WIKITONGUES: Christine speaking Shetlandic

Uploaded in Edinburgh, Scotland.
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[@Wikitongues]

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[@gregorgr7671]

@Peter B Same here! Full name please. I would love to learn more about her work. What an intriguing dialect, what an intriguing person.

[@michaelgreen1515]

Shame they lost Norn their actual language rather just having their dialect. I miss using my dialect.

[@michaelgreen1515]

@Peter B the Shetland language which died was Norse based, Scotland has 2 languages of it's own Gaelic, a Celtic language; Scottish, an Anglo-Saxon language which is not Scottish English but just as English dialects including American English are merging Scottish is being lost into Scottish English.

[@wendylorimer5663]

@Peter B Most people in Scotland speak some variety of English. Even Scots was called English back in the day when most people spoke it. Gaelic is still spoken pretty widely but only in the West. British/Brythonic (related to modern Welsh) was the language across the Strathclyde area and further East, a lot of place names are derived from it . East Lothian, where I grew up, was more part of the Northumberland area years ago. Hence the variety of languages and dialects across Scotland today.

[@wendylorimer5663]

@Peter B Christine de Luca

[@neilcronk]

I enjoyed the way she began sounding very English and, as she talked about her youth and language, gradually her language shifted maer and maer te theh dialeckt ev herr yeuth...

[@albertmerlew]

lol i see what you did there! 😂

[@bluesteel5688]

Neil.....I reckon this was deliberate on her part to display how she speaks in Edinburgh and scrolls through to her Shetland accent where they use many non English words (as in many parts of Scotland)

[@jovanweismiller7114]

She ever sounded 'English'. She has a very Scots accent whilst speaking English.

[@garyfindlay8052]

'Dialect' is technical english, it wouldn't be used by a classic broge speaker. More likely 'patter' or 'prattle' would be used. English is a precise language. Broge speakers may go the 'long way' round to describe something that can be said in one word in english. This is why english speakers, when they understand it, look down on it, to an english speaker broge sounds childish. For example the broge word for 'mathematics' is coontin (counting, phonetically: coo-t'n, the second n is a glottal stop) or sums.

[@bluesteel5688]

@@garyfindlay8052 brogue

[@YeshuaIsTheTruth]

Germanic languages are really interesting. I like her accent.

[@sandyeggerstedt3559]

She has such a lovely voice and cadence. Enchanting and magical....Made me rethink how I feel about my own accent and embracing it rather than ridiculing it. There is history in it as to why it sounds the way it does. I would like to Thank Her for that. I could listen to Her all day. ❤

[@aussiestallion69]

This is so weird, I’m born and bred Aussie of British ancestry and listening to this lovely lady I feel I understand what she says although on reflection she was speaking in Shetlandic, at those times something resonates inside but just doesn’t click. I guess that’s just because the English language has absorbed so many words from so many languages. Anyway absolutely delightful to listen to this.

[@PeerieMinx]

In Shetland there are MILLIONS of different variations of Shetland Dialect! There's Whalsay, then there's Burra then there your basic here an there bits an pieces o Shetlandic which is what she is speaking. This isn't broad proper Shetland dialect to my ears and I'm surrounded by it. Broad dialect is absolutely wonderful to hear and Whalsay accents are super cute(:

[@Cactusflapjack]

***** I had no idea there would be so many dialects in Shetland! i`m English but fascinated by all our native languages and dialects in the UK.

[@bluewhiting]

***** Aah, da Whalsaa accent. Forever ta be assosiated wee da terrors o da jaffa tyake ;)

[@funkmon]

+Sonja Johnson I find that implausible since there are two orders of magnitude fewer people there.

[@oldfashionedman]

+funkmon Implausible, but not impossible. It could be that each individual person speaks 100+ unique dialects. Of course, they would all have to be stark raving mad for this to be the case, but I do not rule such a thing out entirely! :)

[@rdouthwaite]

As an Englishman living in Shetland I can confirm they are for the most part raving mad. It's the wind see... ;-)

[@FSEThompson]

it’s fascinating hearing the celtic and germanic roots of Shetlandic coming together in her accent and lexicon, it’s like hearing the whole history of a language in one person’s speech.

[@ldarroch]

This language should be mostly unintellible to me but I feel like I'm listening to my ancestors speaking to me, and I understand. It's beautiful!

[@DanieleTirloni-fk1uy]

The phonetic, I feel It, is a magnificent blend of Icelandic/scottish/norwegian/dutch (meer and meer , meerenhalf?) and british....and at the same time is very peculiar. I am italian and about the poem, she says "manifesto" and "colloquio", who are 2 italian words

[@mrzold]

I think I have a crush on this woman .... aaaaaaaanyway, the first poem she reads, "Spelling it out", can be read here (pg. 164): www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/17549507.2017.1392606 The 2nd poem can be read here: poetryarchive.org/poem/discontinuity/ Timestamps for poems: Spelling it out: 03:32 Discontinuity: 08:00

[@wwbenee]

The guttal 'r' sounds so similar to Dutch! These accents as variations to all our beautiful European languages demonstrate that we're really one big language family which derives from one source.

[@williammackay3321]

This made me weap what a stunning language

[@jeaniechowdhury6739]

It definitely has Norwegian in it.

[@juliegilleland7947]

FANTASTIC!

[@lambethlongshanks4791]

Exquisite! Love it.

[@matthewtopping2061]

It sounds like a cross between Scots and Icelandic

[@jbach1738]

I would pay good money just to have her read bedtime stories. She brings myths, magic, and legends to mind. Absolutely lovely.

[@KarmaKutie1]

I am with you J Bach. She simply makes all the Covid, politics, and violence evaporate into the heavens. Mesmerizing.

[@nancym5341]

She brought me to tears! Thinking of my home in New Brunswick. Our use of old French... Acadiens... Their beautiful ways of being.

[@Hannah-xw4pk]

Nancy M I'm very grateful for the Acadiens in America :) They contributed a great deal to cooking and music. It breaks my heart to remember how poorly they were treated though.

[@benmalone31]

Absolutely, amazing accent

[@hisdaughter2354]

I love this woman and her voice, accent, general philosophy of life. So much wisdom in her words. I could listen for a veeeery long time.

[@kealani6535]

This woman should narrate children's books! What a wonderful, soothing and engaging way she has.

[@muranichanain6027]

You can see why Mrs Doubtfire had a beautiful Scottish accent 😏

[@tzaph67]

She could narrate adult books too!

[@copongcoponginc]

@@muranichanain6027 I'm welsh but love it

[@copongcoponginc]

@@tzaph67 nope

[@Slashplite]

she is a poet , check her wikipedia

[@DM-cu5hp]

This woman is a prime example of someone who is soft-spoken but powerful in delivery. You hang onto every word, as it drifts so sweetly and pure from her voice. I wish she was able to be a professor of Shetlandic or given a job as a narrator for books & documentaries. She makes you want to hear everything she says!

[@ashleypaul6326]

She does sound like a professor.

[@GL-nu7rx]

Oh my gosh- audio books about old european tales, but in her voice 🥺

[@Lgliam20]

@@ashleypaul6326 she probably is.

[@ashleypaul6326]

Grace Hammon That is so true.

[@AliceP.]

Yes! My fast-paced, stumbling speech is physically hurting me right now

[@btfstranger]

I understood 99% of what she said, as bilingual Norwegian this mixture of English and Norse completely makes sense. How incredibly fascinating!

[@tomasjonstefansson2287]

Same for me from iceland

[@unmercifulfate]

I thought she would start speaking another language but she is speaking English through the whole video? :O

[@vikingsailorboy]

Same for me.

[@rapier1954]

@@unmercifulfate It is a dialect as she says not a language.

[@aniinnrchoque1861]

I expected Norn... however she just rolled the R quite harsh... To bad Norn went extinct... should have known there was no hope

[@AntoniusVladislavius]

Can someone give her a job as a narrator? This is just wonderful.

[@AscentofTrollbane]

disagree, she sounds terrible.

[@MacSherry]

tinylilmatt Myself, she is clearly understood.

[@cullenrooney4964]

tinylilmatt as long as i am paying attention she is very understandable, but i do have to be more engaged than i would for an american narrator obviously

[@pinkmonkeybird2644]

@tinylilmatt Most of the world’s population would need subtitles to understand every single word of this grand lady’s recitation, so I’m not sure why you singled out Americans, but okay.

[@tylerhill9510]

What makes you think she would want to spend her time to satisfy your demands? She's plenty busy I'm sure

[@hannaconcepcion8849]

She looks and sounds like a fae that disguises as a sweet granma.

[@madelinegutierrez1720]

YES!

[@missyb9438]

Wtf is a fae?

[@genesisamv5525]

That's exactly what I thought! She has big fae energy. Its absolutely wonderful

[@madelinegutierrez1720]

@@missyb9438 People of the "fairies or elves."

[@hollygolightly8048]

MissyB 75 *What is.......

[@alliebean3235]

The way she speaks feels like the way a cat jumps - powerful and light, gentle and fierce, bright and alive. A beautiful woman speaking a beautiful dialect in a beautiful voice

[@bluewingsprite]

This is such a beautiful description

[@billyblack9339]

You been smoking green?

[@noranizaazmi6523]

@@billyblack9339i want what she’s havin if she writing like this

[@highcotton63664]

I love how she points out that we cannot let history taint a language. Languages such as Shetlandic and Gaelic seem to be dying out and that makes me sad. So many parents, my parents included, came from other countries to the US and due to a strong need to assimilate, did not teach their children the language of their parents. Teach them the old and the new, they will be richer for it!

[@emeralddragongaming2930]

Hello there and where did your parents came from, if there is no problem for asking?

[@highcotton63664]

@@emeralddragongaming2930 My grandfather was born in Aberdeen, then migrated with his parents to the Gaeltacht region of Ireland, then to the US. I would have loved to have learned his language/dialect.

[@emeralddragongaming2930]

@@highcotton63664 Oh , so you are with Scottish origin , celtic actually, maybe thats why they went to Ireland first, there were still enough people who still spoke the same language, more or less , but I think Ireland was quite poor country back then, so they had to go on. I'm from Macedonia, did you know that there is a legend that many families left Macedonia by ships, running away from Romans and settled in what is today Scotland and there are some Scots today whose calming Macedonian ancestry too , although I would not claim that for myself or my Greek neighbours will go angry ha ha ha But I think there are possibilities for you to learn your's ancestors language in USA and it would be a nice little victory, I believe

[@nanamiharuka3269]

Not to mention we usually kill native languages too

[@ericcraig3675]

Drifting fox, shetlandic as you say, is not a language, it's an accent,

[@Concetta20]

I would love to share a cup of tea and a conversation with her. She seems like a lovely person.

[@megannicolson3704]

Anna Ferrara - she is a lovely person Anna - she's my Auntie :-)

[@GreenTornado]

+Megan Nicolson If that is true, just wow. :)

[@lochlannkingz5279]

+Choco98's Channel yes

[@stevenwilliams24]

Pingüino Guy .... I wish she was my girlfriend. She looks great. She could chat to me in her language all she likes.

[@Yesica1993]

@ Anna Ferrara "I would love to share a cup of tea and a conversation with her. She seems like a lovely person. " I am just now finding this video and I feel the same way!

[@damonturnbull5903]

My Nanna was born and raised in Shetland. This takes me back to a young boy watching her get ready to go to town. She would slip into Shetlandic while doing her hair and make up. This has brought it all back to me . What a proud Shetland lassie she was. Thank You 🙏🏼💐❤️

[@eluemina2366]

Aww...

[@karlamackey4675]

What wonderful memories you have 😊

[@damonturnbull5903]

@@karlamackey4675 They are some of the most treasured

[@jem30six]

Mine grandmother too. I haven't heard her speak for 25 years, this lady wasn't exactly the same, but the sound of some words were and brings tears to my eyes. I didn't know it would effect me this way. My Nanna was so special. I wish she would talk about cows.... kye. we had a dairy in australia and she would always talk about the kye

[@AnDivroer]

Totally got tricked here... I thought she was speaking Shetlandic from the first second. And it basically sounded like English with a Scottish accent, so I found it pretty funny when she said "we had to learn English, and be bilingual". I was about to laugh, a little bit. Then she switches very little by little to real Shetlandic, and suddenly I understand nothing at all and decide to shut my mouth. Very interesting experience.

[@keithklassen5320]

Ah but if you open your ears further you'll see if not as different as it seems at first. It's certainly different, but it can be understood with listening.

[@amydalager]

"Suddenly I understand nothing at all and decide to shut my mouth." I'll take those words to live by, I think.

[@michellebyrom6551]

I'm from Lancashire but have spent half my life in Ireland. As a child I spoke only in broad dialect, getting Received English from books and school. Aged ten I moved to Somerset where I had to learn to speak all over again because no one could understand a word I was saying. I have a mixed accent now that leans heavily towards Lancashire. When I've had a drink, or I'm extremely tired the old dialect comes out and even my adult children have trouble understanding me. Its funny. Doesn't sound kindly to the ears though, unlike this lady's voice.

[@eeaotly]

@@michellebyrom6551 Interesting! I am not a native English speaker. And I don't think I ever heard someone talking in Shetland dialect before. I likes this lady's discourse and accent. It kind of reminds me of Scotty from Star Trek TOS and some nordic philosopher. Regarding the fact that your old dialects comes back when you're tired... The same happens to me. If I am tired, stressed or sleepy (or have one more drink) and I have to talk in English, what of the sudden, in the middle of the sentence, my native language shows up without any warning. Many times I don't even realise. If I can control it, then the accent will be heavily affected.

[@wednesdayfan272]

She just has a funny accent, not many words you can't understand if you listen carefully

[@PyroMynx]

Wow. She is such a beautiful orator. I thoroughly enjoyed her readings of the poems and telling about the history of where she comes from. After watching this video, it makes me want to get back into linguistics. I love learning about languages and how they've evolved over time. It's quite fascinating.

[@aniinnrchoque1861]

To me the pronunciation sounds fairly harsh and edgy compared to Oxford English, kind of as if she was spitting all along :D

[@prntrfxr]

I would like her to read to me every day. I don't care if I understand everything she says

[@caitthecat]

@@aniinnrchoque1861 And yet it's more soothing, like how waves crashing on a beach makes a short, harsh sound, but the overall sound of the ocean is calming.

[@aniinnrchoque1861]

@@caitthecat I guess.. I happen to dislike European Portuguese and Russian so I must be weird when it comes to this ^^

[@elizabethprov2894]

It fascinates me how the “R” can be pronounced in such varied and unique ways in all the different languages. Same letter, very diverse sounds.

[@---iv5gj]

You mean how the latin alphabet is so lacking that europeans just use the letter "R" to represent all these different sounds.

[@Pandileader]

@@---iv5gj What is interesting is that these different european "R" sounds are often related in their origins ( I mean, in history of european languages and writings), as the latin rolled R letter was used to write sounds that were pretty similar in germanic languages in those times, but that evolved differently (in germanic languages as well as roman ones). As a result standart German R and standart French R sound similar even if they are not related, and the same R in English can sounds very different according to the dialect

[@billforgie-slippery-jimdigriz]

Except the English, who cannot pronounce R. Except at the end of the word sofa.

[@r.v.b.4153]

​@@Pandileader This rolled R pronounced with the tip of the tongue (as in Latin or Swedish) was used in just about all of Europe. The throat R of French and German likely traces its origins back to Paris in the 18th century. A Frenchman writing from Paris in the 18th century even described the local French R as a rolled R. In most cases where people nowadays use a throat R, it was adopted in the 19th century (e.g. in Rotterdam/The Hague) by replacing the rolled R. Around the start of the 20th century, the rolled R was still (pretty) dominant in Dutch, German and (highly likely) Danish dialects. The English also used to roll their Rs like in Latin. Some English dialects still do, as well as Scots. The current English R supposedly started to replace the rolled R by the end of the Middle Ages (~1400s/1500s), but you may assume it was a process of adoption over a longer period of time.

[@osaniss]

@@r.v.b.4153 Im swedish and in my part of the country you pronounce "r" with the back of your throat. The rest of sweden hates our dialect lol

[@omggiiirl2077]

She's like the old granny you just want to visit all the time to eat sweet things, sit by her fireplace, with tea while she tells stories, fairytales and legends, her voice is lovely and magical and draws you in. I could just imagine her in a magical seaside cottage that's just cozy and warm, while the sea serenades in the background.

[@mabel8179]

Love your comment- I think the same as you described. This lady is beautiful!

[@willrichardson519]

Folkloric

[@volkerwendt3061]

Felt much the same. And the magical seaside cottag, well,that's where she spent her childhood, didn't she.

[@omggiiirl2077]

@Prince Valiant ha!

[@combatantezoteric2965]

Halo effect at work. You wouldn't say the same thing if she looked worse and had a different voice.

[@jkg466]

She says "heim" instead of "home" and "meir" instead of "more"... I can hear the influence of Norn in her speech.

[@iceomistar4302]

It's fascinating how in the English Isles there are so many English dialects and so many kinds of people, The Celts, Romans, Anglo Saxon and Normans, Vikings.

[@Chachy1337]

And instead of "lived" she says "bidd" or some version of that which sounds a bit like "bodd" i Norwegian

[@bb3ca201]

That's what I thought the video was referring to -- until I realized Norn was extinct...

[@bb3ca201]

Many Scots throughout the country say the same thing "hame" and "mair"

[@bb3ca201]

@@Chachy1337 in many parts of Scotland, they say "bid" (lived) and "bide" (live)

[@HelenaBlack80]

What a completely interesting accent. Mostly Scottish but there’s definitely Norwegian underneath (which isn’t surprising considering Shetland is geographically as close to Norway as it is Glasgow) it’s lovely because it’s like listening to an unknown language that you somehow understand. Flemish is very similar in that it’s understandable by English speakers due to its anthropology.

[@Nabium]

As a Norwegian I can't hear the Norwegian underneath, sounds Icelandic to me.

[@HelenaBlack80]

Nabium I said Norway due to the proximity of the two. I’m English so I can’t say that my Scandinavian language distinguishing skills are particularly good.

[@Nabium]

​@@HelenaBlack80 Aye. Yet, it might still be on my end. It's very difficult for me to hear Norwegian accent(unless it's strong), because I'm Norwegian myself it kinda just sounds "natural". Hard to explain. But Norwegian has been heavily influenced by Low German, while Icelandic and Faroese have not. Icelandic still has the th sound though, which Norway doesn't and Shetland has less off. That will easily make it sound Norwegian.

[@minermortal1997]

Nabium I’m Scottish and although I hear a Scottish accent there’s something Nordic underneath her accent that’s really throwing me off.

[@trh2032]

Tbh I'm fully English and most of it sounds like slang so you can pick up what she says. If you're used to a Scottish accent

[@emilevenrud]

As a Norwegian who speaks english mostly fluently, shetlandic actually makes sence to me

[@tomasjonstefansson2287]

Same here from iceland

[@SusseBo]

And here from Denmark. Makes a lot of sense.

[@matthewpriem]

Same here from Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. I guess Shetlandic sits perfectly inbetween its neighbours.

[@PHAD-tc2ic]

It makes also sense in Frisian (Frysk)/Dutch.

[@PagoAoE2]

As someone who speaks American Standard English, I also understand this. I am not even from Britain either.

[@jojocanon2803]

I'm just a country southern American woman. The way she speaks makes me tear up. So absolutely beautiful.

[@GavrielAbrahams]

My Gramma is from northern Mississippi and often she says words I find more common in Irish dialect.

[@HanlonRazor]

The way our older generations spoke contain many bits and pieces of the Scottish and Irish languages/dialects of the people that settled here, especially in more remote regions (mountain people are a good example). Of course, there are also a lot of differences, too.

[@JazzFlop212]

You cried because of this? Tf

[@AlissaWithAnI]

Yes! Born and raised in Savannah, Georgia where Southern accents are thick. But this made me feel so at home.

[@erinnab8335]

@@JazzFlop212 You cry and are moved when you hear your genes calling to you through the languages, music and culture of your ancestors. Southerners have a large inheritance from Northern European nations. It's your blood recognising itself. It's the same effect African-Americans experience when they get in touch with their ancestral roots. It calls to you deep in your bones and your very DNA.

[@sylviaross5486]

This lady has such a soothing voice, even when I didn't understand her. I agree with her that we shouldn't be ashamed of our native language, dialect, or accent. I'm from Southern Appalachia - Sand Mountain in northeastern Alabama. People from outside the South, when they hear somebody like me speaking, automatically assume the person is ignorant, runs around with no shoes, lives in a trailer park, makes & drinks moonshine whiskey, & constantly engages in incest. I have a B.A. in anthropology & have completed all graduate coursework. My mother was a teacher, as was her mother before her. Just because we SPEAK with an accent doesn't mean we THINK with an accent. Same goes with Cherokees. Around the early 1900's, children of the Cherokees who escaped the Trail of Tears & still lived in Appalachia (some of my ancestors) were basically kidnapped, taken to an English school, & forced to learn English. If they were caught speaking Cherokee, they were beaten. Their hair was cut & they were forced to dress like white people.If anybody's interested, the movie "The Education of Little Tree" is a wonderful story about a little half white/half Cherokee boy, Little Tree, & what happened when he was caught & forced to go to English school.

[@Doxymeister]

I was raised in central Oklahoma, have cousins that lived in Arkansas. There was quite a difference in accent between us, but we understood each other well. Others, however, when listening to us, tended to think our accents were the same. After I enlisted in the military, I lost what accent I had (my mother was a teacher as well--she was quite adamant that we speak English properly, so our accents weren't that strong to begin with) since I'd learned a couple of other languages. The funniest thing happened though--when stationed in Germany, I met a woman who came from Kentucky--she ended up babysitting for me. Anyway, we'd get together to play cards, and our husbands would just laugh--it only took a few minutes and I'd picked up her Kentucky accent already! Once out of the military, I came home to Oklahoma, and I still have people ask me if I'm native to this area, since I don't have the strong accent like everybody around me. It's sad though, that folks assume you're ignorant simply because of the way you talk--our universities here turn out some fabulous emergency doctors, veterinarians, geologists, physicists and aerospace engineers! And I agree--it's very sad what happened to Native Americans--I live in the heart of Chickasaw Nation country now. This tribe has worked with the local community, improved conditions for both the tribe and the locals. We're proud to have them as neighbors.

[@robdeskrd]

I bet you actually DO think with Sylvia Ross, you even write with an accent that I could hear whole time, HA! 😜 (Im sorry, I am disabled and have no life so I have to find to entertain myself)

[@DawnOldham]

My husband is from New Jersey and when he came to college in Florida, he began to hear a lot of people with Southern accents. When he heard a young doctor speaking with a heavy Southern accent, he was astounded that someone so smart sounded.... “like a yokel”. So, I appreciate what you said, that you don’t THINK with an accent! So true. (I had a heavy Southern accent as a child having been raised in Alabama and Georgia. Moving to Florida in 7th grade gradually softened my accent. I still sound southern, but nothing like my relatives who stayed in Alabama.)

[@dawnriver22]

@@marclacey2263I'm curious and genuinely asking - - What would you consider to be the dialect/accent that is universally intelligible?

[@janeygourley8008]

I love that movie! Makes me cry every time. I have a little Cherokee blood. My great, great grandmother was full blood. I am very proud of that!

[@EASYTIGER10]

As an English person I find this fascinating. Because English has absorbed so many words and evolved so much, its no longer mutually intelligible with any other, including it's Germanic cousins. But this gives a rare chance to experience someone speaking what is (arguably) a different "language" but be able to understand it. It's how I imagine it's like for a Swede listening to Norwegian say.

[@smalltime0]

+EASYTIGER10 English is mutually intelligible with Scots, and Frisian (especially West Frisian) is very similar sounding to English - though I'm not sure that you'd call it mutually intelligible (but it is close to that point) and it uses completely different spelling. Dutch to a degree is understandable by an English speaker, especially if you know a bit of German.

[@flashmanfred]

+smalltime0 as native English speaker but I don't understand any Frisian... maybe the odd word but definitely not in an intelligible way

[@smalltime0]

flashmanfred yeah, the odd sentence is understandable. But it isn't mutually intelligible, which is why I said it wasn't.

[@flashmanfred]

smalltime0 I apologise, I read what you had commented wrong haha

[@smalltime0]

flashmanfred Yeah, I can see how you could misinterpret what I wrote.

[@ohhhhhhmygodbecky]

Oh my god, what a gem! She is a beautiful woman with a voice like butter and a mind like gold... Man, I could listen to her speak forever. There is something so magical about being able to understand what she says.

[@Rick-tt6yq]

She is so lovely...loving those rolling ‘r’s. This Canadian is smiling at you...beautiful.

[@hootsmon4723]

Funnily enough i,m a Canadian staying in Scotland and i,m smiling too 😁😁

[@txt9710]

You may add me too !

[@sararitakt1005]

She also had a similar pronunciation of the word "about" that Canadians have, I think!

[@555pghbob]

Only the sea can grit and sang at the same time. That is so perfect. I speak Swedish and recognize "grit" because in Swedish it is "gråta" ---Only the sea can cry and sing at the same time. Just sublime. Thank you!

[@DavidFraser007]

in my area, greet-cry cry-call

[@guccideltaco]

@@DavidFraser007 Interesting; I live in an area with predominantly Spanish/Mexican influences, and some of the traditional music utilizes a high pitched cry called "grito".

[@akamikeym]

@@guccideltaco certainly could be related. Certainly parts of Spain were in the Celtic fringe. These cultures are horrendously under studied. I was interested in Pictish symbols (and what meaning they could have held for the people who made them) and was somewhat taken aback to find out there are books (bibles) in a library at Cambridge written by the people that made them, but as far as I'm aware no one has bothered to look at them to see if they contain any clues.

[@sumthin8546]

@@guccideltaco grito means scream in Portuguese, I don't know if this is also true in Spanish

[@guccideltaco]

Viola Ren Yes, it is.

[@Haraldikalvalid]

I can hear a lot of Norse in her dialect. Some words are same as in Faroese. I believe that old Shetlandish and Faroese was very very similar. I remember an old story about a Faroese fishing boat that got engine problems and sat dead in the water. The boat eventually hit land and the crew met with the locals and said "Góðan Dagin" (Good Day) and the locals replied back in something extremely similar. They talked Faroese and Shetlandish the rest of the day before the crew left again with their boat fixed.

[@cintulator2]

Sounds more like Dutch or Frisian.

[@-sabelmousse-2246]

not to me.

[@asbjrnpoulsen9205]

Shetland Norn (Jakob Jakobsen) Fira honga, fira gonga, Fira staad upo "skø" Twa veestra vaig a bee And een comes atta driljandi. Faroese Fýra hanga, fýra ganga, Fýra standa uppí ský Tvey vísa veg á bø Og ein darlar aftast Icelandic Fjórir hanga, fjórir ganga, Tveir veg vísa, Tveir fyrir hundum verja Einn eftir drallar, sá er oftast saurugur Orcadian dialect of Scots (not Norn)[19] Foweer hing-hangers, An’fower ching-changers, An’ een comes dinglan efter English translation Four hang, four walk, Four stand skyward, Two show the way to the field And one comes shaking behind Traditional version from England Four dilly danders Four upstanders Two lookers Two crookers And a wig-wag

[@asbjrnpoulsen9205]

Orkney Norn: Favor i ir i chimrie, / Helleur ir i nam thite, gilla cosdum thite cumma, / veya thine mota vara gort o yurn sinna gort i chimrie, / ga vus da on da dalight brow vora Firgive vus sinna vora / sin vee Firgive sindara mutha vus, lyv vus ye i tumtation, / min delivera vus fro olt ilt. Amen. Shetland Norn: Fyvor or er i Chimeri. / Halaght vara nam dit. La Konungdum din cumma. / La vill din vera guerde i vrildin sindaeri chimeri. / Gav vus dagh u dagloght brau. Forgive sindorwara / sin vi forgiva gem ao sinda gainst wus. Lia wus ikè o vera tempa, / but delivra wus fro adlu idlu. [For do i ir Kongungdum, u puri, u glori.] Amen. Old West Norse: Faþer vár es ert í himenríki, / verði nafn þitt hæilagt Til kome ríke þitt, / værði vili þin sva a iarðu sem í himnum. / Gef oss í dag brauð vort dagligt Ok fyr gefþu oss synþer órar, / sem vér fyr gefom þeim er viþ oss hafa misgert Leiðd oss eigi í freistni, / heldr leys þv oss frá ollu illu. Amen. Faroese Faðir vár, tú sum ert í himlinum. / Heilagt verði navnið títt. Komi ríkið títt. / Verði vilji tín, so sum á himli, so á jørð. / Gev okkum í dag okkara dagliga breyð. Fyrigev okkum syndir okkara, / so sum vit eisini fyrigeva teimum, ið móti okkum synda. Leið okkum ikki í freistingar, / men frels okkum frá tí illa. [Tí at títt er ríkið, valdið og heiðurin um aldur og allar ævir.] Amen. Icelandic Faðir vor, þú sem ert á himnum. / Helgist þitt nafn, til komi þitt ríki, / verði þinn vilji, svo á jörðu sem á himni. / Gef oss í dag vort daglegt brauð. Fyrirgef oss vorar skuldir, / svo sem vér og fyrirgefum vorum skuldunautum. Og eigi leið þú oss í freistni, / heldur frelsa oss frá illu. [Því að þitt er ríkið, mátturinn og dýrðin að eilífu.] Amen. Norwegian (Landsmål 1920, present-day Nynorsk) Fader vár, du som er i himmelen! / Lat namnet ditt helgast; lat riket ditt koma; / lat viljen din ráda pá jordi som i himmelen; gjev oss i dag várt daglege brød; / og forlat oss vár skuld, som me og forlet váre skuldmenn; og før oss ikkje ut i freisting; / men frels oss frå det vonde. For riket er ditt, og magti og æra i all æva! Amen Norwegian (Nynorsk 1978/85) Fader vår, du som er i himmelen! / Lat namnet ditt helgast. Lat riket ditt koma. / Lat viljen din råda på jorda så som i himmelen. / Gjev oss i dag vårt daglege brød. Forlat vår skuld, / som vi òg forlèt våre skuldmenn. Før oss ikkje ut i freisting, / men frels oss frå det vonde. [For riket er ditt, og makta og æra i all æve.] Amen. Norwegian (Nynorsk 2011)[18] Vår far i himmelen! / Lat namnet ditt helgast. Lat riket ditt koma. / Lat viljen din råda på jorda slik som i himmelen. / Gjev oss i dag vårt daglege brød, og tilgjev oss vår skuld, / slik vi òg tilgjev våre skuldnarar. Og lat oss ikkje koma i freisting, / men frels oss frå det vonde. [For riket er ditt, og makta og æra i all æve.] Amen. A Shetland "guddick" (riddle) in Norn, which Jakob Jakobsen heard told on Unst, the northernmost island in Shetland, in the 1890s. The same riddle is also known from the Faroe Islands, Norway, Iceland, and a variation also occurs in England.

[@Rovarin]

Dr. Jacob Jacobsen wrote his thesis on Shetland Norn. I was traveling in Shetland in '99 (when Norrøna still sailed to Lerwick) and visited the Tangwick Haa Museum (I think it was called that) and there, on a wall, was a picture of Dr. Jacobsen.

[@franek_izerski]

"...cobalt and ultramarine...", the colours of the clothes she's wearing.

[@rosysingh6699]

What a lovely comment 💙💚

[@jrt818]

Pantone?

[@latitude1904]

Aquamarine blouse, definitely

[@ogieogie]

I could listen to this gentle woman talk for hours.

[@thatcanadiangrandma]

so am i.....She's a charming lady...

[@leonardofonseca4598]

Yes, i would do the same ,i would like that she could be to talk to me, what a calm voice, it would make sleep deeply.

[@deendrew36]

I don’t know I ended up here, but I am so glad. What an interesting person and a fascinating poem. She should narrate books and poetry all the time.

[@carolcarol3938]

me too

[@ImagoCanis]

she's so damn cute i wanna hug the heck out of her

[@artv.9989]

Shes a Gilf

[@charlie-mz5hp]

Same

[@fironfiron8843]

She has that extremely positive personality, even her voice and smile. Even if she were to turn even older than she is currently, get more wrinkles,etc I would still give up my organ to marry her.

[@tylerperkinson1677]

@@fironfiron8843 hey, quit beating around the bush and tell us how you really feel!!! She is pretty, isn't she? In multiple ways.

[@BertPaulson]

Would you show me?

[@user-od1fm3hs9c]

Her hair is amazing. I love the colour and style. Suits her brilliantly.

[@worrywirt]

Wow... as a lover of both English and Scandinavian languages this is utterly fascinating

[@TheJohnblyth]

I’m Scottish and grew up thinking that the people around me were speaking a debased kind of English (the official position at the time) so you can imagine my surprise decades later when I started to study Norwegian, and noticed all of these words my dad used that were exactly the same as the Norwegian ones. Of course fluency in the standard dialect of British English has been very useful to me, but it would have been a rich experience indeed if we had studied the local dialects no an even footing. Alas even the standardized Scots of today is itself quite a different dialect from the West Fife of my childhood, being based on something farther to the west. At an earlier time when I had been reading some Chaucer I had been struck by how much closer his language was to my father’s than to Modern English, which, for all its prestige, was a falling away from the earlier Middle English, many of whose elements were more faithfully preserved in Scotland, Northumberland, Yorkshire, and even in America. Not that there is anything intrinsically wrong with Modern English but essentially it happened to be the dialect of the biggest bully who dominated the playground, and who can still be relied upon to throw his weight around from time to time (not that our more local ones wouldn’t given half a chance). Another linguistic moment when a small party of us were staying at a B&B in Kirkwall, Orkney, having been greeted by the lady there in wonderfully lilting Scottish English, but later on I overheard her speaking on the phone to someone and I hardly understood a word. A lot of things have been lost, and some of them were lost because they were lied about first; I’m sure this continues to happen all over the world, and has done and will continue to, so long as there are people. And, yes, this poet writes speaks and reads beautifully. Thanks for that.

[@nalanihamby3710]

John Blyth that is heartbreaking.

[@lass-inangeles7564]

How interesting that Norwegian is similar to Scottish English! Chaucerian English is similar to French and Cockney - e.g. Chain sounds like Chey-enne (Chaine in French). Thanks for sharing your wonderful insights, I found it very moving!

[@Jamesltricker]

Heartbreaking. The British Isles have lost so much linguistic diversity. The British library has a great resource on old dialects somewhere

[@DarkNog]

Scottish English, as stated, is based on the same Anglo-Saxon that the original 'Ænglisc' people brought with them from modern North Germany/Southern Denmark, just as Received Pronunciation is. Scots retains many cognates with other Germanic languages which were replaced by Old French/Latin terms by the Normans. This is exactly why regional English dialects have many cognates with continental Germanic languages. The metropolitan elites and the aristocrats (the Normans and their descendants, in the case of the UK) pull the language in a certain direction and eventually the middle classes follow. The more rural areas hold on to the older aspects and take the longest to change, if at all. It's not heartbreaking, it's just the way things are. As mentioned by John, all the other regional dialects would dominate their neighbours if they had the chance.

[@tylerperkinson1677]

Sucks, doesn't it? It really is sad. I live in southern Appalachia, and hear words from my father and grandmother, like 'thassel', occasionally...... or is it thassle, or thastle? I'll probably never know. I think my family largely made the decision to raise my sister and I with a more broadly-based American English accent, and to some degree, dialect. My mother's side of the family is mostly German, and I think she and her siblings had extensive knowledge of German, and even used it amongst themselves, but refused to teach it to us. Sad, I feel a bit robbed of my heritage. I could learn modern German, but it still wouldn't be the same as having spoken it at home, you know what I mean? Sad, what we lose.

[@dixgun]

Sounds mostly like a Scottish accent by someone who thoroughly understands Icelandic. A very pleasant sound. ☺️

[@copongcoponginc]

AS a vaudois . I love people when speaks anglish

[@cuchulain55]

To me it sounds like across between Scottish and icelandic

[@elledix3575]

Many other regions of both Scotland and northern England use the same vocabulary, only the accent changes. I've chanced to overhear Norwegians speaking and thought they were Scottish and felt confused as to why I couldn't understand what they were saying; the accent is so similar to Scottish!

[@nuancematters]

We used to have a language called Norn up here. It was descended from Old Norse so was very similar to Icelandic.

[@Kitiwake]

Scottish?

[@1e0s]

Beautiful lady. I could look at & listen to her endlessly

[@angeladouglas1789]

My darling mum was born and raised in Edinburgh and spoke a lot of shetlandic listening to this lady, specifically wirds like haim and mair and quite a few ithers

[@Ohnogoblin]

Angela Douglas those words are Scots words! We say them in southern Scotland too 😄

[@BaddaBigBoom]

This accent reminds me of when an Icelandic person speaks English.

[@larusoskar6707]

God heavins, mAn ... wie donn all sound loike MacHarrrrdy of Skottland!

[@asdfdjhgk]

You can really hear the Norwegian influence.

[@andrewc.2952]

She's a beautiful spirit. I could listen to her all day.

[@kennethfowler7821]

We as a people need to preserve language! I once heard it said that we as a people lose a language every 30 seconds. This included dialect, language, and the stories that people tell. We seem to save the language of so called important people but not of our own folk which is just as important if not more important.

[@collinhunter9792]

i was brought up in Thurso, Caithness. Born in Stirling, Clackmannanshire. I Have worked in Orkney and also worked in Shetland, in Lerwick. Had a girlfriend in each, born in the relevant islands , so their accents and the way they spoke was , for want of a better way, amazing. To hear this lady talk takes me back , tbh, decades now. I understood every word. I want to show my workmates this, but i sadly think they would not be interested. She is correct. Embrace your language and become bilingual, keep it alive. I live in New Zealand now. the maoris and the Islanders do embrace their language and Maori is the second language , after English , in New Zealand

[@OswestryGrey]

Your a bit of a shagger then.

[@adriaanbester1401]

Love how she speaks with her whole face and eyes. Mischievous.

[@jw8984]

It sounded like there were two voices coming from her throat.

[@nexlon]

Possessed

[@dddddangel]

As a Dutch person I hear some similarities in the way she pronounces things.

[@LePezzy66]

Ja, ook wel een beetje Frysk

[@AnAtomintheUniverse]

Like most places, I'm sure. For us in Scotland though, we barely even realise we're using dialect until you say, speak those words to a non Scot yet native English speaker. It's due to the fact we still have Gaelic/Scots/Norse words in daily usage that the other English speaking countries do not use.

[@rogerwilco2]

Many of those words are just "Anglish" too.

[@youtubenoob2743]

Shetland and the Shetlanders have always intrigued me. I'm Faroese ( Faroe islander ) And us and the Shetlanders are very similar in so many ways! Much love to our norse-celtic siblings and neighbours :)

[@Rovarin]

Our Sheep Letter seems to suggest that were within the same Løgting jurisdiction at one time as it mentions the Løgmann of Shetland, but no Faroese Løgmann.

[@tajaun3467]

I understood maybe 4/5 of what she said

[@mc495150]

I’ve been to the faroes (most beautiful place on earth, i swear) in 2018. I’m looking right now to go to shetland next year. I studied scandinavian languages at uni (swedish and bokmål) and i’ve been in all nordic countries, from denmark to svalbard and i’ve been to scotland and ireland many times. North always fascinated me to a unexplainable level, it just speaks to me. In tjørnuvík i almost felt like it was my home, i don’t know why and it cannot be more different to what i’m used to. To my ears this sound somewhat like scots spoken by a nynorsk speaker. Beautiful.

[@needfortweed8734]

Old comment, but I'll still reply. I have been to both Shetland and Faroe Islands, and both the people and the place is very common. I love both places...

[@cassandrastornoway5445]

"The Lexicon of lewd and lovely" an interesting juxtaposition. I liked it.

[@erikamiles3519]

If I close my eyes I can really hear her smiling.

[@willrichardson519]

Twinkly

[@livewithintention1625]

As someone who is half Danish, half English and lived in Belgium for primary school (Flemish speaking) it truly does sound like a mixture of every language in my life haha 😂🥰

[@NeichaUnagi]

it's interesting how sometimes her accent in english gets really close to an icelandic accent. Things are all intertwined and beautiful. I speak five languages myself, but it's definitely not the tongue of books I care about, but the dialects and spins of the people who speak it natively. There's so much history in dialect, so much human emotion, dialect is where language is truly alive.

[@theturniptress805]

Yes , I am also fascinated about how intertwined our whole word is. This can be seen in languages the most. I also speak and write 3(including Hindi ,and another Indian regional language) languages and am learning polish. And sometimes I find similar words ( like 'pije' polish for 'drinks/is drinking ' and 'piye' hindi word which means the about same ) , and am reminded how interconnected everything is. There are also many many different dialects here .I can understand some completely, some employ a few different words, and some I can't understand at all.

[@NeichaUnagi]

@@theturniptress805 I currently live in Norway and am not completely fluent in Norwegian yet, but there are so many different dialects it feels like learning multiple languages at once. Definitely an interesting experience. In french (my mother tongue ) dialects are a thing but they're all very easy to understand and don't really require much explaining. In Norwegian I sometimes cannot understand anything someone is saying because their dialect is so unique to a very specific area of Norway that it doesn't sound like any of the main dialects.

[@theturniptress805]

@@NeichaUnagi Yeah dialects get complicated sometimes

[@leonardofonseca4598]

Yes, i do agree with you.

[@da_gonozal6754]

@@theturniptress805 that's due to those languages sharing a common ancestor, proto-indoeuropean/indogermanic. Learning about that suddenly explained a lot of grammatical and word similarities between a lot of languages I've encountered.

[@cactuswren9771]

When I listen to her. I can hear my ancient grandmums from Skye and Lewis talkin' in me bones. What a precious gift. Thank you so much!

[@eoghan.5003]

There are plenty of similarities, but speakers from the western islands (like Skye and Lewis) will have a bigger Irish, gaelic influence (and Scottish gaelic may well be their first language); whereas those from the northern islands (like Shetland) have a bigger Scandinavian, norse influence.

[@SirCutRy]

Sounds really Scandinavian and Nordic.

[@sigurdschjnsby7426]

+SirCutRy Shetlandic Scots is very influenced by Norn, which was the old insular nordic language spoken in Shetland and Orkney.

[@owenwilson4145]

+SirCutRy When I was in primary school they would tell us a story and sing us a song about a princess who was being sailed from Norway to Shetland. Not sure how accurate it is but we were told Shetland was owned by Norway and was given to Scotland as a gift of some sort, but the princess died on the way over. I'm Scottish.

[@MrMikkyn]

Absolutely! Icelandic.

[@SirCutRy]

mikuthemuso Yes, and how she says more is like meer in the Netherlandic language, which means 'more'.

[@meifennellysieu7510]

+mikuthemuso Oh, I know XD

[@scottishdmck2875]

Do folks that aren’t Scots understand her fine? I’m lowland Scots and I understand 99%

[@ComputerAndTechnologyChannelTM]

I do. I am North English, by the by.

[@ashleybucher1576]

I’m Californian and understand her well

[@johannalange802]

German here and yes, reminds me only of a germanic/ scandinavian pronounciation. I think understanding this is mostly a question of talent for languages. There are always people who claim they don't understand another region's dialect of their own tongue. Subtitled news made me wild and I thought people were plain right stupid when I was younger. These days I give them credit of the doubt, maybe they are just not interested in anything done differently. This variety makes human speech so fascinating and beautiful for me....

[@zalaegerszeg9527]

I’m Californian, but my Father is part Ulster-Scots.

[@roberttighe5687]

I’m American and understand her fine

[@poibot]

I could just listen to her voice at the end of the day and I'd feel like an audio hug is rocking me to sleep.

[@thatcanadiangrandma]

I like that! :)

[@ambrosius]

A relic of times when the Norse controlled much of the British isles. So fascinating

[@drrd4127]

This is Scots! It is a relic of the Angles ("Anglo" in America) from southern Scotland. Where Modern English is a relic of the Saxons from southern England. Although, Norse has influenced both Scots and Modern English.

[@Tom-mk7nd]

She's Christine De Luca if anyone's wondering.

[@stevecarter8810]

You talking about all the people who already stopped listening in the first three seconds of the video?

[@hunterhotch9720]

“It’s the way our forefathers moved to the forest floors”

[@lewjames6688]

Isn't it great how the people who grow up speaking the dominant dialect of the dominant language never give it a second thought about hearing a teacher correct a child because that child is speaking "bad" English (or whatever language)? Now think about how much time and energy those not from the right class have to spend in terms of time and effort just so they won't be criticized or looked down upon. Just so others won't think they are stupid. And almost always these speakers of dialect have no problems being simply understood. What a great system to get people to waste time!

[@claystephens8522]

I feel so compelled to just chill out with this lady. she's awesome.

[@DavidFraser007]

As a boy growing up in Angus, Scotland I just assumed that everybody in the UK had one language for home, family and friends and English was just for school, TV etc. It wasn't til I joined the army and moved to England that it wasn't the case.

[@carebear5394]

Rosette Stone is recording rare languages, she should be recorded. Lovely voice

[@SirCutRy]

This invokes the ASMR phenomenon.

[@gxtmfa]

The hell is that?

[@17yogabbagabba]

gxtmfa 😂😂😂😂 Look it up on KZbin. It's great.

[@annehislop2449]

@@gxtmfa Brain orgasm/tingles. Gentle Whispering.

[@angharadhafod]

I'm looking back at this video again after coming back from Shetland a month ago. This is very anglicised Shetlandic insofar as I understand it all quite easily. I made a few friends whilst on Shetland. One in particular is not really able to speak English; although he says he makes allowances for me, I still found it difficult to understand him (I'd say around 30% mutual intelligibility in the average spoken sentence). I also speak Norwegian to a fairly good standard, and that helps. One example here: Christine uses the word "whale", and it's instantly recognisable to an English speaker. However, on Shetland I heard something much closer to the Norwegian "hval" (rhymes approximately with "dahl"). I heard a story of Shetlanders being able to tune their ears to understanding Icelandic after a couple of days on Iceland (a recent sports team visit). I met someone who claimed to understand Norwegian because it's similar to her own dialect (she seemed to understand me so I guess that was true), and someone else who definitely did speak Norwegian; both these were older people and at least in the latter case was a result of frequent contact with fishing in times past. But that merely reminds us that the contact with the Nordic countries has remained very strong until very recent times (now sadly lessened as the Bergen-Faroe-Iceland ferry no longer calls). If anyone is listening to this hoping to hear something very different to standard English, and feeling disappointed, don't be. Go to Shetland, and listen in to conversations. On the island of Whalsay (pronounced "wollsah"), mutual intelligibility listening in to a (clearly heard) conversation in the shop was approximately 0%. They say even others from Shetland don't understand people from Whalsay. I wish I'd recorded what I heard.

[@mahboi64]

I'm from Whalsay and yes, what you said is very true! Our sub-accent is very heavy because we pronounce some of our vowels different to most other Shetlanders, particularly words ending in "ay", we pronounce as "uy". Along with many other variants.

[@angharadhafod]

@@mahboi64 Someone needs to record you! It's a shame more isn't known about the Shetlandic dialect/language, and in particular that of Whalsay.

[@birchtree5794]

Many years after original post I stumbled upon this. So beautiful, not only Shetlandic, but the voice of Christine. A pleasure to listen.

[@scottieglot]

Her poems are stunning! Anybody know of any videos of just her saying the poems on their own?

[@ZackBeck]

This is the most wonderful video I've seen in years! I could listen to her over and over. "Bairn" (Baby), "Twa" (Two), "Bide"(Abide or live), "Maer"(more) "Arboot" (All About), "dunna let bairns tink"...all beautiful to listen to.

[@jamesmacgregor3911]

Zack Beck This is how I speak everyday, if you listen to Doric (which is a dialect in the North East of Scotland more specifically in Aberdeen) you'll hear this all day

[@saoirse7167]

You'll like this, then: Allegedly, the origin of the name 'Barnikel' comes from the German "barn ni kval" = "child no kill" (or at least a Germanic language) because a Viking chieftain ordered that the children be spared during a raid. It's not much of a leap to 'bairn ne kel' or 'dinnae kill the wee bairn' (I might be taking some liberties with the Scottish dialect there, but you get the point).

[@Cherryifeelsospecial]

In glasweigan a wein is a baby or a child

[@reecedowney5031]

@@Cherryifeelsospecial I'm from Edinburgh and it's called a bairn, I don't know why yous call it a wain sounds quite weird to me

[@needfortweed8734]

Bairn is sounding very close to the Norwegian word for kid, Barn.

[@Femme_Elf]

She sounds like she has a Dutch accent sometimes somehow.

[@Lgliam20]

There is no "somehow" due to a history well-recorded. Sooo yeaaahh...

[@PoutinePete]

I heard a bit of Boer accent in there.

[@marin091]

Dutch trade fleets going back and forth to the East Indies would often rendez-vous in the Shetland Isles so they could sail around the British Isles and avoid the Channel which was considered dangerous because of piracy and nearby hostile nations. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if 100 years of quite intensive contact with VOC sailors influenced the local language a little bit.

[@huemins]

Im a German and I felt quiet strange listening sometimes because I think there are some strong parallels still prevailing? It's like when I hear dutch it feels so similar yet so alien, kind of..

[@jkbleach4902]

Similar to norse

[@coolmacatrain9434]

Understood every word ( Well, almost! ) We talk/speak in a similar fashion here in "The Laggan" ( East Donegal ) but with less of a Burr and more of a Brogue.

[@MrJasonwoodrow]

Wishing the tech had done a more clear recording. There's a slight distortion that robs some of the beauty of her voice, and that is unfortunate.

[@hardtohandleweddingbandent8653]

The distortion you're hearing is actually the sound of her superior vocal chords. Most possessed people talk this way.

[@needfortweed8734]

I just noticed the same thing. It sounds like the sound peaked somehow and then were lowered to broadcast standard.

[@vicsaul5459]

should have recorded at better level. or get the mic closer. my volume is on full just to hear this

[@Alec_Reaper]

SHETLANDS I'M FROM THE SHETLANDS. It's hard to mimic Limmy via text.

[@Bloodgod40]

"All her childhood" in the Shetlands and then 50 years in Edinburgh. She must be near 70 which is incredible, she could pass for early 50s easily, or even late 40s. A beautiful woman inside and out.

[@CptDangernoodle]

40? Really?

[@lornam3637]

@@CptDangernoodle I'd agree. I'm 47 and she looks about my age maybe younger

[@lornam3637]

@Morgue Hahaha! It's clearly too late for me now 😬 👵

[@GigaWhitArtandStuff]

@Morgue goddamn that's harsh 🤣🤣

[@kateri17]

Not many 40 year olds' hair has gone completely white. She is absolutely a gorgeous woman and looks her age. Beauty and age aren't in conflict with each other. I'm 44 and I look it, but she definitely looks 20+years older than I do and she looks beautiful.

[@micheal2458]

I feel like everyone in the comments "correcting" others about how they should say 'dialect' instead of 'language' missed the entire point of the video.

[@hArtyTruffle]

Words in there I remember my grandmother speaking. Sounds a bit like her tone too. Strange experience. Beautiful language.

[@LaPtiteAnglaise]

The Scandinavian sounds are so strong in this dialect/accent of Scotland.

[@nathalie9329]

This weirdly feels like the english equivalent to german vs swiss-german

[@Wikitongues]

That is actually a very strong comparison! Like German and Swiss German, English and Scots are two closely related and historically intertwined languages. In both cases, the latter language is often mistaken as a dialect of the former. Thank you for stopping by our channel!

[@GregoryPastoll]

What a lovely, gentle woman this lady is. Soothing voice, twinkling humour amidst the seriousness of her cause. I could not stop listening. Her kind of person makes me proud to belong to the human race. Thank you, Christine.

[@berengerkatich1732]

This wonderful woman possesses such character. I could watch and listen to her all day; the accent and the way she delivers her sentences are quite disarmingly charming. If she’s reading this, I hope and trust she knows what a remarkable lady she is. Bravo.

[@samuelbarham8483]

I'm glad the video finally settles into full Shetlandic Scots at 8:05.

[@bloodaxe5028]

Aat isna Shetlandic leed. Vit A am spiking is Shetlandic dilect o da Scots leed !

[@eustacetuberson4375]

*Transcript:* My name is Christine De Luca, but that's my married name; and my real name is Christine Pearson. I was born in Bressa [Bressay], in Shetland, and then most of my life, my childhood, was spent in Waas, on the west side of Shetland-group of islands at the very north end of Scotland, quite isolated from the mainland, really. _Waas_ is called "Walls", but it really means "inlets of the sea", and it's one of these things that the army making the maps got confused with, and they put down the word _Walls._ So when you say, "I come from Walls," you feel as if it's sticking in your mouth, because you come from _Waas!_ Anyway, that had a fundamental effect on me, being brought up in a peerie [little] crofting, fishing community all my childhood. When I came away to Edinburgh, where I bide [live] now, and I'm bidden [I've lived] for fifty year, I found Edinburgh really quite awe-inspiring and quite scary. And of course I had to be careful 'fore I spoke, because of course I had to speak English. We learned to speak English at school, of course, we had to be bilingual and not be rude; but I did miss not being able to speak in my own way. I think when I realized, later on, that the chances of my going home was likely braaly [fairly] slight, I thought-I found release in writing in Shetland dialect. It was ae [always] a peerie [little] bit difficult to write in the dialect, because we never learnt to read or write it. It was kind of mainly spoken; there was a dictionary, there was ways of writing it, but we never learned it firmly, so we had to kind of just manage ourselves. But anyway, I started writing subversively in Shetland-in Shetland dialect; and then, as I wrote more and was moving among folk interested in poetry, then they became aware of that, and I found that they quite liked it. And that was really quite strange! I thought they would find it awful queer. So, I wrote more and enjoyed doing that. And as time's gone on, I'm [I've] written more and more-I would say now I write about half and half, maybe even more as [than] half, in the Shetland dialect, or "Shetlandic", and the rest in English. And it's been translated into all kind of languages, which to me seems bizarre in the extreme. I thought I might read this poem (it's mostly in English), 'cause it's about the relationship between language and dialect. I had been working with two Nordic poets: An Icelandic poet [= Snorri Hjartarson], and his poem was all about a bird, the snipe; and the Icelandic word for the snipe is the _hrossagaukur,_ and the Shetland for it is _horsegock._ And I'd been working with a Norwegian poet [= Thor Sørheim], and his was called "Hegrehøyden", which is about the bird called the "heron". And the Shetland word for a heron is a _hegri._ And I thought that was quite interesting. Anyway, it starts off in English; it's a kind of a manifesto. *Spelling It Out* It's the way a cat fawns, a bird flaunts, a dog recoils and whimpers; it's the way a cricket chooses from his bag of chirpings or a whale sends a long-distance message. It's the way our forefathers moved
 to the forest floor, and in the tonality
 of their vocal chords said "I" and "you" in a thousand different ways; picked up the grammar of polemic and persuasion, the lexicon of lewd and lovely, the tenses that made sense of time past and time to come. It's the borders, armies, and classes that cornered the limits of Language: Patois or Pidgin; Colloquial or Kailyard; Vernacular or Slang. It's the famous thesaurus that suggests three meanings for _dialect_ - other than _dialect_ and _language_ - _speciality,_ _unintelligibility,_ and _speech defect._ It's the funding that flows from decisions; it's the boundaries and commissions that decide that _pub_ is kosher in Norwegian, but only if pronounced _püb;_ that _Heron Heights_ and _Hegrehøyden_ is both languages but _Hegri-heichts_ is dialect, that _Hrossagaukur_ and _Snipe_ is language but _Horsegock_ is dialect. It's the passion we hold when we nun [hum] to ourselves, when we bal [throw] sound from our bosie [bosom] into the heavens, when we lay a word of love upon one another, when we do not bother with narrow definition. Whoo! A little bit of anger comes out there at the end of that poem, I suppose. But it's true-I mean, the politics of language and dialect is something I'm interested in, and the status. And I think it's important that we do not let bairns [children] think that their mother tongue is somehow debased language, that we lift them up and encourage them into bilingualism, where they're comfortable and they ken [know] when to speak one way and then a t'other [another] way. And that's something I'm very interested in. Funny that I'm [I've] just been made Edinburgh's _makar,_ or "poet laureate", which I think is really quite astounding, really, given that I'm kent o'er [known around] as a Shetland writer, and that I am quite passionate about it. I suppose I am bidden [I have lived] here for fifty year, and I do write in English; but I feel it [= living in Edinburgh rather than Shetland] gives me a better space to write and to help other folk that's come into the city with minority cultures, and folk that maybe feel their language is subservient and "not so good as" and… I hope I can maybe help them feel good about their mother tongue. Maybe I should just read another peerie [little] poem, this one totally in dialect. It's called "Discontinuity". And it's just, I suppose, a kind of "seize the day" poem. It's about relationships. If you're like me, you gang [go] along a beach and you pick up a stone, and you hae [have] to take it home with you, you cannot bear not to. But this time, I was walking on a beach in Shetland, there was a beautiful, perfect, heart-shaped stone, but it was braaly [fairly] big, and I could not get it on the plane home, so I put it up high on a cliff face, hoping that it'd maybe still be there when I got back. The title, "Discontinuity", is a geological term, but you likely ken [know] that, and it means the juxtaposition of rocks of different ages or types; and there are places in Shetland where you can put one foot on the Eurasian continent and another on the American continent. Which is quite fun! Two or three words to help you: A _saandiloo_ is a "ringed plover", that lovely peerie [little] bird that trips across the sand. _Saandiloo._ _Vimmering_ is just "trembling". If you're _greeting_ you're "crying". And a _lönabrak_ is that surge and breaking of the waves on the shore. *Disontinuity* I could blame the way the sea has smoothed the stones; the silk of touch; the waeling [selecting], leaving; and will the heart be there when I come back? Or I could blame the saandiloo. He was clear what way to gang [go]: This way now, not looking o'er your shoulder. Tide does not wait; see the way the swell of joy is drained. Dance today. Tomorrow you slip into eternity. Or I could blame the hush that fills you till you're like to burst with all the words that could be said, but you hold back. It's what happens when you step in time, but sense a fault line vimmering through you: This side or that? Only the sea can greet and sing at the same time: shade and light: cobalt, ultramarine, and then the lönabrak - a tease, a frush [splutter] of white.

[@XHobbiesPrime]

Such a lovely lady, what a wonderful speaking voice.

[@macdaiddavidson8051]

That was beautiful. I hope these languages aren’t lost.

[@shanecollis4207]

I understood practically all of this. The art of listening should not be taken for granted.

[@meganaxeliar]

This is absolutely fascinating. My ancestry is Scottish/Icelandic.