Saesneg y frenhines

An example of a Cornish language sign.

Many of our American friends probably realise that not all Brits sound like the queen. What you may not realise though is that the UK has seven non-English indigenous spoken living languages, the BBC supports television channels devoted to two of those languages and that one of these seven even is an official language in part of the UK.

Apart from English, Welsh is the most widely spoken of these indigenous languages and shares official language status with English in Wales. Many over here treat Wales almost as a fictitious place that you might somehow wander into, like you would Narnia, but it's a real place with a real language, with real people speaking it. (It's probably the second most spoken language in the UK, but we'll have to see what the newest census figures show when they're released this week, Punjabi, could pass it up.) Welsh has a type of sing-song quality to it, and just looks ridiculous on signs. The BBC produces Welsh language content for S4C, an independent publicly broadcast station in the country.

The BBC also produces content for the Scottish Gaelic television channel BBC Alba. This puzzles me a bit since Scottish Gaelic, out of the seven indigenous languages is spoken by the second least amount of people. To me, Scottish Gaelic sounds exactly like a language you'd imagine Scots to speak, if they didn't speak English. (Although to hear some of them, you might think that they don't speak English.)

Out of the seven indigenous languages in the UK, four (Welsh, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Cornish) stem from the Celtic language. Two are mixed languages spoken mostly by gypsies (yes that's a politically correct term over here) and one is very closely related to English and is considered by some to not be a language, but rather a dialect of English.

Say What?

Clive has a smattering of vocabulary words, most of them you (as generally non-baby speaking adults) wouldn't recognise as actual words. He tries his darndest and he loves to wave and try to say hasta luego, which often comes out as aa-ta.

I'm not concerned though, according to my mom, I didn't speak until I was two and Erica was late on the scene verbally (mostly because as a multiple she could communicate with Allie and Inga and didn't care to talk to anyone else) so it could be in his genes.

I prefer another explanation:

He listens to mom, dad, and his auntie and then listens to all his friends and can't decide which accent he's supposed to use.

:)

Eugene Peterson on the Danger of Bible Reading

Eugene (Don't hold the 'Message' against me) Peterson has quietly found his way into a lot of my pre-Bishop's Advisory Panel preparatory reading. He's not known for his quotable quips so for better or worse you have a two paragraph concept to delve into. I think it's for the better, but you have to stick with it. He sums up a concern I've had for a long time that I couldn't quite verbalize; mainly that it isn't enough to tell people to read the Bible, they have to know how to read it. In the rest of Eat This Book (the text where this comes from), he flushes out how we are to read the Bible properly. I've included these paragraphs and some other insights, both from Peterson and others, on my other blog, Quotation Inspiration. Without further ado, Eugene Peterson.

 

Reading the Bible, if we do not do it rightly, can get us into a lot of trouble. The Christian community is as concerned with how we read the Bible as that we read it. It is not sufficient to place a Bible in a person's hands with the command 'Read it.' That is quite as foolish as putting a set of car keys in an adolescent's hands, giving him a Honda, and saying, 'Drive it.' And just as dangerous. The danger is that in having our hands on a piece of technology, we will use it ignorantly, endangering our lives and the lives of those around us; or that, intoxicated with the power that the technology gives us, we will use it ruthlessly and violently.

For print is technology. We pick up a Bible and find that we have God's word in our hands, our hands. We can now handle it. It is easy enough to suppose that we are in control of it, that we can use it, that we are in charge of applying it wherever, whenever, and to whomever we wish without regard to appropriateness or conditions.

There is more to the Honda than the technology of mechanics. And there is more to the Bible than the technology of print. Surrounding the machine technology of the Honda there is a world of gravity and inertia, values and velocity, surfaces and obstructions, Chevrolets and Fords, traffic regulations and the highway patrol, other drivers whether drunk or sober, snow and ice and rain. There is far more to driving a car than turning a key in the ignition and stepping on the accelerator. Those who don't know that are soon dead or maimed.

And those who don't know the conditions implicit in the technology of the Bible are likewise dangerous to themselves and others. And so, as we hand out Bibles and urge people to read them, it is imperative that we also say, caveat lector, let the reader beware.

You Say Goodbye, I Say 'Allo 'Allo

Erica and I don't watch much TV. One of the main reasons for this is the TV Tax that I wrote about almost three years ago. We still watch some shows after the fact via DVDs or Iplayer. (Hulu is blocked over here dontcha know?) I've started watching a classic Britcom called 'Allo 'Allo. Set in occupied France during WWII this comedy is from the creators of 'Are You Being Served' and bears a slight resemblance to 'Fawlty Towers' in that it is centered around a cafe owner who has a wife whom he tries to forget about interacting regularly with foreigners. One of the most enjoyable features of the show for me is the fact that while the audience hears all the characters speaking English, the characters interact as if they are speaking different languages. The French and Germans understand each other as it is assumed that they are speaking the same language (probably German (in reality English with exaggerated accents)). When two British airmen are stuck in the village and the Resistance tries to sneak them out, they are unable to comprehend the 'language' being spoken. The only person who knows 'English' and can communicate with them is Michelle, the leader of the resistance who when speaking to them uses an exaggerated posh accent (how all us Americans expect Brits to sound (except obviously the lower classes who all sound like Dick Van Dyke)). The show relies on a lot of verbal gags and innuendo, but is a welcome companion for late evenings while Erica does her freelance work.

Some of the other programs I've enjoyed while over here.

Downton Abbey--The first series (as the Brits call seasons) was certainly the best, but two and three are a nice distraction. It'll be interesting to see how far they can stretch it out.

Fawlty Towers--John Cleese at his finest. (Yep I said it) You also have the loveable Manuel and they only made twelve episodes so it never feels like it jumped the shark.

Top Gear--I find that if I watch too much of it, it can feel very forced. Some of the stuff they do is fun to watch, especially on Youtube. 'Star In A Reasonably Priced Car' (Take celebrities, give them a cheap car and have them race around a track (A real one that's shaped like this and not one like this NASCAR fans.))

Extras--Probably the program I've most enjoyed. It's a Ricky Gervais creation where he plays an out of luck actor who gets work as an extra on movies. Always hoping to somehow get a speaking part, he bumps shoulders with stars such as Ben Stiller, Patrick Stewart, Kate Winslett and Daniel Radcliffe who play themselves with exaggerated or inverted personae. The Daniel Radcliffe episode was my personal favourite. 

Friends--I know it's an American show. Brits love it though. For almost the first three years we were here you could basically turn on the TV at anytime of the day and some channel would be showing an old episode. When Erica was pregnant with Clive we worked our way through the complete set of episodes.

Dr. Who--...Dr. Who I feel just demands too much energy. You have to buy into the whole experience. You can't just watch one episode because if you do it just doesn't make sense. I want to want to like Dr. Who, so perhaps someday, but for now I'll just leave the good doctor for all his other fanatics.