History of the English Language (1943)

More from our archives: film.britishcouncil.org/britis...
The British Council Film Collection is an archive of more than 120 short documentary films made by the British Council during the 1940s designed to show the world how Britain lived, worked and played. Preserved by the BFI National Film Archive and digitised by means of a generous donation by Google, the films are now yours to view, to download and to play with for the first time.
History of the English Language acts as an excellent layman's introduction to the origins of one of the most common languages on the planet, demonstrating how dialect changes over time, and presenting England as being multicultural right down to its roots.
This is a comprehensive introduction to the English language. Through its depiction of English as a worldwide language, it clearly promotes not only Britain's power in the world, but also its multiculturalism. The foreign language in the titles is apparently Indonesian, so one must assume that this was shown there. This might explain the simple illustrations of each word or people mentioned in the film.
Germany is included in this origins story, although, having been made during wartime, it is not as heavily featured as it would in an unbiased edition. Whilst the war is not openly discussed, one excerpt is especially telling: the narrator states "The German language also produced words associated with war, such as plunder", along with the image of a uniformed man fiddling with coins in a chest. As the image transitions into a cartoon, the insignia on his shoulder goes from a double-V shape to a Nazi swastika.
Also, Shakespeare's King Richard II, Act 2 scene 1 is quoted,which talks of England as a paradise, protected against war by God and nature. Finally, Winston Churchill is featured towards the end, talking about England's tolerance, lack of greed, and hinting at its multiculturalism.
As propaganda goes, it's subtle for its time, yet clearly evident today.
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[@LimaHeSilvaLS]

I'm just wondered for these British Council films brought up from the 30's and the 40's. Evry educational and cultural. I'm learning a lot about UK life in the first half of the 20th. century. Thanks a lot!!! I'm Brazilian but a British culture lover!!

[@victoragostini6032]

Me too. Congratulations.

[@chukwumaolisehemekaouwarre3236]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/o4W3c5ibmNVmj9E

[@ronaldrudy3278]

Instablaster

[@adolflenin4973]

Smart

[@paulm3224]

I'm British from the north of england and very proud , corona virus brought me here lol

[@chukwumaolisehemekaouwarre3236]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/o4W3c5ibmNVmj9E

[@kaziu312]

Watching this video reminds me how I was struggling with learning Illustrator and using different swatches and varying shades of grey on a black and white map. Oh the world before color images!

[@Actylo]

This is a really great video. Usually i'm not into this type of video, but i loved it. Good job !

[@BISEnglish]

A fantastic piece of film history - how the presentation of information has changed!!!!!!!!

[@Germericanboi]

German, English, and Dutch are the main west-Germanic languages, the same way Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish are the main north-Germanic ones. All of these languages collectively have a common ancestor, but English, German, and Dutch, are actually all rooted in dialects that originated in what today is Modern Germany and the Netherlands!

[@keithfrost1190]

This takes me back to my school days in the 50s.

[@user-pn8uh9tg5x]

Are you still alive?

[@yourway382]

@@user-pn8uh9tg5x I think he is not. Unfortunately

[@chukwumaolisehemekaouwarre3236]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/o4W3c5ibmNVmj9E

[@moundofsound4768]

The sound of the stylus being moved off the record right at the end, mic drop 40s style, love it!!

[@chukwumaolisehemekaouwarre3236]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/o4W3c5ibmNVmj9E

[@ricardobardales8137]

I am delighted to learn more about British culture and its origins about this marvelous language. Despite being from Perú and stay so far, I love the English roots and their culture. I have been learning these language for several years and I figured out that the language has changed and keep changing. Furthermore, I find spellbinding and griping the RP Accent and English literature such as Shakespeare works.

[@keithlillis7962]

The RP accent is the standard British accent, but even that has changed over the years and is less shrill. Pure RP is spoken by a relatively small percentage of the British population as a whole. Most people in the UK speak with a regional accent and even local dialects. As an example: Scottish English is very different from say, London English and Wales even has its own language that English people cannot understand. However, if you want to be understood anywhere in the UK, adopting a gentle RP accent is the way to go. BBC news presenters are a good place to start.

[@gillesguillaumin6603]

You can of course find a lot of french words or french origins, itself often from latin, specially in Scotland. But the origins of english are older than two thousand years, more probably five. At the time of this movie we didn't know proto history.

[@chukwumaolisehemekaouwarre3236]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/o4W3c5ibmNVmj9E

[@peacockpaula4723]

How interesting and fascinating our beautiful language is with such a lovely history. Thank you for sharing this video.

[@halimaamali1862]

It is interesting to learn about the English language history. Had it not been the influence of other countries and languages, the English language would not have had such a vast vocabulary. the nature of the English language is direct and straightforward !!

[@roggeralves94]

Really interesting to see that not long ago, the "flapped r" was standard in English (well, at least in Britain) and is now associated with the letter "d" in most dialects. Crazy!

[@susanmwarren]

In another lifetime I'd be a cultural linguist! I Love that wonderful BBC voice too, reminds me of when I used to listen to the BBC World Service from Katafaga Island in the Lau, our radio being our only connection to the rest of the world.

[@chukwumaolisehemekaouwarre3236]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/o4W3c5ibmNVmj9E

[@kiwitrainguy]

That is the voice of Frank Phillips.

[@nainavaswani7702]

Great video its nice...job....

[@shauntheassassin]

Very Interesting Good Documentary.

[@summer20105707]

English is an amazingly versatile language.

[@AChapstickOrange]

I think it helps that we don't have that much inflection. Once you have a basic grasp of the word order, it's just like Lego bricks. That said, the spelling is just awful, isn't it? :)

[@tarunkantibehera9218]

Very nice

[@mohammedgabralla3077]

it's really usfual for new words. and interesting to see the origin of the English language

[@Krishna-nu8nv]

I read up a book on the story of English language by Philip Gooden. A good one I must say..

[@VCYT]

"Oh I say, what a jolly spiffing film" - I'm aloud to say that as i'm British.

[@wayinfront1]

Allowed.

[@mathiasniemeier4359]

Well MY grandmother was. So I guess I'm halfway there. NOT proud of IT though!

[@gokutheflowerhorn]

@@mathiasniemeier4359 your nan must be so proud to have spawned such a wanker.

[@chukwumaolisehemekaouwarre3236]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/o4W3c5ibmNVmj9E

[@jimpreston3301]

@@mathiasniemeier4359 Hope you're proud of your other half or maybe it should be three quarters.

[@USA50_]

Thanks for this video 👍❤️🇺🇲🇬🇧

[@ramamonato]

"DISELANGARAKAN OLEH PERPUSTAKAAN PILM BRITISH COUNCIL", which can be read during the opening (0:15) to this video may be an old version of Standard Indonesian. Today, we say "DISELENGGARAKAN OLEH PERPUSTAKAAN FILM BRITISH COUNCIL (Performed by The Film Library of British Council)". I wonder why there are Indonesian words in this video? There must be some explanation.

[@SiggiNebel]

One of the main languages spoken in Indonesia is Malaian. I'm not sure, if the Malaian spoken in Malaysia is exactly the same as in Indonesia, but the copy of this film used for the upload could have been made for Malaysia, a British colony until 1957.

[@meymeylimym1097]

ramamonato a

[@Philrc]

There will have been a British Council out in Indonesia . This film will have been made to be shown out there. Or maybe even made out there,

[@himjl2]

English is my first language and I've never consider "bairn" one of its most basic words...

[@chukwumaolisehemekaouwarre3236]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/o4W3c5ibmNVmj9E

[@richlisola1]

Are you English?

[@davedixon2068]

presumably you are from south of Watford

[@AChapstickOrange]

@@richlisola1 "Oh, Dad, we're all -DEVO- English!"

[@nickmad887]

thanks

[@andrestarazona6190]

wonderful

[@notcrediblesolipsism3851]

It's related to the term bear (as in 'bear a child')/born etc. It's based on a very old word - much older than the English language

[@vatnidd]

I love how the narrator says "Europe".

[@anaussie213]

The scientific information is spotty and best described as "dated". The narrators accent is classic 1940s BBC RP though, making this a great resource for anyone wishing to learn a "proper British accent".

[@narlycat]

SMASHING GOOD FILM, SMASHING, JOLLY GOOD

[@AChapstickOrange]

Steady on, old chap! :)

[@alanfbrookes9771]

He's making all the errors of the time. For instance:- [1] The Ancient Britons were NOT Celts. The Ancient Britons started coming over from the continent about 12,000 BC. The Celts didn't arrive until about 400 BC, and they were always a small minority. The Ancient Britons took on Celtic languages, but they were never Celts. [2} The Ancient Britons did NOT retreat into the mountains when the Germanic tribes arrived. The Germanic tribes mixed in, although they were never a majority. What has remained on the "Celtic Fringe" are Celtic languages, not blood, and they have survived because of their remoteness. There is as much Celtic blood in England as there is in Wales, Ireland and Scotland. [3] The people who came over from the continent from 450 AD were not Germans, they were Germanic. The Saxons did not come from Saxony, they came from the west coast of Europe. They CONQUERED Saxony at a later stage.

[@MettPitt]

Alan F Brookes nope..the Saxons are a German tribe.. and still there.. they have nothing to do with the kingdom of Saxony.. which is another story.. they did not conquer Saxony. But that is too difficult to explain. The Saxon tribe is still in it's place.. they're called Niedersachsen ..Low Saxony ..nothing to do with modern Saxony.. .. greetings from a Saxon (Tribe) living now on foreign territory in modern Saxony (Kingdom) .. you should google Niedersachsen.. (Land of the tribe ..still in northwest Germany on the coast..and a federal state) and Saxony (Kingdom, in East Germany another federal state)

[@user-ky6vw5up9m]

12000BC was Ice Age.

[@grahamfisher5436]

my father's side are from west Germany was once spelt Fischer my grandfather is Storer and my grandmother is Briton I'm from Newark upon Trent, the key town to the North. Dainesland I go all the way back.. British Council also made *Market Town 1941* it's My home Newark, Newark history is incredible... you may also like to watch. Newark- civil war Newark secret tunnels ( I discovered the old civil war stables, which is now the National civil war center)

[@Philrc]

lasiodorides Actually 'bairn' is commonly used in the North of England. As well as in Scotland.

[@raymondwalker2752]

There is good accuracy in the script of this film. The captions are not generated in British English (eg. Centre and not the American Centre). Pity that mention of the second vowel is always used for either, neither, etc. "ither, nither"

[@carlosandresmunozalatorre2317]

Meaning of England (Land of Angles) the English is Anglo-saxon with Norman influence and Norse influence but his structure is Anglo-saxon, English is Germanic

[@Saruman38]

@chanctonbury63 What the heck are you talking about? When the Romans retreated from Britain, everyone on the island was still speaking Celtic languages, as the influence of the Latin language there was limited, unlike in Gaul or in Spain where it pretty much replaced the original languages. The various Germanic groups such as the Angles (whom the word "English" comes from) and the Saxons only arrived later, and they had been even less Latinized than the Celtic Britons. So if no one had invaded Britain after the departure of the Romans, the Britons would have continued to speak Celtic to the present day, and the English language would not even have come into existence.

[@Saruman38]

​@chanctonbury63 Well yes, it did. The Celtic languages were not replaced by Latin in the same way as Gaulish or Iberian languages were, and most of the Latin influence on the English language came from the subsequent Christianisation of the Isles and then the Norman invasion even later on. Now talking about sleeping, you must have slept a little too much during history lessons to spout such uneducated nonsense. Oh, and you can shove your aggressiveness up yours while you're at it.

[@Saruman38]

​@chanctonbury63 I brought Gaulish and Iberian into the mix to prove my point that the Romans had only a limited impact during their occupation because they didn't wipe out the indigenous languages. Why the hell does it matter that I'm the one who introduced this argument? It's a relevant argument, and you are unable to respond to it, just admit it. About the connection between English and Christianity, it is a historical fact that the Christianization of the non-Romance-speaking peoples of Europe brought with it a partial Latinization of their languages (at least, those parts of Europe that were closer to Rome and the former Western Roman Empire; the parts of Europe that were closer to the Byzantine Empire were generally more Greek-influenced, for example the Cyrillic script was directly derived from the Greek alphabet rather than from the Latin one). Your next sentence about English coming from Rome makes zero sense, so I'm not going to comment on it. About Bede, did you even read what I wrote? Yes, he wrote in Latin, and not in Celtic (by the way, why put Celtic in quotation marks? It's a real word and a real language family), precisely because he was part of the movement that attempted to Christianize the island, and originally Christianization and Latinization went hand in hand. And yes, Vulgar Latin was still being spoken long after the Saxons (and the Angles, and the Jutes) arrived in Britain, and still was by the time of the Norman invasion, precisely because of that Christianization period that occurred during the 7th century (which was AFTER the Germanic settlement of the island, and not during the Roman occupation, as you seem to believe it). And of course, Christianization was mostly carried out from the top by the Church and the ruling class, which both played "a large part", as you put it. In fact, your last two sentences just prove my point that the Latinization of Britain happened mostly after the departure of the Romans. Do you even proofread yourself? Because you're admitting I'm right without even realizing it. In any case, I now have confirmation that you're a r*t*rd on top of being uneducated. Oh, yeah, now I'm pulling out the insults since you apparently have no qualms about being aggressive towards people.

[@Saruman38]

​@chanctonbury63 "Nobody ever claimed Latin wiped out the `indigenous` languages. You brought that in." But Latin DID replace the indigenous languages in Gaul and Iberia, but not in Britain. That's why I brought about this comparison, to show that, contrary to your statement, just because the Romans had stayed longer in Britain wouldn't have necessarily meant that Latin would have become the native language of the inhabitants. And again, why the f*ck does it matter that I am the one who said that? It's a valid argument, and you have nothing to respond to it, that's why YOU are trying to "muddy the waters", as you put it. And stop putting words in quotation marks as if they were meaningless. Indigenous languages are a real thing. "Your first statement is that English is a Germanic language. It is not" Oh, I'm sorry. I thought we were talking about real-world history, but you are obviously talking about some parallel universe that solely exists within your brain. Why didn't you say that sooner, you would have saved us some time. Jesus f*cking Christ, English IS a Germanic language, whether you like it or not, open any encyclopedia or any book about linguistics, they will ALL tell you that English is part of the Germanic language family. You are just plainly denying historical facts, why the f*ck am I wasting my time with you? "All the Gaulic, Iberian, Christianity stuff are just an attempts to move the goal posts your way by muddying the waters a bit." No, they are arguments aimed at proving that YOUR first statement, namely that English would have been a "majority Latin language" if no one had invaded Britain after the departure of the Romans, makes ZERO f*cking sense, because it was the Germanic invaders who brought what would become the English language to Britain. So no Germanic invaders, no English language. And their language was a Germanic one, because English is a Germanic language, as any person who has ever been to school will confirm you. So far, I haven't seen any substantial response from you to these arguments, only pitiful ad hominem attacks trying to awkwardly hide the fact that you don't know what to reply. "You are wrong. Deal with it." Says the history denier who claims that English isn't a Germanic language. But please go ahead, you actually amuse me. What's it going to be in your next comment? That man has never been to the moon?

[@Saruman38]

​@chanctonbury63 enDOTwikipediaDOTorg/wiki/English_language enDOTwikipediaDOTorg/wiki/Germanic_languages (replace DOT with .) Oh my, look at those fake news Wikipedia articles that claim that English is a Germanic language, when all enlightened people know it's false. Clearly it must be part of a wide elitist conspiracy to hide the truth from the populace. I see no other explanation. Well, except that you're a complete moron who's clearly wrong and who so desperately refuses to admit it that he won't hesitate to deny basic historical facts just to avoid acknowledging he's wrong, but this explanation is kind of a stretch, isn't it? The conspiracy explanation is much more believable, don't you agree?

[@USA50_]

I really love these old films 🎥📺 #englishNpuertorico

[@N00bcrunch3r]

"Bairn" is was taken from Old Norse; but it is, to my knowledge, not used outside of northern England.

[@nergizgunduz]

an example how Indo-European theory is misleading : Most interestingly, Old Saxon and Germanic in general can be shown to have a large percentage of non-indo-european substrate words (such as “Sheep”,”eel”,”roe”,”boar”,”lentil”,”land”,”delve” and ”prick”) derived from a long-lost prehistoric Northern Europen language .Acourding to historian Victor H.Mair

[@x2chloe]

i think bairn has become a more regional word, up north more of us use it rather than using the word child/kid

[@frankph5]

Merci

[@AChapstickOrange]

I might be mistaken here, but I believe Mr. Churchill's "sugar candy" speech was actually delivered in an address to the Canadian House of Commons during the War.

[@frankph5]

French migration is a phenomenon that has occurred at various points in history. Today, many British people have French ancestry. Around eight millions. French remains the foreign language most learned by Britons mostly because England and France are so close and the languages are quite similar.

[@jimpreston3301]

Traditionally we were all taught French but Spanish is often the language of choice in schools now.

[@frankph5]

A survey by Joseph M. Williams in Origins of the English Language of 10,000 words taken from several thousand business letters gave this set of statistics : French (langue d'oïl): 41% Native English: 33% Latin: 15% Old Norse: 2% Dutch: 1% Other: 10%

[@frankph5]

You should read the dukes of Normandy from jonathan Duncan..It's quite easy to find on the internet..

[@N00bcrunch3r]

"Bairn" is one of those words that comes from Old Norse; it seems they mistook its etymology. It means "child" and is quite common in northern England, but not very common anywhere else.

[@AChapstickOrange]

Is it Norse? I've always known it as a Scottish term and so I assumed it came in from Gaelic. That said, most of my Scottish ancestors were from the extreme north and mostly Norsemen.

[@Christian11133339]

@LukePaulson87 Also, Germanic words are used the most frequently in English. Many of the words people use everyday are Germanic.

Who would have thought that _umbrella_ comes from sunny Italy?

[@resolutejohnflorio]

Sad that you have not mentioned John Florio Who contributed to add more than 1k words to the English language.

[@VCYT]

When this 1st started I thought I was seeing a dhama clip in a Lost episode.

[@BBKoVI]

It's interesting how many things today are interpreted in terms of tolerance and multiculturalism... I think those comments could have been interpreted in any number of ways, especially, given the period, as one of Churchill's characteristic WWII speeches.

[@bratton1950]

excelente

[@noob1138]

5:18 they spoke Norman (close relative to Old French)

[@jonka1]

I wonder who we borrowed that impossible level of stiffnes from.

[@MingDynasty700]

I always had this question: If the Celtic roman subjects fled to Northern Britannia (Scotland) during Germanic conquest, where did the original Picts (who were also celts) go? Did they welcome the besieged Celtic Britons with open arms despite their former hostilities?

[@murkydepths181]

Good question- I am very curious about the Picts

[@kiwitrainguy]

As I understand it the Picts were conquered by the Scots who came from Ireland sometime before 1000 AD.

[@afsanajamal1390]

This old and kinda informative

[@Staint12]

Why is there a Malay text at 0.15 ?

[@irfaanshaikh7914]

What is the name of the speaker?

[@kiwitrainguy]

Frank Phillips

[@Pinkyecuador]

Harvey . It's the same in Spanish, when Portuguese, Italian, French people speak is easy to get a main idea about what they mean. It's becase of the roots of each language, in this case Latin!

[@ivalex1001]

Don't forget this documentary was filmed in 1943, therefore, some words fashionable then are now in disuse.

[@ukipwarrior]

in the north of england it was widely used until recentley....

[@SeverMetal]

It indeed is.

[@mariaeugeniasomoza8436]

Who wrote the subtitles?? There are lots of mistakes!!!!

[@benjaminfrancisco6072]

How interesting the English language is!!!

[@chukwumaolisehemekaouwarre3236]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/o4W3c5ibmNVmj9E

[@IntikhabAlamOfficial_97]

terrific RP accent the speaker got.......

[@anaussie213]

Intikhab alam it's me, standard vintage British newsreader accent, as you will.

“ A quote from Robert Ellis (1820-1885) Armenian conquest and migration in Europe have been made during pre-historic and pre- traditional times.” AT the foundation is the Armenian Language, being the oldest language in the world as can be seen on the language tree. Consider from the Anglo-Saxon Chronical, 9th century…” The first inhabitants were the Britons, who came from Armenia, and first peopled Britain southwards. “also from Gaspar Eskolano, a 17th century historian. “…the coming of the Armenians to Spain I am certain, that our first settlers were Armenian. “ A quote from Robert Ellis (1820-1885) Armenian conquest and migration in Europe have been made during pre-historic and pre- traditional times.”

[@dietrichedith1250]

why in the begining of video contain malay language ?

[@Yulcia]

есть перевод?

[@NATHANIELthe1ST]

any language that is widely used as a means of communication among speakers of other languages; that, sir, is the definition of the term "Lingua Franca"

[@75goodies]

amazing. I just learnt that cockatoo comes from India. thanks for putting this on :)

[@N00bcrunch3r]

In terms of overall looks and phonology, it does look more like Icelandic than German because the former has frozen its evolution and is really just a dialect of Old Norse; though yes, Old English would resemble Old High German, for example (aside from German's consonant shift), more than Icelandic.

[@cuteandseksybabe]

oh my god, can't breathe

[@Hellsconsort]

@LukePaulson87 35% national average English words have their roots or come directly from anglo-saxon I have read. With upto 70% in Newcastle. I'm not sure if that's what you are asking or if you are asking literally how many words were in old English, whcih I don't know. I'm not a linguist student so I may be wrong.

[@jeremyatkinson4633]

I'm sure the Vikings introduced the word 'plunder' into the English language - plyndring is Norwegian for plunder.

[@folkestender2025]

It's a germanic word. This word is similar in all Germanic languages: plunder (eng), plündern (germ), plünnern (low germ) plyndering (nor), plyndre (den), plunderen (ned), plundra (swe), plonderje (fris).

[@Germericanboi]

The low-German dialects (Anglo-Frisian) were the basis of early English. I love that they only included the word "plunder" into Germany's contribution. England (land of the Angles) was one of the earliest and most successful GERMANIC settlements of western Europe! The biases of war really do reshape history.

[@28704joe]

The first word uttered in British word was Oi.

[@wolventhrone1631]

>vikings >knife >take really activates almonds

[@lasiodorides]

Oh you poor little bairn......... ;) It's true to say though that it's not used in common speech in England but I have heard Scottish folk use it, as in 'Poor wee bairn'.

[@000000AEA000000]

@mhdjango you were referring to what? PS: Its cowardly to start a discussion and not have the guts to answer straight.

[@rosemarylusty8045]

French was the official language for 3oo years after Willie the Conq. (And a huge amount of Latin survived form Roman times.

[@SeverMetal]

Of course is Old English, the language Beowulf is written in, like Icelandic and Old Norse. They are all three Germanic languages. But so are the other Scandinavian languages and also German and Dutch, so I don't really know why you link Old English with specifically Old Norse and Icelandic. Actually, (Old) English has more in common with other Western Germanic languages like German and Dutch and most notably with Frisian.

[@thegoodlydragon7452]

This video surprised me because I thought that French was the global lingua franca in the 1940s and that Englsih superseded it only later.

[@vincentlefebvre9255]

It superseded it after the treaty of Versailles.

[@N00bcrunch3r]

Lol! The Beowulf manuscript dates from the 10th century! We have English runes from the 6th and 7th centuries.

[@AlexanderGrahamSmell]

I don't understand how Churchill could say with a straight face that they didn't seek the land or wealth of different countries. What were India and Africa, just to start with, doing in the British Empire then? And what's an empire again? And he calls it an empire himself!

[@frankph5]

A computerised survey of about 80,000 words in the Oxford Dictionary estimates the origin of English words as follows: Influences in English vocabulary : French : 28.3% Latin, includingscientific and technical Latin: 28.24% Germanic languages (including words directly inherited from Old English; does not include Germanic words coming from the Germanic element in French, Latin or othes): 25% Greek: 5.32% No etymology given: 4.03%Derived from proper names: 3.28% All other languages: less than 1%

[@muskndusk]

I can't help wondering if this film is genuine, or just made to look old by someone able to do a 1930-1960 RP accent. The term "native American" is a recent, revisionist one which wouldn't have been in use at the time this film purports to have been made. At this time "Red Indian/American Indian" would have been used. Just a thought..

[@kylenoe2234]

I love learning and this fascinating topic but the beginning started in a way made to cause your eyes to droop necessarily. I'm disappointed.

[@salvadormarley]

It's easy to see where Harry enfield got his ideas from 02:42 watch?v=SjxY9rZwNGU

[@varougenerssessian7418]

What happened to the undeniable proof of the origion of the English people found in the British Musieum ???

[@Philrc]

limjh Just because you, as an American, have never heard of the word 'bairn' that doesn't mean it's somehow wrong to cite it. The word 'bairn' is commonly used all over the North of England on a daily basis. It is also used in Scotland. And, even if it is not used in other parts of England it would be recognised and understood by anyone who heard it. Also, most of the words in English do *not* come from other languages. The most commonly used words, in everyday use are virtually all of Anglo-Saxon origin. For example, in the phrase I wrote above "Also, most of the words in English do *not* come from other languages" only *one* word 'language' is *not* of Anglo-saxon origin.

[@Hellsconsort]

@frankph5 Rediculous, the language may be in part but to say we are basically French is simply incorrect. The Normans were Danish/German who also took over half of France. From early after the Norman conquest England warred with France on and off for centuries. So by your logic you are Germans and Danish too.

[@garagereggae1994]

3:38

[@himjl2]

I don't understand your point. Yes, there are many words in English (most actually) which come from other languages but I have never once heard the word "bairn" in my life before this video. Apparently it's a regionalism native to Northern England and Scotland which is fine and dandy if you live there (I'm American) but if the makers of this movie were really looking for a basic Anglo-Saxon equivalent to "bairn" they could have always went with "child".

[@umeshchali1869]

👍

[@himjl2]

I know all this. In fact, I'm actually related to William the Conqueror. Not that that gives me any special qualifications but I do know my Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Norman, etc. history. We're not all dumbasses over here (although I can see where you get that impression).

[@narlycat]

I can tell by the tension in his voice that this is not really the History of the English Language. Instead it is a pep talk for a potentially dying nation. The narrator sounds like he spent the entire night awake in an air raid shelter i.e. the London Underground. 1943 was a bad year for the allies, the war was starting to turn in their favor at the Battle of Stalingrad but it was far from over.

[@stefankassbohrer2765]

Interesting ... 1943 - actually too unfortunate a time to get along with German. But a lot of english words are the same in High German, a relationship is unmanageable. Even in my home, in south Germany, were Swabian is spoken, we say "feif bier", which means "fife beers". I like the english dialect, it´s more solid than the "chewing gum" - American one.

[@jahleeldavy]

Ok

[@omnislayer55]

3:38 That's a chicken, not a rooster.

[@alangeorgebarstow]

Do you properly mean: "That's a hen, not a cockerel"?

[@Bjowolf2]

Man(g)e tak for en god film. Vi ha(ve)r så mange af de samme (w)ord(s) over her(e) i(n) Danmark, som (which) du direkte kan se meningen af. Du skal just tænke en lille bid, så kan du se (d)et. Farvel & må I [ ee* , ~ye ] alle hav(e) en god dag [day(gh)].

[@amirulazri7]

That foreign language in the title is MALAY not Indonesian!

[@paulmaryon9088]

What a load of old twaddle, lots of contradictions here, still very enjoyable