Learn Old English with the Bear

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

You can learn Old English TODAY with Ōsweald Bera by Colin Gorrie, who teaches us our first lesson in Old English and explains how he wrote the book and how we can use it to learn Old English on our own. Purchase Ōsweard Bera today at this link: ancientlanguage.com/vergil-press/osweald-bera/ 📖 If you want to learn to read and speak Old English, Latin, Biblical Hebrew, or Ancient Greek in fun, immersive classes, sign up for lessons at AncientLanguage.com 🏺 Colin Gorrie videos Old English Pronunciation Guide: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pnWpco2FbaaBjsk How to Use Ōsweald Bera: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jJSwoml6qrqfiLc 🦂 Support my work on Patreon: www.patreon.com/LukeRanieri 📚 Luke Ranieri Audiobooks: luke-ranieri.myshopify.com 🤠 Take my course LATIN UNCOVERED on StoryLearning, including my original Latin adventure novella "Vir Petasātus" learn.storylearning.com/lu-promo?affiliate_id=3932873 🏛 Ancient Greek in Action · Free Greek Lessons: kzbin.info/aero/PLU1WuLg45SixsonRdfNNv-CPNq8xUwgam 👨‍🏫 My Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata playlist · Free Latin Lessons: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oGjLlWpvbq6tpLc ☕ Support my work with PayPal: paypal.me/lukeranieri 📚 Luke Ranieri Audiobooks: luke-ranieri.myshopify.com Join the channel to support it: kzbin.info/door/RllohBcHec7YUgW6HfltLAjoin 🌅 ScorpioMartianus apud Instagram: instagram.com/lukeranieri/ 🦁 Legio XIII Latin Language Podcast: kzbin.info 🎙 Hundres of hours of Latin & Greek audio: lukeranieri.com/audio 👕 Merch: teespring.com/stores/scorpiomartianus 🦂 www.ScorpioMartianus.com 🦅 www.LukeRanieri.com Music: Die Zauberflöte Overture, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Gregorian chant, Chant of the Templars, Honor Virtus et Potestas, by Ensemble Organum Cantiga de Santa Maria, performed by Esther Lamandier #oldenglish #anglosaxon #oswealdbera 00:00 Intro 01:16 Your First Old English Lesson 12:04 How to Learn with Ōsweald Bera 37:47 After Ōsweald Bera: OE Curriculum 40:35 Why Learn Old English?

[@Mercure250]

Just noticed there is a typo of the title of the book in the title of the video: You wrote "Ōsweard" with an "R" instead of "Ōsweald". It's also present in this pinned comment after "Purchase".

[@zobandzeff]

The book isn't available for worldwide delivery, meaning it can't even be bought in England. The author should probably consider using something like Amazon, so it can be sold worldwide. They'll be some demand in America for it, but I'd feel like there'd be a lot more in England and even some in countries such as Germany.

[@zobandzeff]

@@Major-Titus Oh, I didn't think it could be delivered worldwide, the website didn't say anything. How long does it take to arrive?

[@zobandzeff]

@@Major-Titus Thank you

[@PC_Simo]

42:20 That’s, exactly, what mostly drew my attention to this whole Old English -business: It seemed that it would be the most accessible language in the curriculum of A.L.I. (probably, after Latin). I’m a man of reasonable goals. I’m not necessarily one of those super-ambitious people that wanna tackle Mandarin or Arabic or Georgian, right away. I wanna set myself goals that I can realistically achieve.

[@Eire-xq9jz]

Luke you are the person who led me to Latin with Familia Romana and I am just entering an intermediate level. I was planning Ancient Greek next but this book has changed that. I will be learning Old English next.

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

Awesome!

[@modalmixture]

We get not just a graded reader, but a whole lesson in comprehensible input?? Well done Dr. Gorrie! I also have to thank Simon Roper for the fact that I am interested in Old English at all.

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

Same!

[@PC_Simo]

Indeed 👏🏻👍🏻.

[@Twisted_Logic]

One additional reason to learn Old English that's purely personal: It just sounds so nice! It's strong and masculine, but also warm and comforting. Like a tight hug from a loving father

[@snowboy6890]

I didn't know I wanted to learn Old English. Now I know. Grátiás tibí agó Luke!

[@krupam0]

Nesciébam ut alií etiam acútó útentur vócálés longás significáre.

[@bikbok1019]

Being Swedish so much of this is relatable

[@TM-yq4wk]

As a german native speaker there are many terms that are quite alike to german. Aspecially for a lower-german speaker like me. When i learned swedish it was like getting to know a relative. It's not that suprising if you think about it. The scandinavien languages decendet from the same roots. German, english, swedish... all Cousins in the big family. And the further you go back in time, the closer they get. For lower-german its even more closely because it brenched of from middle german. For example the anglo-saxon Word holt (For Wood) is still in use in lower-german altough we use it for the material and only sometimes for forests.

[@TheSuluhope]

​@aaronmoore3050 Many words are the same (or used to be) as in the Scandinavian languages. I'm Danish and I understand quite a lot just from listening. Ofc some words are different, but when you also know German and English you can make sense of most of it. E.g the word 'holt' isn't used any longer in modern Danish, but it used to mean a small forest, and you still find holt in many Danish topynyms.

[@AxelGage]

​@@aaronmoore3050 a lot of it is obviously recognizable because it's like modern English but another big part of it is so much like other Germanic languages - grammar, like the use of a Heißen verb, for instance, and a bunch of familiar nouns. You end up using two different parts of your brain at the same time, it feels like the boundary is fuzzier than usual.

[@bikbok1019]

@ Yes some parts are rather easy to understand and fun to discover as well. Holt is common in Swedish names, but I guess there’s a strong German influence there as well.

[@bikbok1019]

@ I recognise many words in Swedish and the connection and common roots between the languages is made even clearer. Now modern Swedish and English already have many similar words, but the old English pronounciation makes them sound even more similar, if that makes sense. I’ve studied Dutch briefly and that’s really a bridge between the Nordic languages, German and English. So many similarities. But it’s not surprising due to the country’s location.

[@thelatinlady8385]

If learning Old English were a part of all English-speaking children's schooling, wouldn't that be amazing how it could deepen appreciation in them for their own language? And help them understand so much about how English works and why so many of our words are spelled and spoken as they are? I would never have thought to connect 'explore' with plōrāre! I will have an interesting story to tell students next time I teach 'Iūlia plōrat' in chapter 3 of LLPSI.

[@TheSuluhope]

@thelatinlady8385 I couldn't agree more. As a Dane, I wish that Scandinavian children would learn old Norse in the schools. When I was a kid, we were only taught a bit of Norwegian and Swedish as part of the Danish classes in school, but they don't even do that now. It's such a shame because it closes the door to our past.

[@MannyBrum]

One of the things most people overlook is that learning at least a bit of Old English and Old French unlock a lot of understanding about English in general and it helps to understand why things that don't make sense do make sense if you know the history of English. It also has the benefit of teaching you the basic vowels used in many other languages that are not the same phonemes in Modern English, so if you want to learn something like Italian or Finnish, you'll be more likely to connect the vowels with the correct sounds in your mind.

[@entropie138]

Old English is definitely on my list. I still have a few modern tongues to concentrate on first.

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

Why wait? Just give it a read; in some ways it’s easier than many modern language curricula.

[@Romanophonie]

I've watched so many videos about Ōsweald Bera, and I'm still waiting for my copy to arrive... I've never been more excited to learn about a bear in my life 😅. Thanks for the great work as always, Luke!

[@BBarNavi]

Take a drink of mead every time they say "soldliće"!

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

🍻

[@AsceticAesthetic]

* soþlice

[@morvil73]

sōðlīċe

[@PC_Simo]

@@polyMATHY_Luke 🍻

[@Tep2610]

Old English is such an interesting language. I love it!

[@ILikeCoconutsLots]

It’s fascinating as someone who grew up speaking modern English and then lived in Germany for a long while. It’s like listening to Dutch; I can understand it if I listen closely, but I couldn’t begin to form a sentence 😂

[@rsfaeges5298]

LOVING OSWEALD BERA!

[@rainbs2nd]

Seeing two of my favourite content creators together is so cool

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

Honored

[@carlinberg]

Great interview, can't hear enough of this book!

[@jimatreidēs]

I’ve already bought the book and started reading it. I love it!

[@Lss-s1x]

My boy will love that He loves the culture and history that involves old English. Greetings from Brazil 👋

[@bendthebow]

I gotta say I'm eating this book up. It's so surprising the progress you can make

[@bendthebow]

I have Scots and some Norwegian, which definitely helps. But this technique is just great!

[@henrys3138]

I'm noticing a theme here with these natural method books, it already starts off a lot like Lingua Latina, which I recently got a copy from your recommendation and love it. I have some vague familiarity with OE from Simon Roper, etymology books, and I speak A1 German. Actually, I used Old English to make German more palatable when I was starting out. The introduction and a lot of Colin's dialogue with you in Old English are 99-100% intelligible to me. This is amazing and will make a great and easy guide into Old English with Lingua Latina. Old English is our way into the more synthetic relatives that we want to learn and it's a shame we don't have a mainstream curriculum for it.

[@mikesteele5935]

I bought Osweard Bera and love it. Just on Chapter 4. Doing about 30-45 minutes/ day.

[@Direkin]

Cool! Learning Old English is on my bucket list. Having learned some German makes this a bit easier.

[@dodecacat]

I’ve been enjoying the book. What a delightful model lesson. Well taught, Colin! Beautifully read, Luke!

[@jeremyconnor8625]

If you’re still on the fence, buy the book. This lesson is an accurate representation of what it feels like to read it, although it is even nicer with Colin’s illustrations alongside the sentences 😄

[@The_TinesJathian]

I am so going to get this book!

[@nevilleharris4466]

Me too!

[@akathefrenchwhisperer]

I'm truly savouring the road trip with this magical paper map! 🤟

[@thestoicgreyhound]

Wow that intro lesson was awesome! I wish we had more KZbin videos like that.

[@amrlynch]

Great video Luke and Colin, I ordered my copy last week and can't wait for it to arrive. FYI you have a typo in the title: "Osweard"

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

Thanks!

[@rnnelvll2]

We got Deep Voiced Luke before GTA 6

[@Horace-e8m]

Ce serait super d'avoir une méthode semblable pour l'ancien français ! Estus plej bone havi lernilon por la malnova franca lignvo ! (It would be impressing to have a method like that to learn old french !)

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

That is coming too.

[@thelatinlady8385]

@@polyMATHY_Luke C'est vrai? Il y aura un texte semblable pour l'ancien français? Tu sais quand et qui va le faire? Moi aussi, je penserais qu'un tel texte serait super!

[@MannyBrum]

I agree, and it would also be a huge benefit for English speakers even if they don't speak French because the majority of Latin based words that came into English came from Old French and the Old French words are often closer to English words as far as spelling than the Modern French ones, and it's not as difficult as Modern French for an English speaker because like Old English there are no silent letters.

[@vampyricon7026]

Wonderful interview Luke! I see you're mentioned in the preface XD

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

Yes! Colin did me a great honor by doing so.

[@miguelnollet3056]

I am very interested in seeing the book. I wonder how much of my own West-Flemish language is to be seen in Old English (yes, if you wonder where "ons / uns" changed into "us", it's in West-Flemish "oes")

[@Philoglossos]

I think you will find an enormous amount of overlap - the ancestor of Flemish which existed at the same time as Old English was quite mutually intelligible with it, and Flemish is more conservative than English is.

[@miguelnollet3056]

@@Philoglossos oh, I know. But I am referring specifically to West-Flemish.

[@SchmulKrieger]

This also happened in Frankish dialects in Bavaria. It's oss, not uns, in some it's uss, but lack the nasal.

[@Belcampo1815]

It would be great if a future edition of this book would include an explanation of the phonemes of that language in IPA.

[@dedicatedspuddler7641]

This is awesome!

[@SchmulKrieger]

As a German speaker, I understood everything, except I was confused with wer for man. My grandparents said also, we have to go into the holt (wir müssen ins Holz), every time they said they go into the woods. Mädchen and Knabe is also used in German, while Knabe is some old fashioned. Wortschatz (lit. word treasure) in German for vocabulary.

[@MannyBrum]

Wer meaning man exists only in German Werwulf and Wergeld. In English as well it only survives today in werewolf (man-wolf) and weregild/weregeld (man-price). Wer could mean man in earlier forms of German though it is obsolete today (as it is in English). The Modern English word is were though it's not commonly used anymore, and even when it was it was mostly used to mean weregild.

[@David.Bowman.]

The vibe of this reminded me of Gaelic with Jason

[@antoniescargo1529]

Oswald is een beer en hij woont in het bos (hout /holt)

[@corinna007]

Alright, that's my sign to get actually into Old English. As long as I can fit it into my Finnish and German studies.

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

You may get through OE rather quickly; this book makes it easy.

[@corinna007]

​@@polyMATHY_Luke Good to hear! I'll definitely look into it. Maybe you're right and it will be relatively easy, since I already know both High German and my family's Mennonite Low German to some extent.

[@MenelmacarLG]

@@corinna007 Wie lernen Sie Finnisch?

[@corinna007]

​@@MenelmacarLG Meistens online, und ich interessiere mich auch sehr viel für Finnische Musik. Und meine Finnische Freunde helfen mir, wenn ich Fragen habe.

[@justaname1837]

If you already know English and some German, OE makes so much sense.

[@rettcobb9821]

This is so great. I'm enjoying reading this. Note: I regularly read the Gospels in Anglo-Saxon, and I find myself leaning toward the Latin pronunciations, such as with words like sóþlíce, which you use in the commentary here frequently. I suppose we know it's a "ch" sound for the letter C through inter-liguistic comparison of historical texts?

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

We do! In Colin’s book soft ċ and ġ are marked with a dot above. It’s a great way to learn the phonology so you know where the special sounds are even when they’re not marked as in your edition of the Gospels.

[@rettcobb9821]

That's helpful. Thank you.

[@SchmulKrieger]

​@@polyMATHY_Luke has he adapted the j for g, or is it gear for year?

[@TerrasScourge]

@@SchmulKriegerit is gear with a dot above the g.

[@evanfont913]

If this is a success, any chance for a Middle English follow up?

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

You know it!

[@evanfont913]

@ hell yes! Don’t get me wrong I love Beowulf but I’m more of a Chaucer and Arthurian legend kinda guy. Can’t wait to check out this full book!

[@Philoglossos]

​@@evanfont913Chaucer I think you could just read with an interlinear edition.

[@evanfont913]

@Philoglossos it’s not too bad. Not ideal though. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is much harder, or it is for me at least.

[@Philoglossos]

​@@evanfont913Yes, though I don't know if a single reader could teach both - much of the difficulty with Sir Gawain is that it's in a completely different dialect of ME than Chaucer. If anything I suspect getting a good grounding in both Old English and early middle English (like Layamon's Brut), as well as Chaucer's later london dialect, would be the best way to approach then dealing with all of the dialectic diversity in ME.

[@juniusrabbinius211]

Cool!!!

[@danielmoore94]

Þu eart wel geLeorned

[@James-nv9fi]

Great video, the book looks great. Will there be a e-book version? I prefer to study on a tablet.

[@grzegorznawrocki5328]

Where can I find informatorom concerning the numbers of pages in the book or what sections/chapters it contains?

[@rsfaeges5298]

Have you sent copies of OSWEALD BERA to Jackson C & Simon R??

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

I’m sure they’ll have it soon

[@vampyricon7026]

A certain Simon R's endorsement is on the back cover!

[@SchmulKrieger]

​@@polyMATHY_Lukethey Crawford have it already.

[@metalsabatico]

Is there anything like this but for Greek?

[@danielbriggs991]

I liked Ἀθήναζε

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

There will be

[@metalsabatico]

@@polyMATHY_Lukewill it be Oswald bear or something else?

[@kuzeyboy]

Amazing, unless I've got it wrong, this book is not available in England!

[@Philoglossos]

They can deliver to England.

[@BesserGlauben]

As a German, I can understand almost everything.

[@wsxyz]

No kidding. As they were going through that first paragraph I kept thinking it’s just poorly pronounced German. Bär, Baum, Holz, Haus, Knabe, Mädchen, Mann, Name, wohnen, heißen, usw.

[@zobandzeff]

I'm English and also know a fair bit of Icelandic, I can understand the majority of it. Most English speakers could probably understand it if they realised that much of it is just English pronounced as it's spelt and with slightly different vowel sounds.

[@TerrasScourge]

It starts similar to English, but it gradually changes into more complicated sentences.

[@MannyBrum]

Þu. Þu hæfst. Þu hæfst me. Þu hæfst me gefragod. Þu hæfst me gefragod and ic hæbbe nawiht gesægd. 😂 Also a fun fact, the word I in English (referring to oneself) is a shortened form of ich that was originally used before a consonant the way a is used before a consonant instead of an as the indefinite article. This started to happen in Middle English. In Old English it was spelled ic, or ih (Northumbrian dialect) and while ic is pronounced sort of like the English word each, the h in ih is pronounced like the ch in German ich.

[@BesserGlauben]

@@MannyBrum Rammstein fan. I see

[@danielpanizza]

Io ho letto i primi 10 capitoli, poi stava cominciando a diventare un po' troppo complicato, quindi ho ricominciato a leggerlo dall'inizio.

[@nqldaro]

❤🧸🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[@nathanpiazza9644]

Still waiting for Bear Book

[@lahsilaz6880]

Þeos boc wolde me swiðe helpian gif hit wæs gewriten þa ic giet leorniende wæs. Ac ic eom bliþu þæt þa leorneras nu þas boc habbað to helpianne on heora siþe leornunge ❤

[@LakeRunner-uf7gm]

Hello, Luke! I have a question: the consonants t, d, n, s in Old English were alveolar as in modern English or dental as in Latin (I know that s is retroflex in it). This is important to me because my native language is Russian and these consonants are dental in it. Was h also pronounced as [x] or [h]?

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

Great question! I do not know if dental or alveolar is better; I tend to use alveolar but that is just my convention. Colin may know! As for h, it was indeed /h/ as today; it was /x/ back in Proto-Germanic.

[@LakeRunner-uf7gm]

@polyMATHY_Luke Multās grātiās tibi agō!

[@Philoglossos]

/t d/ are generally reconstructed as having been dental through the Middle English period. /n s/ are generally reconstructed as in modern English.

[@hoangkimviet8545]

It is like a Anglo-Saxon teaches a Roman.

[@juniusrabbinius211]

ēmī

[@brenotravassos8476]

þam means that? Or? I searched and I found þæm meaning that

[@Philoglossos]

þam means 'the' in the dative case :)

[@WolfgangSourdeau]

If you speak German or Dutch, you can understand 80% of that language with a bit of effort.

[@rdyt0]

Can't quite understand the language, but it sounds very "bearbarian" :)

[@QinShiHuang777]

It kinda seems like Latin was mixed in to German/English

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

It’s a lot like that

[@QinShiHuang777]

That's so coool​@@polyMATHY_Luke

[@The_TinesJathian]

Yes it’s so interesting to compare how Old English’s Latin-derived words compare to Middle English’s Old French derived words

[@applejackx97]

That's basically what happened over the last 1000+ years

[@Caprikel-ov2od]

Latin and Old English are both old languages closer to the original PIE, so it makes sense they would resemble each other more the further back you go.

[@barritube1]

I can’t understand anything 😂. I feel so dumb 😅

[@Neseku]

Hello can anyone study this language? Or is it preserved for people of English decent?

[@Philoglossos]

Languages are for everyone! Luke is of Italian descent and he studied Old English.

[@georgerussell2947]

You can learn any language regardless of ethnicity

[@troelspeterroland6998]

Just buy the book, whoever you are.

[@MrTree-yw5yw]

I don't want to sound thirsty BUT! where do they hire all those hot old languages doctors...?

[@hiberniancaveman8970]

Is there anyone else here who has watched “Lord of the Rings” and finds the way they pronounce *Smeagol* rather irksome?

[@TerrasScourge]

Yes. And the names of some of the Rohan people.

[@carlosm.labanca2285]

I expected more language, i. e. declensions, the three noun genders, verb conjugations, aso. Maybe it was my mistake. The cultural approach (literature & history) isn't that interesting, to me.

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

I don’t quite understand your comment. Could you elaborate? What are you referring to exactly?

[@wsxyz]

@@polyMATHY_LukeI guess he expected a first lesson in Old English to include a bunch of paradigms.

[@carlosm.labanca2285]

@@polyMATHY_Luke Language learning is related to lexis, grammar & pronunciation. The three so-called competences. I expected some of those contents in the vid. It was mainly focused on history & literature, though. That's all. As I pointed out, my mistake.

[@KarlKarsnark]

Calling Anglo-Saxon "Old English" is like calling Latin "Old Italian". For example, Tolkien held the position of Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon. Not "Old English".

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

The terms “Old English” and “Anglo-Saxon” are interchangeable in academic definition; however, it may easily be argued that “Old ENGLISH” is better since the name of the language in the language is “Englisċ.” Terminology is rarely symmetrical. Old Italian is a chronolect, and refers to Old Tuscan around the time of Danteand before. *Ancient* Italian however is of course Latin in our normal idea of it, though this term doesn’t have any academic definition to my knowledge.

[@YnEoS10]

Except in texts from the period they don’t call the language Anglo-Saxon or anything like that, but simply Englisc. They also spoke different dialects, so if you want to be more specific West Saxon makes more sense for the most often used dialect for literature.

[@rainbs2nd]

I don't think that's a big deal, both terms work fine. Old English was just called English back then, it's not really the same as Latin, which was actually called Latin, not Italian. (Just my opinion tho)

[@PICTVS]

Calling Latin “Old Italian” would be perfectly valid if Italian was the only surviving descendant of Latin, as is the case for English in relation to Anglo-Saxon

[@treslinguaesacrae]

@@PICTVS Well, Scots, too, is a descendant of Anglo-Saxon (albeit from a different dialect) and I still don't see a problem with using the term "Old English".

[@Liopot68]

old english is english, new english is pakistani