Can the government be serious?? I mean really, Shakespeare is in Elizabethan English and it should stay that way, what's the point in studying it when it's in slang???
2006-07-10 03:49:32 · 18 answers · asked by northukstudent 3 in Education & Reference ➔ Other - Education
i'm not being indignant, i just think that children should learn things, not have everything "dumbed" down so that they understand it, if they don't have any challenges they won't learn anything.
2006-07-10 04:10:38 · update #1
What harm does it do to translate idiomatic Elizabethan English into idiomatic New Millennium English? It just might be read and understood by a few people who otherwise would never be exposed to it. I don't think anybody is threatening to do away with the original text. Quit being so righteously indignant.
2006-07-10 03:52:46 · answer #1 · answered by Jack430 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think most of the problem with the way Shakespeare is taught is that it was never intended to be read as a book!
It's far, far more understandable when presented as a play, the way it ought to be... (and this from a voracious reader).
There's an interesting experiment with just this subject- the Pibgorn comic strip is presenting A Midsummer Night's Dream in comic format, but with the Elizabethan English...
2006-07-13 02:49:46 · answer #2 · answered by Megan S 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If I can understand Romeo & Juliet, I can understand any Shakespearean text. You need to have a good vocabulary and literary knowledge to understand Elizabethan English, but I disagree with the government's proposal. It should be kept in Elizabethan English, otherwise the plays would be dull. Shakespeare's scripts are actually in poem form. They'll sound really bad in modern English.
2006-07-10 03:56:04 · answer #3 · answered by hawaiian_shorts91 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If it makes you feel better, it has been done at least once before, and was restored to its full Elizabethan glory. I feel the same nausea you do about a generation growing up not knowing how that lovely iambic pentameter sounds, but a lot seem to be growing up without even knowing there was a Shakespeare.
2006-07-10 03:59:52 · answer #4 · answered by Delora Gloria 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That would be horrendous! If they want people to learn Shakespeare then it needs to be taught the way it was written, otherwise why learn it?! The language is beautiful! Although it can be hard to follow at times, but that it part of its beauty.
Kids today already have it way too easy, why make it any easier?! We don't want them to be less intelligent by the time they graduate high school for pete's sake! And we don't want them to be spoiled either! They aren't going to "dumb down" any of their college courses. Also, life can't be "dumbed down", so why set them up for failure?
2006-07-10 03:55:10 · answer #5 · answered by jet_333 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm with you on this one. If they dumb down Shakespeare that would be a crime in my book. As it is I have sat in on classes in the states where they really have no concept of what the real story is about. That's bad enough. But to turn these beautifully worded plays into everyday slang!!! Reprehensible!
2006-07-17 03:08:44 · answer #6 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That sounds retarded but I can believe it. Shakespeare wouldn't be a classic if it weren't written the way it is. He took a lot of his stories from old folk tales, so it wouldn't be uniquer at all. Thje language is what makes it poetic. This is just like when they stressed phonetic spelling and when they wanted to make ebonics, or black venacular, a foreign language top be studied.
2006-07-10 03:55:07 · answer #7 · answered by Chris 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The point is to get people to understand it easier. I think it's a dumb idea, though. What's the point of studying it if it's easily understood?
But have you heard about the movement to "dumb down" the English language to make it easier to read and understand? Why do people insist on lowering standards instead of raising them?
2006-07-10 03:53:51 · answer #8 · answered by casey_leftwich 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
How ridiculous! I loved Shakespeare when I studied it in school! Talk about crushing our history! I know it can be a bit difficult to follow sometimes but the books always have the bits in it that translate the words ... We must teach our children to embrace culture, not 'wassup Juliet you wanna take a trip in my ride'.
2006-07-10 03:58:57 · answer #9 · answered by LONDONER © 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Jaysus! I've never heard of it but if me, a Hungarian can read and understand Shakespeare (I'm majoring in English, so I read the original!) then why people have problems with it in the UK???
2006-07-15 22:17:06 · answer #10 · answered by Iseult 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋