That’s interesting, Jim.James Y wrote: ↑Thu Jun 08, 2023 11:55 amChrisinHove wrote: ↑Thu Jun 08, 2023 11:45 amThat’s quite an interesting video! I think you would be better off learning Latin as a time traveller, as you could always find a member of the clergy - or a Roman! - to communicate with.
U.K. accents are becoming less problematic over time, but dialects and colloquialisms still vary widely. It usually doesn’t take long to “tune-in”.
Thanks for sharing, Chris.
When my mom and my aunt went to visit Japan for the first time in 1984, they spoke some Japanese that they had learned in a Japanese-language school in Los Angeles in the 1930s. They had been born here. When they visited relatives in Japan for the first time and spoke in Japanese, they were understood, but were told their Japanese was very good but archaic Japanese. It was a more formalized, old-fashioned manner of speaking. Sort of like if an educated person from the eastern United States in the late 1800s to early 1900s time traveled to modern times and spoke English; they would be understood, but their manner of speech would seem a bit strange. Because spoken languages are always changing with the times in the countries where they are spoken, for better or for worse.
Jim
Manners of speech can be a minefield, particularly in rigid societies. Like the complicated house and table manners in Victorian times, they’re used to catch out incomers and maintain class hierarchies.
Regional accents were (are?) considered “working class” here, and so anyone seeking to “improve” themselves, particularly in broadcasting, management or professional spheres, would learn to lose their accent and adopt Received Pronunciation (i.e. talk like the King), or be disadvantaged, at least well until the 1980’s.
Chris