The Adventure of English
The Adventure of English
The Adventure of English
Documentary
82
Watch TV Show
Download TV Show
Overview
The history of the English language presented by Melvyn Bragg; from its modest beginnings around 500 AD as a minor Germanic dialect to its rise as a global language.
Status: Ended
First Air Date: 2003-11-06
Runtime: 1h 5m
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
Top Cast
Melvyn Bragg
Melvyn Bragg
Episodes - Season 1
Birth of a Language
Birth of a Language
Episode 1
We are going to delve down to the roots of the language and deduce its history - and in that one sentence we hear words from four different sources; delve from Dark Age Anglo-Saxon, root from Danish invaders, language from medieval French, and deduce from Renaissance Latin; four of the main - but not all - contributors to the richness of modern English.
English Goes Underground
English Goes Underground
Episode 2
We see how England was ruled for three centuries after the Conquest by a French-speaking king and court which used Latin for their official business. English was the language of the peasants; a third-class tongue in its own country.
The Battle for the Language of the Bible
The Battle for the Language of the Bible
Episode 3
This is the story of how English became the battleground in the fight for men's souls. The medieval church establishment kept the Bible in Latin, while those possessing an English translation risked death. We see the impact of printing on the English language, and how that fixed many of the anomalies of spelling and grammar that still make English so difficult for students to learn.
This Earth, This Realm, This England
This Earth, This Realm, This England
Episode 4
Visiting the England of Queen Elizabeth the First shows how naval enterprise and foreign trade brought scores of new words into the language. Scholars were bringing new Latin terms into the language, and there was a movement to stop this and keep English 'pure'. Shakespeare combined the languages of the common people and the aristocracy to take English to new heights and to invent so many memorable words and phrases.
English in America
English in America
Episode 5
Following the English language on its journey overseas and tracing the story of how the language of the British Isles became a language for the world - the most widely spoken and understood vernacular in history. In America the language of a small group of seventeenth-century English immigrants only survived through the most unlikely coincidence – but America was to develop a vigorous new vocabulary, and to spread it around the globe.
Speaking Proper
Speaking Proper
Episode 6
In eighteenth century Britain, the first English dictionary was produced. A cohort of grammarians imposed new rules on the language. English continued to change and develop and the way people talked and the words they used became a badge of class and breeding and social death could result from dropping an ‘h’ or using an inappropriate word.
The Language of Empire
The Language of Empire
Episode 7
Travelling to parts of the former British Empire, we see how English met other cultures and other languages, and was enriched by them. We travel to India to see how English began as the language of a few hundred pioneer merchants and became the force that unified an Empire of a thousand tongues. In the Caribbean Bragg discovers how a whole flock of new English dialects grew out of a mix of European and African influences, and in Australia he traces how the slang of transported convicts grew in confidence and finally escaped from the shadow of Standard English.
Many Tongues Called English, One World Language
Many Tongues Called English, One World Language
Episode 8
The concluding episode looks at how in the 20th century the rise of America as an industrial power has made it the driving force behind the global spread of English. The English language is now used by more people than ever before in history. As cultural influences affect the way people use English and new words come into everyday use, how does the Oxford English dictionary – the greatest repository of the language – keep up with developments.
Recommendations

Na lovu
54
Na lovu
Secret Girlfriend
56
Comedy
Secret Girlfriend
梁思成·林徽因
90
梁思成·林徽因
Mysterious Lotus Casebook
80
Drama
Mysterious Lotus Casebook
Criminal: France
67
Drama
Criminal: France
Salve - en medeltidssaga
93
Salve - en medeltidssaga
Der Millionenerbe
80
Drama
Der Millionenerbe
Pashminna – Dhaage Mohabbat Ke
100
Pashminna – Dhaage Mohabbat Ke
Why R U?
74
Drama
Why R U?
Tracy Beaker Returns
75
Drama
Tracy Beaker Returns
100% Sjov
100
100% Sjov
Smonka!
60
Comedy
Smonka!
Our Little Family
70
Drama
Our Little Family
Redakai: Conquer the Kairu
66
Animation
Redakai: Conquer the Kairu
Rosy Abate - The Series
70
Drama
Rosy Abate - The Series
The Shore
90
Drama
The Shore
أثر الفراشة
50
أثر الفراشة
The Tiktok Man Catching A Predator
70
The Tiktok Man Catching A Predator
Ireland's Wild Coast
0
Ireland's Wild Coast