English is not my first language, yet I know it good enough to watch movies with original sound.
However this movie... I can understand what's going on a little, but all dialogues are so full of sh!t, I have no clue what all those characters are saying!
I guess that's how they talked in 1600.
'I guess that's how they talked in 1600'
Maybe you guessed right!
Its that man again!!
It's difficult for even native English speakers to fully grasp Shakespeare. Yeah, the era has something to do with it. But no one back then really spoke like people in a Shakespeare play because everything he wrote was on such an elevated, artistic level. The big picture is pretty easy. But I think it's practically impossible for anyone today to just watch a Shakespeare play cold and expect to get everything. There is so much complex language, some of which is not even used any more, you need to do a little studying beforehand. Even after that, it's helpful to read along if you can. Henry V is one of my favorite stories of all time (actually, Henry IV Part I, II and this), and I have to do a refresher course every time before I see it.
shareof course they didn't speak like that in 1600!! it's written in iambic pentameter! (which it means is written in verse :P)
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Excuse my English, I was born in a galaxy far, far away
Not all of the scenes are in verse--those that feature the "commoners" and which serve as comic relief (i.e., those with Pistol, Bardolph, Nym, etc.) are written in prose. Ironically, these can be more difficult to understand than the scenes in verse, as the plays on words and references are very obscure.
shareWhat it is big mama? My mama didn't raise no dummy; I dug her rap!--Jive Dude.
shareAfter some regular reading and (preferably) watching of Shakespeare plays, it actually becomes much easier to understand the dialogue--it has a lot to do with becoming familiar and comfortable with Shakespeare's idiom, and, in some ways, it's kind of like learning another language. You can't do much better than the three Shakespeare films that Olivier directed (the others are Hamlet and Richard III) if you're interested in furthering your Shakespeare exposure.
shareThe dialogue is hard to follow and requires repeated viewing and reading of the text. It gets a little easier over time with more familiarity. I have been at it for forty years!
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