Learn Old English through story (w. Dr. Colin Gorrie)

[@Just_Sara]

My mom is buying me the book for Christmas, it's the only thing I asked for, and this is going to REALLY interesting! I'm greatly looking forward to learning to read it.

[@hive_indicator318]

Me too. Even went as far as saying it's literally the only thing I want

[@ryansmallwood1178]

Simon mentioning contributing to the audiobook at the end was really burying the lead, what an awesome announcement!

[@RichWareham]

*lede

[@AmyThePuddytat]

​@@RichWarehamDon't be annoying.

[@hive_indicator318]

I was thinking how an audiobook would be so nice, since the words are either spelled or pronounced familiarly. So hyped that he's helping

[@hive_indicator318]

The hand thing made me realize it's really like having 3 out of 4 legs for a table. It's not hard for my brain to fit the leg in. I watched his video on the first chapter, and the only reason I haven't gotten it is it's the only thing I've told anyone I want. Such a stellar teacher!

[@amrlynch]

1:04:00 in Trask's book on historical linguistics, he gives a sample of Old English followed by something to the effect of: this language was taught by parents to their children, who taught the language to their children, and on and on until we as modern English speakers inherited it. The shocking thing is that only about 40 generations or so separate us from the Old English speakers of the year 1000.

[@EvenRoyalsNeedToUrinate]

Thank you for this talk!

[@henrys3138]

This is fantastic, I saw that same video with Luke and mentioned the Simon Roper channel. To see you and Colin talk in depth about Ōsweald Bera is Christmas coming early.

[@cpnlsn88]

Very well explained on many points. If you're reading you can learn but if you stop reading the whole thing stops. Stopping, in fact, is the biggest factor in language learning because only a small number of learners reach a given goal. The majority give up. For people who want to be readers of a language you have to be able to read at a good speed. If looking at a single sentence one can consult a grammar if needed. But if you're deciphering every grammatical item you'll come to complete stop. Grammar is a bit like a therapeutic drug that becomes toxic at quite a low level. Small bits of grammar when you're ready to absorb it is fine. More than that you'll feel overwhelmed because grammar at the best of times is abstract and dessicated. I am really looking forward to using this book! It sounds like a really interesting endeavour. PS Re-reading is a kind of magic. People definitely should try it. It really makes a big difference.

[@aramisortsbottcher8201]

Totally agree! I currently read a dutch book for the third (and last) time; the first time was an effort, the second time I finally understood what was going on and now, the third time, I see so many details I missed before. I remember reading the first few pages was really hard. But then I understood one part that I really liked. It's my luck the book is well written, I owe this author my understanding of Dutch, any other book I would have stopped reading.

[@yes_head]

Brilliant! I'm ordering this book immediately.

[@VampireSquirrel]

Weird since I first saw your vids on consciousness months ago, which I thought were really amazingly insightful, but today was searching for info on this book, and old English, and saw you again, which did make me happy to see, I had no idea you had this hobby!

[@terdragontra8900]

Ironically, I really want to read this book even though I have no desire to read other Old English texts.

[@TheRealBrook1968]

Recently read Shogun and learned a few phrases this way. Flew on JAL and was able to use the four phrases I remembered in a row with the stewardess and she thought I spoke Japanese until I revealed that was all I knew!

[@patchy642]

Westport, County Mayo, Ireland, Europe. Thank you, gentlemen, for a great video of a great interview. I've been loitering by the letter-box, waiting for Oswald to arrive, since I ordered it last week, chomping at the bit! Simon, my own suggestion is you pronounce that word by changing it to "annoyance". Now, my queries, if I may: Would you consider using the same book to help folk learn other languages? I'd love to buy a version in modern West Frisian. And another in Old Frisian. And another in any other Frisian. If you consider such an idea, I would be happy to translate it into modern Irish Gaelic, knowing it would be a great resource for my own such students. Again, well done, gentlemen! You're both SUCH an inspiration to us all. Best wishes, Patchy.

[@vampyricon7026]

Patchy! I will first say that I'm unaffiliated with either of them so as to not give you a false impression, but what I thought was that Osweald Bera is essentially custom-made to teach Old English. I would think that using a similar approach for other languages essentially requires starting from scratch, though Colin has at least one video going into the philosophy behind writing the book.

[@patchy642]

@vampyricon7026 Good point, and really what I'm proposing would be that: a version of the same general story, but maybe tweaked, edited and adapted to cover and showcase the specific linguistic vagrancies of each language, which is why I would volunteer for the Gaelic version, possibly setting it in deepest, dampest, medieval Ireland.

[@benedyktjaworski9877]

Dia dhuit a chara, is iontach t’fheiscint anseo! Ba bhreá an rud é leabhar mar Ōsweald nú mar na cinn de chuid “Nature Method Institute” ach a mhúinfeadh an Ghaelainn a bheith ann, gan amhras. Ach nílim cinnte an mbeadh Ōsweald arna aistriú go Gaelainn comh maith sin, toisc an téacs a bheith comh bunaithe ar chúltur na Sasana i 9ú nú 10ú haois - agus tá stórfhocal mór ann ón chéad leathanach óir tá na focail cosúil leis na foclaibh nua-Bhéarla agus mar sin tá sé níos usa d’fhoghlaimeoiríbh go bhfuil Béarla na linne seo acu. Ach, b’fhéidir go mbeadh sé go maith mar bunús le ceann Seana-Ghaelainne! Bheadh rudaí cultúrtha cosúil lena mbíonn in Ōsweald, is dócha. Ach níor mhór don stórfhocal a bheith níos lú níos fusa don fhoghlaimeoir.

[@bendthebow]

I noticed the switch to wudu. I thought maybe they were 50/50 frequency, but it was grammer. Super interesting

[@fab006]

Well, there’s my Christmas gift to myself!

[@carlinberg]

Great interview, very interesting! 😊

[@animex75]

The book definitely sounds interesting, I may need to get it after the holidays!

[@eilisinivy]

It's very strange and also very interesting how intelligible old english is if you look at it long enough. Not all of it, of course, but if you look closely you can start to get the gist of sentences. I have never studied it, but I recently recorded a story in old english (only about 4 mins, but still) and as I read, there were a lot of context clues to tell me what was going on in the story itself (which is especially helpful with inflection) I have tested this on my mom before, whose ONLY foreign language knowledge is counting to 10 in Spanish and Japanese, and signing the ABCs in ASL, and she really was able to get the meanings of a lot of sentences.

[@Just_Sara]

Okay, we just need to know. Were YOU guys the kind to email each other in Old English?

[@Romanophonie]

I just watched the entire video. What a well done interview, Simon! I am still waiting for my copy of 'Ōsweald Bera' to arrive, and I can't wait! I was wondering if you knew of a could way to contact Colin? I just wanted to ask him a few questions :)

[@davidlericain]

Great video! I was wondering if Simon picked up on his clear Canadian accent, but then he mentioned he forgot. hehe.

[@bendthebow]

I look forward to the audio with much of linguistics youtube playing the characters

[@LydiaMoMydia]

i still think you should make a conlang, i'd love to see it

[@penelopehughes-jones5265]

I was trying to explain this book to my husband and I said, ‘Kinda like The Chocolate Orange’.

[@indetif839]

I am wondering if there are any plans to adapt this technique to any other languages, ancient or modern? Or has it already been done?

[@ArkhBaegor]

Comprehensible input is so cool, I loved reading through Lingua Latina per se Illustrata

[@jodypaulson255]

For those interested in both Comprehensible Input *and* Toki Pona (a constructed language) I highly recommend jan Telakoman's tutorial at kzbin.info/www/bejne/oJDEYaZmrNSqnqc

[@SusanGeyer-l4k]

👏

[@nqldaro]

❤🧸🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[@HonduranHoneymoonhon]

How did the thing about soul sound better in your head when you don't have an inner monologue?

[@hive_indicator318]

15:40 spoiler!

[@kornsuwin]

the internet is imploding (in distance)

[@pascalbercker7487]

Simon ought to get a better audio setup and not sound like he's in the bathroom talking. Too much echo.

[@wsxyz]

It would hardly seem like a Simon Roper video if he did that.

[@moonostultus]

first!(?)