Attempting Shakespeare!

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

I shall be attempting Shakespeare with DS11. Funnily enough, I'm not entirely sure how it will go, English being our second language, even though *I* studied Shakespeare myself as a teen... I guess it's just been so long ago, I don't remember how it went.

I'm also not entirely sure DS is bilingual enough to deal with *that kind* of English. But in August, we're seeing "As You Like It", and so we're preparing beforehand.

GULP! Shakespeare, already?!

[Hathersage]

You could read in french before attempting the english. I'm not sure how well shakespeare translates, though.

 

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/18162

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

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[Ester Maria]

It might go easily. ;)

 

I have been systematically exposing my daughters to "that kind" of English (and Italian :D) since they were very little, so they hardly felt the transition from passages, poems and monologues to the "full" works (I did Romeo and Juliet first with the older one when she was 9, and with the younger one when she was 10, none of them had problems, and then we moved onto other works too). We also used Shakespeare as a vocabulary builder in English, and it worked wonderfully. None of my daughters seemed to have an issue with the language any more than any other anglophone child would have had (in fact, they probably had less of an issue, especially the older one who really reads way beyond her grade level).

 

However, I took the "little by little" approach, rather than "all at once". I simply incorporated some Shakespeare in our English curriculum, every year, but I didn't organize our English curriculum around Shakespeare, fearing not to overwhelm them.

[katilac]

I shall be attempting Shakespeare with DS11. Funnily enough, I'm not entirely sure how it will go, English being our second language, even though *I* studied Shakespeare myself as a teen... I guess it's just been so long ago, I don't remember how it went.

I'm also not entirely sure DS is bilingual enough to deal with *that kind* of English. But in August, we're seeing "As You Like It", and so we're preparing beforehand.

GULP! Shakespeare, already?!

 

For most native English students, "that kind" of English is practically a foreign language, so your ds is probably close to the standard ;).

 

fwiw, I believe that SWB recs going over the plot, watching a live or recorded performance, then reading the text. I've seen others rec this way as well, as S is meant to be watched, not read cold as a novel or such.

[Tony'sMom]

Also if you run into any problems with the English you can go online to NO Fear Shakespeare http://nfs.sparknotes.com/ It's free and it puts Shakespeare's language side-by-side with a facing-page translation into modern English.

 

 

EXAMPLE:

 

 

 

 

JULIET O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name.35Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I'll no longer be a Capulet.

 

Then in the next column the modern English:

 

 

 

JULIET

 

 

(not knowing ROMEO hears her) Oh, Romeo, Romeo, why do you have to be Romeo? Forget about your father and change your name. Or else, if you won't change your name, just swear you love me and I'll stop being a Capulet.

 

We found this site helpful when we did not understand and the footnotes were not helping.

 

 

[Harriet Vane]

I have had a lot of success requiring students to read the play twice. The first time they are to just read it through. They can do this in stages, but try to get through it without analyzing it. The second time they read it one act at a time and analyze with me. Even the two learning disabled students I taught were much, much more comfortable with the language the second time around. Immersing yourself like this really does train the mind and ear to the rhythm of the language.

 

While I think it's fine to review the plot and watch a well-done production, I would actually recommend against relying too much on study aids (like Cliff Notes, etc.) as they can take over the process and actually prevent you from really getting into the play. Once you've got the bare bones of the plot, read the play through the first time. Then on your second pass you can use the study aid to help with analyzing.

 

Good luck!

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

We're back from the play!

Now I *know* we truly live in bilingual country when a Shakespeare play is bilingual! LOL...

Wow, that was something. They would switch languages at any time. Even during the same monologue! Wham! One sentence in English, two in French, and back to English!

 

I'd say 80% of the play was in English though, but still.

 

Oh, since actors were filling more than one role, they would switch accents! We had at least one actor speak English with a British accent, English with the local accent, then English with a huge French accent, depending on his role, then French with the English accent, and local French. My, what a mix !!! :tongue_smilie:

[Friederike in Persia]

We're back from the play!

Now I *know* we truly live in bilingual country when a Shakespeare play is bilingual! LOL...

Wow, that was something. They would switch languages at any time. Even during the same monologue! Wham! One sentence in English, two in French, and back to English!

 

I'd say 80% of the play was in English though, but still.

 

Oh, since actors were filling more than one role, they would switch accents! We had at least one actor speak English with a British accent, English with the local accent, then English with a huge French accent, depending on his role, then French with the English accent, and local French. My, what a mix !!! :tongue_smilie:

 

I would have love to see that, not that I would have understood all that much! :auto:

[ElizabethB]

I would have love to see that, not that I would have understood all that much! :auto:

 

That does sound fun!

 

My 1st year German instructor was good at accents.

 

He could speak German with a Southern accent, (Southern as in an Arkansas or Alabama type accent) German with a southern German accent, then German with a mixed US/German southern accent, with bits of both Southern accents. It was hilarious!