9sz 8 лет назад +2

      Good point; the peripheral (read: non-general) accents of American English seem to be far more expressive!
      Unfortunately I'm "cursed" with having the blandest, most Midwestern of American accents-but don't get me wrong: I completely appreciate sounding like the likes of George Clooney, et al. ;)

    • @stevekaczynski3793
      @stevekaczynski3793 8 лет назад

      Did Clarice Starling in "Silence of the Lambs" have a Shakespearian accent?

  • @williamb1195
    @williamb1195 5 лет назад +18

    Having read so much of Shakespeare I found this awesome. Totally fascinating. And great dynamic between father and son. One of the best videos I have seen on any topic!

  • @SammyJ_Studios
    @SammyJ_Studios 8 лет назад +193

    I want to adopt this accent and use it forever

    • @VarietyGamerChannel
      @VarietyGamerChannel 8 лет назад +16

      You want to be upper class Irish?

    • @SammyJ_Studios
      @SammyJ_Studios 8 лет назад +10

      VarietyGamer Actually yes, that would be awesome. I actually love Irish culture. My channel name is even made up of phonetic Gaeilge.

    • @captaincinema5066
      @captaincinema5066 8 лет назад +8

      No one will ever know what in hell you are talking about. :-)

    • @jeffreysetapak
      @jeffreysetapak 8 лет назад +4

      Never mind, he will suffer the consequence, not you. Who cares???

    • @freedomwarrior7734
      @freedomwarrior7734 8 лет назад +2

      Problem is just that most people wont understand you.

  • @suzylux
    @suzylux 8 лет назад +49

    It's amazing isn't it? Changes everything; so much of the tone, meaning and intention of Shakespeare's plays is not what we thought it was.

  • @sircharlesmormont9300
    @sircharlesmormont9300 4 года назад +19

    Ben's got a fabulous voice! I want him to just sort of growl stuff in the background while I tackle my grad school work.

  • @Chief2Moon
    @Chief2Moon 5 лет назад +23

    The constant evolution of language does indeed make it a living thing.

  • @CaitlinDull
    @CaitlinDull 5 лет назад +32

    This is amazing. I wish I could watch these being performed in OP. This is so cool.

  • @Bearsca
    @Bearsca 10 лет назад +15

    Two thoughts run through my head after having watched this: 1) I've never been this excited about anything having to do with Shakespeare before. 2) I'm completely falling in love with Ben.

  • @aysardrabick5021
    @aysardrabick5021 10 лет назад +161

    I love this! Shakespeare was one of my favorite classes I took in undergrad college. The gentleman who taught it was the school's dean: it was his one class he taught, and he would get really into it- he'd jump on top of desks and start sword fights to get us into the play readings! I was indifferent to Shakespeare prior to his class, and left the course loving the plays! I've even been to the Globe theater to watch a play in London since then!

    • @bri-annaedwardine1697
      @bri-annaedwardine1697 7 лет назад +1

      Except it's called the Globe theatre if it's in London dear.

    • @_hexes_
      @_hexes_ 7 лет назад +1

      Man, consider yourself lucky: I have an exam tomorrow morning for my undergrad Elizabethan Shakespeare class with the most boring professor of all
      If I had your professor maybe I would've read the plays a bit more!

    • @kentondickerson
      @kentondickerson 7 лет назад +4

      My twelfth grade English teacher danced around the waste basket as she chanted "Double double toil and trouble fire burn and cauldron bubble".

    • @whitetigress7448
      @whitetigress7448 7 лет назад +3

      Ass is spelled the spelled the same way whether you're British or American.

    • @Jillybeth
      @Jillybeth 6 лет назад

      Aysar, my Shakespeare prof played all the parts, too, with great gusto! His classes were the most popular in the department!

  • @isabelamacavei8418
    @isabelamacavei8418 Год назад +3

    What a lovely relationship between father and son! I learned more from this video than ever before about Shakespeare. Ironically, I take an etymology course, and this was an extraordinary lesson for me. Thank you!

  • @freitagt1553
    @freitagt1553 8 лет назад +1508

    "You're a wizard harry"

  • @coffeemachtspass
    @coffeemachtspass 6 лет назад +7

    I had some free time last year and started reading Shakespeare on a whim, which I hadn’t done since school. I’ve really come to enjoy the stories and characters, but more than anything, the tremendous flow of the words. God, what a talent. This video has made it even more intriguing.

  • @victoriacpurington1742
    @victoriacpurington1742 5 лет назад +6

    Love it! The relationship between father and son is also a marvel to behold. Wonderful!

  • @beckynelson6786
    @beckynelson6786 4 года назад +9

    David Crystal has done some great work on linguistics. Respect!

  • @annosborne-reed2365
    @annosborne-reed2365 8 лет назад +26

    I'll have to say that after listening to OP I understand a bit more about the dialect of the Appalachian people in the US. So very similar.

  • @RockLegend2A
    @RockLegend2A 8 лет назад +79

    Ben's rightward slant in posture makes him look like an Assassin's Creed character.

    • @adamharris-batt6333
      @adamharris-batt6333 5 лет назад +1

      That's so specific but I know exactly what you mean lmao

  • @iOnlySignIn
    @iOnlySignIn 10 лет назад +709

    So OP sounds like Hagrid?

  • @zahemiazulislami2595
    @zahemiazulislami2595 6 лет назад +13

    It is great to have your son inherits your dad's interest and becomes part of the faculty

  • @trancehi
    @trancehi 10 лет назад +27

    I'm from the West Country (Somerset) but don't have an accent. That example sounded like a Somerset or Devon accent you sometimes here, especially from old people.

    • @knucklesamidge
      @knucklesamidge 10 лет назад

      what accent do you have? received pronunciation?

    • @knucklesamidge
      @knucklesamidge 10 лет назад +2

      SteveTwoTheO I think he means he doesn't have the Somerset accent. And he may have the neutral received pronunciation accent which can be found all over the country.

    • @trancehi
      @trancehi 10 лет назад +12

      SteveTwoTheO
      Where did that aggression come from mate?
      I don't have a typical regional West Country accent and have a neutral English accent. Why is that hard for you to comprehend and resort to calling me a fucking moron?

    • @knucklesamidge
      @knucklesamidge 10 лет назад +2

      ***** I think he thought you meant that you didn't have any accent at all. Which is commonly thought of because you don't notice your own accent.

    • @theowletblog
      @theowletblog 10 лет назад

      That's exactly what I thought; I'm from Bristol!

  • @ChrisTopheRaz
    @ChrisTopheRaz 8 лет назад +11

    I now must re-read every play from the top. Brilliant....I love this new perspective knowing it was the intended perspective.

  • @carlmac4446
    @carlmac4446 8 лет назад +159

    I prefer the original pronunciation

  • @zaphodbeeblebrox3986
    @zaphodbeeblebrox3986 4 года назад +84

    When Ben speaks OP he sounds like he has a subwoofer in his chest.

  • @activeentropy
    @activeentropy 5 лет назад +7

    Absolutely fascinating, love the extra depth gained to the old English tales.

  • @Industrial_R
    @Industrial_R 4 года назад +3

    I so enjoyed seeing the love and pride in the father observing his son throughout this video.

  • @Pliskkenn
    @Pliskkenn 10 лет назад +157

    So my Devon accent is actually closer to Shakespeare than my terrible attempts ate a news reader's voice.

    • @colinp2238
      @colinp2238 7 лет назад +1

      Yow shud tri it inna brummie accent bab

    • @limeykl
      @limeykl 6 лет назад

      colin Paterson lol!!!

    • @matildas3177
      @matildas3177 6 лет назад

      Personally I think it sounds a bit German. It shows the roots of the English language more than todays modern pronunciation

    • @YangSing1
      @YangSing1 6 лет назад +5

      Matilda S I’m from England I don’t think it sound like German, it sounds like Old English

  • @annereidy7981
    @annereidy7981 4 года назад +7

    Ben has a beautiful voice, so much so, that I wish all Shakespeare were delivered this way. I think I was one of the lucky audience members at the Globe for this version of 'Romeo and Juliet'! Thank you for this, much enjoyed!
    And, of course, Ben is so right about theatre times, I saw Mark Rylance play Richard II at the Globe in the early evening, and the performance was brilliant in the sense that you felt you were listening to the appeals of Richard, himself. Never forgot it, making eye to eye contact with Richard II as he sprinkled rose petals into the audience!

  • @candiduscorvus
    @candiduscorvus 8 лет назад +594

    So in Shakespeare's time the English sounded like pirates. It's amazing how much sense this makes.

    • @bri-annaedwardine1697
      @bri-annaedwardine1697 7 лет назад +103

      Joke... why do Shakespearean actors sound like pirates? Because they ARRRRRRR

    • @mfulton1608
      @mfulton1608 7 лет назад +27

      A pirates favourite letter isn't Rrrrr . They loves the Cccc !!!

    • @TitanFind
      @TitanFind 6 лет назад +33

      Most modern Americans essentially sound like pirates. It’s all rhotic. Indeed, only a few American dialects are non-rhotic, most obviously Boston, and this is regarded by Americans as sounding very funny. Whereas of course in the UK it’s the rhotic accents that seem comedic.

    • @TheTaterTotP80
      @TheTaterTotP80 6 лет назад +6

      No. This is one dialect and accent of the many accents that exists now in Britain and did then.

    • @TheTaterTotP80
      @TheTaterTotP80 6 лет назад +24

      Americans don't sound like Pirates at all. Nor West Country (except for that West Country region in North Carolina where they still sound British and somewhere in Virginia with the same). Rhoticism =/= Pirates. There's more to the accent and dialect than that.

  • @harrycook9041
    @harrycook9041 5 лет назад +71

    I've met Crystal in real life, he's really, really nice and intelligent.

    • @kaymuldoon3575
      @kaymuldoon3575 4 года назад +4

      Trekkie 135 he seems like a really nice guy. Both of them, actually.

    • @ianhowlett4682
      @ianhowlett4682 2 года назад

      I agree. I’ve been to several of his lectures (first in about 1996, last in 2019 I think). He is incredibly knowledgeable but also very friendly and approachable. He’s got an infectious enthusiasm for his subject, and he really brings it to life. An amazing scholar and teacher.

  • @PLuMUK54
    @PLuMUK54 6 лет назад +5

    OP can still be heard in Warwickshire villages, especially in North Warwickshire. When I was at school, over 50 years ago, studying Shakespeare was easy, because it is written in the same rhythm and tempo as that being spoken around me, and then much of the pronunciation was very similar.

  • @johnnyblank955
    @johnnyblank955 2 года назад +1

    That was a fascinating video, really enjoyed it! I would love to see Shakespeare done in original pronunciation. Both David and Ben Crystal seem like fantastic actors and teachers.

  • @Fraxxxi
    @Fraxxxi 8 лет назад +14

    jesus christ. I got literal - not figurative - literal goosebumps from that voice. this is beside the fact that the video was very informative and interesting.

  • @mraaronhd
    @mraaronhd 10 лет назад +36

    As an American, I can't help but feel much closer to my British ancestral heritage after listening to those gentlemen say it in the OP. It's amazing to know that American colonialists and British main landers once had the same accent. Love to the British and the common wealth.

    • @debtansey89
      @debtansey89 6 лет назад +1

      Yes, this explains the North American accents very well.

  •  6 лет назад +18

    The young guy's voice is amazing.

  • @maestroCanuck
    @maestroCanuck 4 года назад +2

    As a Canadian, I am all for pronouncing the r after vowels! Enjoyed this video a lot. Thank you for posting it.

  • @misamisaa4547
    @misamisaa4547 5 лет назад +20

    Came for Shakespeare, stayed for the kid being absolutely precious

  • @Jbm0230
    @Jbm0230 8 лет назад +76

    6:35 "No man ever loved..." "Yea"
    The redhead's voice is so low it gives me anxiety.

  • @MeganMcIntosh
    @MeganMcIntosh 5 лет назад +11

    It doesn’t sound as different as I thought it would. All the same, lovely to hear them speaking.

  • @JayBenjamin9214
    @JayBenjamin9214 4 года назад +1

    Great video. I'm an English teacher and this will help my students with considering other perspectives and linguistic points to make. Thank you!

  • @MATTE.U.K
    @MATTE.U.K 9 лет назад +777

    Everyone was from devon 300 years ago?

    • @randerson1893
      @randerson1893 9 лет назад +57

      +SQUAREHEAD Kinda makes sense really . Modern english accents came into being with immigration caused by large industrial cites (London,Birmingham,liverpool, Newcastle ect). discounting North Yorkshire and Cumbria (who have been more isolated and culturally distinct until recent times) the only other relativity rural areas (south west, east anglia, welsh border) Have maintained an accent similar to this one

    • @DieFlabbergast
      @DieFlabbergast 9 лет назад +10

      +Robert Anderson The immigration factor that you cite accounts only for those regional urban accents that you mention. But what does that have to do with the content of this video? They are comparing Shakespeare's accent with modern Received Pronunciation, also known as Oxford English or BBC English, which is an accent that has evolved since Shakespeare's day for purely domestic reasons, with no input from immigrants. And, yes, SQUAREHEAD is right, in a sense. The modern West Country accent is one of the most conservative accents in England. People across much of England - with the exception of the north - would have spoken like this in the 16th-17th centuries.

    • @t.c.bramblett617
      @t.c.bramblett617 9 лет назад +4

      +SQUAREHEAD Of course, everyone was a pirate then ;)

    • @randerson1893
      @randerson1893 9 лет назад +7

      +channelnw I was referring to Industrial migratation (irish and whatnot rather than a UKIP approach) . didn't know that about American thanks :)

    • @randerson1893
      @randerson1893 9 лет назад +1

      +DieFlabbergast I was just comparing why Norfolk and the south westen accents are so similar and how it links back to the content of this video

  • @BlessedBeyondCompare
    @BlessedBeyondCompare 5 лет назад +6

    Wow, that was so informative! The original pronunciation is utterly enchanting ❤️

  • @Reece_Hart
    @Reece_Hart 9 лет назад +25

    The OP pronunciation reminds me a bit of the Gloucestershire and other South West English accents.

    • @debapambose8907
      @debapambose8907 9 лет назад +15

      +Finnegan Hartross It does, doesn't it. Like Hagrid from harry potter

    • @GeoEstes
      @GeoEstes 8 лет назад +1

      +Finnegan Hartross Gloucestershire was my first thought when I heard it.

  • @ianhowlett4682
    @ianhowlett4682 2 года назад +1

    If you ever get the chance to see David Crystal speaking, do whatever it takes to go and see him. He is fantastic. So knowledgeable, so enthusiastic, and also very friendly and approachable. He knows so much but never talks down to anyone. He just loves it, really! A wonderful scholar and an amazing teacher and communicator.

  • @UnintentionalSubmarine
    @UnintentionalSubmarine 7 лет назад +20

    Got to love how the OP makes the crass humour stand out. I love it. Such a contrast to how Shakeseare is so often portrayed.
    It really makes the haughty and stuffy modern (or 'classical' for bonus irony) Shakespeare sound horribly out of place, and maybe even a little comical. Ok, it has always been slightly unintentionally comical, but more than that I mean. At it's core.
    Thank you for forever ruining Shakespeare unless it is in OP.

  • @strafrag1
    @strafrag1 8 лет назад +41

    Excellent video. Thanks. I especially like the pronounced "R". Just like the pirates' Aargh.

    • @Morfeusm
      @Morfeusm 8 лет назад +1

      strafrag1 ahoy!

    • @elsakristina2689
      @elsakristina2689 7 лет назад +2

      strafrag1 I think that's cause a lot of pirates came from the West Country, or so I read

    • @rhiannonramirezchadwick9437
      @rhiannonramirezchadwick9437 7 лет назад +5

      The weatcountry accent has become synonymous with pirates just because the actor who played long John silver in the original treasure island movie, Robert Newton, was from Dorset.
      It’s true a fair amount of pirates were from the westcountry, all along the Devon and Cornwall coast there’s smugglers bays. The church in the town I grew up in had a secret tunnel from the church to the pub where they smuggled stuff in from the beach. But the accents then around the UK were more similar than they are now, and pirates did come from all over the UK (all over the world really).
      We learnt a fun fact at school some years ago: a lot of the pirates were actually gay. Because most of them had been in the navy and were discharged for committing crimes onboard, primarily homosexuality, and sailing was what they were trained in.

    • @rhiannonramirezchadwick9437
      @rhiannonramirezchadwick9437 7 лет назад +1

      Edit: westcountry *

  • @TheInkPitOx
    @TheInkPitOx 4 года назад +5

    This is fantastic! If I ever visit England I will try to see a performance at the Globe.

  • @mrinvader
    @mrinvader 5 лет назад +2

    I absolutely love this this is absolutely amazing the hair is standing on the back of my neck! Completely mind-blowing! Truly truly makes Shakespeare all of that much better, and Shakespeare was already awesome!

  • @heleinakirsten8495
    @heleinakirsten8495 5 лет назад +19

    I'd rather listen to Ben's voice all day than srsly do anything else.

  • @Lindeman08
    @Lindeman08 6 лет назад +45

    I'd be perfectly fine with Ben voicing the next installment of Civilization.

    • @ThePhantomSafetyPin
      @ThePhantomSafetyPin 3 года назад +1

      He really sounds like he should VO for Dark Souls or something. It would fit right in.

  • @hglundahl
    @hglundahl 4 года назад +30

    3:42 The OP sounds a great deal like Irish pronunciation of English!

    • @seradin8029
      @seradin8029 3 года назад +4

      More like the West country

  • @MarkLawrence1974
    @MarkLawrence1974 6 лет назад +1

    fantastic exploration of language and impact of pronunciation with implications for what the audience would understand.

  • @ladydusk1
    @ladydusk1 10 лет назад +185

    They both have beautiful voices. I'd like the younger to talk me to sleep every night :)

    • @Runabou
      @Runabou 10 лет назад +10

      ***** Christ, stupid people are quick to jump to the sexuality "insults." Do you kiss your mum with that mouth?

    • @Runabou
      @Runabou 10 лет назад +8

      Kids, stop taking the internet so seriously. The sooner you stop, the sooner the trolls will go back under their bridges, m'kay?

  • @mephostopheles3752
    @mephostopheles3752 5 лет назад +3

    Ben Crystal’s OP voice is absolutely flooring. Total unit.

  • @adoptdontshop7898
    @adoptdontshop7898 8 лет назад +11

    Oh dear Lord, that voice! Talk about "killing me softly"!

  • @IamtheWV17
    @IamtheWV17 6 лет назад +2

    His description of transporting oneself back to the era and raising the hairs... was 100% accurate.
    My first hearing my skin shivered!

  • @yojoe5311
    @yojoe5311 4 года назад +8

    This is so brilliant. It reminds me of the idiomatic translation of Latin in a way. Translation implies transliteration but leaves behind the semantics of the original. That pun really left me in awe of these gentlemen who have devoted their lives to this craft.

  • @daveslow84
    @daveslow84 4 года назад +3

    His voice! Amazing ❤️👍🏼

  • @Swenglish
    @Swenglish 9 лет назад +86

    I accidentally clicked my way here. Glad I did. Very interesting.

  • @CitizenSmith50
    @CitizenSmith50 4 года назад +1

    At High School 55+ years ago I had a wonderful English (subject) teacher who stressed this topic and made Shakespeare really enjoyable for me. Vale Mrs. Messner!

    • @brittakriep2938
      @brittakriep2938 4 года назад

      Side note : In german language Messner means ,church servant' , the man , who helps the priest ( Heilige Messe/ holy mess).

  • @jaybee4118
    @jaybee4118 5 лет назад +3

    I grew up in Devon, so it’s all just very familiar to me. My parents are from Liverpool and London though, so my accent is just generic, southern and has been described as RP.

  • @albertgainsworth
    @albertgainsworth 7 лет назад +11

    If my memory serves me it seems much like the Devonshire accent I once was familiar with. I was evacuated to the Sandford area in 1940-41. The prevalence of the spoken media since then may have watered down their accents.

    • @OoxB505
      @OoxB505 4 года назад

      Sounds like Bristolian 😉

  • @johnnyb6747
    @johnnyb6747 8 лет назад +4

    i could listen to that young man speak all day

  • @alwyn73
    @alwyn73 5 лет назад +2

    What a voice the actor has! It must be such joy to listen to him...

  • @leftoutjonny
    @leftoutjonny 4 года назад +4

    This is really interesting. I'm using this time of social distancing/staying indoors during the Covid-19 outbreak to explore new topics on RUclips, and this is by far one of the most intriguing videos I've come across so far. Thank you very much, Open University :)

  • @Zaghzackio
    @Zaghzackio 8 лет назад +180

    You're a wizard Harry

    • @stephenday9442
      @stephenday9442 8 лет назад +4

      I'm a what?

    • @Zaghzackio
      @Zaghzackio 8 лет назад +2

      Stephen Day Sounds like hagrid when he does the voice

    • @stephenday9442
      @stephenday9442 8 лет назад +7

      Haha I know mate, I was doing the response from Harry in the Gary's Mod video.

    • @Zaghzackio
      @Zaghzackio 8 лет назад +2

      Stephen Day Cheers

    • @frakkintoasterluvva7920
      @frakkintoasterluvva7920 5 лет назад

      Because Robbie Coltrane is Scottish, and the OP sounds a lot like a Scottish accenr.

  • @janisdardaris4605
    @janisdardaris4605 7 лет назад +4

    this is wonderful. the part about performing at 2 in the afternoon so you could make eye contact with the actors. fascinating!

  • @mountainman8775
    @mountainman8775 4 года назад +2

    Man, these two just taught me so much

  • @mueezadam8438
    @mueezadam8438 6 лет назад +4

    I wish I had their voices, so pleasing!

  • @AndreyShipilovCom
    @AndreyShipilovCom 10 лет назад +109

    At least OP had more consistent pronunciation. Unlike modern English which is basically a huge set of exceptions.

    • @FBSidious
      @FBSidious 10 лет назад +3

      ***** Yes, and that's exactly why English is the global language and continues to evolve and improve naturally, whereas Spanish and German have been rotting away for centuries and will likely disappear within the next decades.

    • @AndreyShipilovCom
      @AndreyShipilovCom 10 лет назад +4

      Enter a name here Exactly why? Spanish and German are easier to learn and comprehend, my friend. In so many ways.

    • @SJDPS
      @SJDPS 10 лет назад +3

      Enter a name here English is the global language because "it won" two world wars.

    • @FBSidious
      @FBSidious 10 лет назад +3

      ***** First of all, I'm not your friend. Secondly, you addressing me with "you guys" reveals what a presumptuous and superficial individual you are (try to say that in Spanish or German, fronted gerund.) I was born in Germany (I'm fluent in German) and I speak some Italian and French. I know a thing or two about linguistics, which prompts me to doubt your ability to have a serious discussion on the subject of languages given your outrageous statements. Normally I wouldn't have responded, however your reply is simply too delicious to ignore. You've got it TOTALLY backwards. Your embarrassing bias conceals from you the fact that English not only has by far the largest vocabulary of all languages but is also the shortest and most easily comprehensible. Spanish and German aren't more complex. Their grammar is just more complicated in tense, gender and case markings, all of which are obsolete in English. The more primitive the language, the more complicated its grammar. The proto-indoeuropean language from which almost all languages from Iceland to India descend had the most complicated grammar. It was continuously simplified so that you get Koine Greek and Latin around the first century B.C. before finally arriving at English. Ludicrous language regulation in Spain, Germany and France are the exact reason why these languages don't change, even though linguists agree on a descriptive, not prescriptive approach. One ought to record what the people are saying, not dictate what the people should say. We would still communicate with grunts and barking if language had never changed. (Hey, do you have three different if-clauses in Spanish, too?) English dropped most of that complicated grammar in favor of brevity and a focus on more complex distinctions in meaning. That's why English is the easiest to learn at the start but gets the most difficult once you arrive at idiomatic expressions, tense and aspect. Every linguistics professor I've ever spoken to agrees. Spanish, Italian, French and German may have a shitload of irregular verb forms and case markings you have to slavishly memorize but English possesses true diversity and challenge in meaning.
      Spanish isn't the third most important language, it has merely the third largest population of native speakers. In the scientific community, German, Italian and Japanese are all more important than Spanish. Furthermore I disagree on the point that most native Spanish speakers are more proficient in their language than the English ones (and it's not the English language's fault that you express yourself so poorly). Clearly you are mistaken since the vast majority of Spanish speakers reside in developing countries whereas the largest population of native English speakers, Americans, also happen to comprise the world's largest middle class as well as its largest and most advanced scientific community. Why would the former be smarter than the latter on average? Your evidence to the contrary must be anecdotal.
      Besides, I would in turn wager my life that even a fairly uneducated native English speaker could still express themselves about a number of issues more briefly, precisely, adequately and with more wit than even a highly educated native Spanish or German speaker with their lame, antiquated, out-of-touch vocabulary and 800-year-old grammar.

    • @FBSidious
      @FBSidious 10 лет назад +1

      ***** It's nice of you to admit your defeat. I knew you'd be afraid to read my reply. By the way. English has more second-language speakers than Mandarin plus it is the international language of science and technology. That's what makes it the global language. And in an increasingly globalized society, other languages including Spanish and German will perish (especially since Europe's population is rapidly declining.) My argument still stands. Yours is unfounded and biased, muchacho.

  • @tralala1958
    @tralala1958 5 лет назад +4

    This is so damned interesting! Thanks for posting. I find it IS much easier to understand Shakespeare in OP than in modern English! It flows much easier, faster, so I have to listen closer... but once you get into the groove, WHOO! (Also, OP sounds more Irish to me, the little Irish I've heard, anyway.)

  • @jelizavetakuzmina3707
    @jelizavetakuzmina3707 2 года назад +2

    It is very interesting. I remember when at school we had to read poems of russian poets of 17-20th centuries. And there also were many words written and spelled differently from modern language. The one thing I remember mentioned by a teacher - poets changed spelling only for the purpose of rhyme and it was allowed, at least in slavic languages. Additionally, some words were even invented to make poem sound better.