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@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.
@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.
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...
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)
'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.
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.
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!
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
@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.
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 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.
@@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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
@@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.
@@---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
@@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.
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 🙏🏼💐❤️
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
@ 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!
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 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.
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 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.
@@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.
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.
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.
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.
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)
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.)
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.
+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.
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.
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 Interesting; I live in an area with predominantly Spanish/Mexican influences, and some of the traditional music utilizes a high pitched cry called "grito".
@@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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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 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.
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
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.
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.
@@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 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.
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.
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.
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
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 :)
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.
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.
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...
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.
I visited Shetland a few years ago, on a whim. I spent my time around Lerwick that time, but I will return and get to see more of Shetland whenever these unfortunate travel restrictions can be lifted safely. To me it was fascinating to walk around and look at the name of places and such in Shetland. I stumbled upon a house with the sign "Solheim" in the window. Solheim is a surname that still is being used today in Norway. I walked along the Breiwick road. There are many places in Norway that are called Breivik or Brevik. I took a walk to Sound, which was what we in Norway would call a sund. They had a rather nice hotel called Kveldsro, which is a word that we have in Norway as well, spelled the exact same way. It means evening calm. And as I walked around Lerwick, I saw many signs of the shared culture between Norway and Shetland. When Christine talked, many of the words was quite regonizable for me, a man who grew up in the western part of Norway. The hegri that she pointed out that is spelled hegre in Norwegian. Further up north in Norway it is pronounced Hegg-er. She talked about greti, to cry, which is gråte in Norwegian. I would actually love to have a small house somewhere on the Shetland Islands where I could spend my summers.
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 😂🥰
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.
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.
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!
I have never been interested in sitting in a library and listening to someone read. But, I could sit all day listening to her. So beautiful and melodic. I loved watching her speak, as well. I had never heard this beautiful language before. It's so sad to know that this language is not being taught to young children. Why they are not being taught is a shame! This language is a part of who they are. It's their heritage
I love the softness and kindness in her voice , and it it is also found in the North , more for me , in the West. I could listen for hours without being distracted. Yes, definitely lovely to listen to and I hope this dialect stays for a long time yet.
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.
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
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).
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.
Oh, how lovely. She's engaging and soothing at the same time. It's refreshing to watch a CZcams video of a human talking without hyping, without music behind it, and jump cuts and whatnot. I'm definitely saving this one.
That was nine minutes and thirteen seconds of pure delight! This is one to watch over and over- a joyous dive into language and how its use can become a true work of art when handled so deftly and beautifully as seen and heard here.
I love how she gradually transitions from English to Shetlandic. Very smooth. As a native English speaker who has some facility with Scandinavian languages, it's kind of comprehensible.
You are wonderful! The dialect I find poetic, charming and mostly understandable with your soothing expressive voice. I think you are a national treasure. Thank you so much for this gift.
"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.
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.
I've been feeling low about my physical appearance lately. I'm 28 years old and I often wish I was more beautiful. I see women like this and I see true beauty. She is, of course, physically beautiful, but there's a soulfulness and power that goes far beyond what our media deems to be beautiful. I hope to be more like this woman.
I'm Dutch, but with quite a good grasp of accents throughout Ireland and Great Britain. This Shetlandic that she's speaking sounds most like Dutch to me than any other dialect or accent I've heard.
I've spent many weeks in Shetland on wildlife expeditions and completely fell in love with the place! Hearing the dialect in her beautiful voice takes me back to wonderful memories. Thank you
I'm sitting here, closed my eyes to listen to her. I feel calmer. But i realized that in all things that interested me in my life, nothing captivated me more than languages. I'm 47 y.o, French Canadian, and we also have dialects where i live. Native people fight to keep theirs alive here, it's very hard..The youth are forgetting about it, denying it, and they care less about their culture than previous generation. But efforts are being made. Our University teaches the main native languages . It will always be a mystery to me, as to how words are chosen all around the world. Languages are beautiful, accents too, i love it all. Scandinavian accents are my favorite, so far.
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.
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@Peter B Same here! Full name please. I would love to learn more about her work. What an intriguing dialect, what an intriguing person.
Shame they lost Norn their actual language rather just having their dialect. I miss using my dialect.
@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.
@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.
@Peter B Christine de Luca
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...
lol i see what you did there! 😂
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)
She ever sounded 'English'. She has a very Scots accent whilst speaking English.
'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.
@@garyfindlay8052 brogue
I would pay good money just to have her read bedtime stories. She brings myths, magic, and legends to mind. Absolutely lovely.
I am with you J Bach. She simply makes all the Covid, politics, and violence evaporate into the heavens. Mesmerizing.
She brought me to tears! Thinking of my home in New Brunswick. Our use of old French... Acadiens... Their beautiful ways of being.
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.
Absolutely, amazing accent
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.
This woman should narrate children's books! What a wonderful, soothing and engaging way she has.
You can see why Mrs Doubtfire had a beautiful Scottish accent 😏
She could narrate adult books too!
@@muranichanain6027 I'm welsh but love it
@@tzaph67 nope
she is a poet , check her wikipedia
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!
She does sound like a professor.
Oh my gosh- audio books about old european tales, but in her voice 🥺
@@ashleypaul6326 she probably is.
Grace Hammon That is so true.
Yes! My fast-paced, stumbling speech is physically hurting me right now
I understood 99% of what she said, as bilingual Norwegian this mixture of English and Norse completely makes sense. How incredibly fascinating!
Same for me from iceland
I thought she would start speaking another language but she is speaking English through the whole video? :O
Same for me.
@@unmercifulfate It is a dialect as she says not a language.
I expected Norn... however she just rolled the R quite harsh... To bad Norn went extinct... should have known there was no hope
She looks and sounds like a fae that disguises as a sweet granma.
YES!
Wtf is a fae?
That's exactly what I thought! She has big fae energy. Its absolutely wonderful
@@missyb9438 People of the "fairies or elves."
MissyB 75 *What is.......
Can someone give her a job as a narrator? This is just wonderful.
disagree, she sounds terrible.
tinylilmatt Myself, she is clearly understood.
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
@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.
What makes you think she would want to spend her time to satisfy your demands? She's plenty busy I'm sure
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!
Hello there
and where did your parents came from, if there is no problem for asking?
@@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.
@@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
Not to mention we usually kill native languages too
Drifting fox, shetlandic as you say, is not a language, it's an accent,
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
This is such a beautiful description
You been smoking green?
@@billyblack9339i want what she’s havin if she writing like this
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.
Love your comment- I think the same as you described. This lady is beautiful!
Folkloric
Felt much the same. And the magical seaside cottag, well,that's where she spent her childhood, didn't she.
@Prince Valiant ha!
Halo effect at work. You wouldn't say the same thing if she looked worse and had a different voice.
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.
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.
"Suddenly I understand nothing at all and decide to shut my mouth."
I'll take those words to live by, I think.
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.
@@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.
She just has a funny accent, not many words you can't understand if you listen carefully
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.
You mean how the latin alphabet is so lacking that europeans just use the letter "R" to represent all these different sounds.
@@---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
Except the English, who cannot pronounce R. Except at the end of the word sofa.
@@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.
@@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
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 🙏🏼💐❤️
Aww...
What wonderful memories you have 😊
@@karlamackey4675 They are some of the most treasured
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
I would love to share a cup of tea and a conversation with her. She seems like a lovely person.
Anna Ferrara - she is a lovely person Anna - she's my Auntie :-)
+Megan Nicolson If that is true, just wow. :)
+Choco98's Channel yes
Pingüino Guy .... I wish she was my girlfriend. She looks great. She could chat to me in her language all she likes.
@ 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!
I'm just a country southern American woman. The way she speaks makes me tear up. So absolutely beautiful.
My Gramma is from northern Mississippi and often she says words I find more common in Irish dialect.
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.
You cried because of this? Tf
Yes! Born and raised in Savannah, Georgia where Southern accents are thick. But this made me feel so at home.
@@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.
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.
As a Norwegian I can't hear the Norwegian underneath, sounds Icelandic to me.
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.
@@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.
Nabium I’m Scottish and although I hear a Scottish accent there’s something Nordic underneath her accent that’s really throwing me off.
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
As a Norwegian who speaks english mostly fluently, shetlandic actually makes sence to me
Same here from iceland
And here from Denmark. Makes a lot of sense.
Same here from Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. I guess Shetlandic sits perfectly inbetween its neighbours.
It makes also sense in Frisian (Frysk)/Dutch.
As someone who speaks American Standard English, I also understand this. I am not even from Britain either.
She says "heim" instead of "home" and "meir" instead of "more"... I can hear the influence of Norn in her speech.
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.
And instead of "lived" she says "bidd" or some version of that which sounds a bit like "bodd" i Norwegian
That's what I thought the video was referring to -- until I realized Norn was extinct...
Many Scots throughout the country say the same thing "hame" and "mair"
@@Chachy1337 in many parts of Scotland, they say "bid" (lived) and "bide" (live)
I could listen to this gentle woman talk for hours.
so am i.....She's a charming lady...
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.
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.
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.
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)
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.)
@@marclacey2263I'm curious and genuinely asking - - What would you consider to be the dialect/accent that is universally intelligible?
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!
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.
+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.
+smalltime0 as native English speaker but I don't understand any Frisian... maybe the odd word but definitely not in an intelligible way
flashmanfred
yeah, the odd sentence is understandable.
But it isn't mutually intelligible, which is why I said it wasn't.
smalltime0 I apologise, I read what you had commented wrong haha
flashmanfred
Yeah, I can see how you could misinterpret what I wrote.
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.
She is so lovely...loving those rolling ‘r’s. This Canadian is smiling at you...beautiful.
Funnily enough i,m a Canadian staying in Scotland and i,m smiling too 😁😁
You may add me too !
She also had a similar pronunciation of the word "about" that Canadians have, I think!
Her hair is amazing. I love the colour and style. Suits her brilliantly.
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!
in my area, greet-cry cry-call
@@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".
@@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.
@@guccideltaco grito means scream in Portuguese, I don't know if this is also true in Spanish
Viola Ren Yes, it is.
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.
Sounds more like Dutch or Frisian.
not to me.
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
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.
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.
Love how she speaks with her whole face and eyes. Mischievous.
"...cobalt and ultramarine...", the colours of the clothes she's wearing.
What a lovely comment 💙💚
Pantone?
Aquamarine blouse, definitely
Germanic languages are really interesting. I like her accent.
she's so damn cute i wanna hug the heck out of her
Shes a Gilf
Same
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.
@@fironfiron8843 hey, quit beating around the bush and tell us how you really feel!!! She is pretty, isn't she? In multiple ways.
Would you show me?
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.
me too
She's a beautiful spirit. I could listen to her all day.
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.
John Blyth that is heartbreaking.
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!
Heartbreaking. The British Isles have lost so much linguistic diversity. The British library has a great resource on old dialects somewhere
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.
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.
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.
To me the pronunciation sounds fairly harsh and edgy compared to Oxford English, kind of as if she was spitting all along :D
I would like her to read to me every day. I don't care if I understand everything she says
@@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.
@@caitthecat I guess.. I happen to dislike European Portuguese and Russian so I must be weird when it comes to this ^^
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.
I like that! :)
Sounds mostly like a Scottish accent by someone who thoroughly understands Icelandic. A very pleasant sound. ☺️
AS a vaudois . I love people when speaks anglish
Wow... as a lover of both English and Scandinavian languages this is utterly fascinating
Beautiful lady. I could look at & listen to her endlessly
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
Angela Douglas those words are Scots words! We say them in southern Scotland too 😄
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.
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.
@@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.
@@NeichaUnagi Yeah dialects get complicated sometimes
Yes, i do agree with you.
@@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.
If I close my eyes I can really hear her smiling.
Twinkly
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!
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.
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.
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
Your a bit of a shagger then.
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 :)
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.
I understood maybe 4/5 of what she said
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.
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...
"The Lexicon of lewd and lovely" an interesting juxtaposition. I liked it.
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.
I visited Shetland a few years ago, on a whim. I spent my time around Lerwick that time, but I will return and get to see more of Shetland whenever these unfortunate travel restrictions can be lifted safely. To me it was fascinating to walk around and look at the name of places and such in Shetland. I stumbled upon a house with the sign "Solheim" in the window. Solheim is a surname that still is being used today in Norway. I walked along the Breiwick road. There are many places in Norway that are called Breivik or Brevik. I took a walk to Sound, which was what we in Norway would call a sund. They had a rather nice hotel called Kveldsro, which is a word that we have in Norway as well, spelled the exact same way. It means evening calm. And as I walked around Lerwick, I saw many signs of the shared culture between Norway and Shetland.
When Christine talked, many of the words was quite regonizable for me, a man who grew up in the western part of Norway. The hegri that she pointed out that is spelled hegre in Norwegian. Further up north in Norway it is pronounced Hegg-er. She talked about greti, to cry, which is gråte in Norwegian.
I would actually love to have a small house somewhere on the Shetland Islands where I could spend my summers.
Wow.
@@truthseekerBVC yeah, they even had a Sandveien. A name they didn''t know what meant, but in Norwegian it means Sandy road.
@@needfortweed8734 So heartwarming to hear. Thank you for sharing!
@@truthseekerBVC I don't know if I'd call it heartwarming, but it was interesting.
Helpful to see some of these words spelled out! Thanks for sharing.
I feel so compelled to just chill out with this lady. she's awesome.
You can really hear the Norwegian influence.
Many years after original post I stumbled upon this. So beautiful, not only Shetlandic, but the voice of Christine. A pleasure to listen.
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 😂🥰
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.
It sounded like there were two voices coming from her throat.
Possessed
I’m hear my grandmother speaking here.
Tough guy with a tear.
Lots of love to you!
Thank you.
The Scandinavian sounds are so strong in this dialect/accent of Scotland.
A relic of times when the Norse controlled much of the British isles. So fascinating
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.
To me it sounds like across between Scottish and icelandic
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!
We used to have a language called Norn up here. It was descended from Old Norse so was very similar to Icelandic.
Scottish?
I have never been interested in sitting in a library and listening to someone read. But, I could sit all day listening to her. So beautiful and melodic. I loved watching her speak, as well. I had never heard this beautiful language before. It's so sad to know that this language is not being taught to young children. Why they are not being taught is a shame! This language is a part of who they are. It's their heritage
This accent reminds me of when an Icelandic person speaks English.
God heavins, mAn ... wie donn all sound loike MacHarrrrdy of Skottland!
I could listen to this lovely lady read a phone book, her voice is so soothing.
“It’s the way our forefathers moved to the forest floors”
I love the softness and kindness in her voice , and it it is also found in the North , more for me , in the West. I could listen for hours without being distracted. Yes, definitely lovely to listen to and I hope this dialect stays for a long time yet.
Such a lovely lady, what a wonderful speaking voice.
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.
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
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).
In glasweigan a wein is a baby or a child
@@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
Bairn is sounding very close to the Norwegian word for kid, Barn.
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.
Many of those words are just "Anglish" too.
Oh, how lovely. She's engaging and soothing at the same time. It's refreshing to watch a CZcams video of a human talking without hyping, without music behind it, and jump cuts and whatnot. I'm definitely saving this one.
As a Dutch person I hear some similarities in the way she pronounces things.
Ja, ook wel een beetje Frysk
She's Christine De Luca if anyone's wondering.
You talking about all the people who already stopped listening in the first three seconds of the video?
Christine is delightful, I learned something about my own homeland, the British Isles with her gentle speech.
Words in there I remember my grandmother speaking. Sounds a bit like her tone too. Strange experience. Beautiful language.
That was nine minutes and thirteen seconds of pure delight! This is one to watch over and over- a joyous dive into language and how its use can become a true work of art when handled so deftly and beautifully as seen and heard here.
Beautiful poetry and her voice is so soothing to listen too. She is able to give us a glimpse of what old English and old Norse sounded like!
"The way a bird chooses from his bag of chirpings", how lovely!
This channel is great! I love hearing these rare dialects and languages being spoken. Such a unique concept. Thanks!
Thank you so much! How long have you been part of the channel? We love having you!
I love how she gradually transitions from English to Shetlandic. Very smooth. As a native English speaker who has some facility with Scandinavian languages, it's kind of comprehensible.
I'm from Brooklyn and I understand her! 🤓 I love how clear and articulate she is. Smooth voice too.
I'm glad the video finally settles into full Shetlandic Scots at 8:05.
You are wonderful! The dialect I find poetic, charming and mostly understandable with your soothing expressive voice. I think you are a national treasure. Thank you so much for this gift.
That was beautiful. I hope these languages aren’t lost.
"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.
40? Really?
@@CptDangernoodle I'd agree. I'm 47 and she looks about my age maybe younger
@Morgue Hahaha! It's clearly too late for me now 😬 👵
@Morgue goddamn that's harsh 🤣🤣
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.
Beautiful really beautiful to hear and really listen to. So beautiful so gentle. Thank you !
I love this! She also has an absolutely beautiful voice paired with the gorgeous speech
What a beautiful voice and delivery. Her voice ebbed and flowed like a summer tide. Made my morning!!
What a beautiful reading of a poem. That was perfect and dramatic and took us all to another place. Very well done, ma'am.
I've been feeling low about my physical appearance lately. I'm 28 years old and I often wish I was more beautiful. I see women like this and I see true beauty. She is, of course, physically beautiful, but there's a soulfulness and power that goes far beyond what our media deems to be beautiful. I hope to be more like this woman.
That moved me deeply.. So beautiful, the poem, the accent, the language and- most of all- the depth of thought.
Thank you, Ma'am!
She is wonderful! I can’t get enough of that soothing voice. Her poetry , especially in dialect is simply amazing. Very potent stuff.
She could read the phone book and I would sit and listen in awe.
I'm Dutch, but with quite a good grasp of accents throughout Ireland and Great Britain.
This Shetlandic that she's speaking sounds most like Dutch to me than any other dialect or accent I've heard.
Reminds me of Grandma who came to America from Scotland. Her family was from the northern tip top of Caithness & Orkney ❤️🏴🇳🇴
I've spent many weeks in Shetland on wildlife expeditions and completely fell in love with the place! Hearing the dialect in her beautiful voice takes me back to wonderful memories. Thank you
I'm sitting here, closed my eyes to listen to her. I feel calmer. But i realized that in all things that interested me in my life, nothing captivated me more than languages. I'm 47 y.o, French Canadian, and we also have dialects where i live. Native people fight to keep theirs alive here, it's very hard..The youth are forgetting about it, denying it, and they care less about their culture than previous generation. But efforts are being made. Our University teaches the main native languages . It will always be a mystery to me, as to how words are chosen all around the world. Languages are beautiful, accents too, i love it all. Scandinavian accents are my favorite, so far.
The way she tells a story is powerful it leaves you hanging onto her every word beautiful.
She is adorable, just love her speech and voice. Relaxing and keeps you interested. 😉👍
Listening to her makes me feel cold. I can feel the Arctic sea air in her voice.
That's such a beautiful description.
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.
What a beautiful language and voice you have! I've always been fascinated with the Shetland area and it's lovely people!
Absolutely enchanting,most soothing tones i,ve ever heard,lucky man who found her