Outlander Gaelic

[freep]

It was my understanding that Manx, Cornish and Welsh were mutually intelligible and Breton was close?

[neloon]

It was my understanding that Manx, Cornish and Welsh were mutually intelligible and Breton was close?

Manx is Q-Celtic so reasonably intelligible (on the rare occasions when it is spoken) to Scots and Irish Gaelic speakers. I don't believe Welsh, Cornish and Breton could be described as mutually intelligible even though they share some words in common.
Alan

[Luke MacGillie]

I've a history degree and have come to find that there are movies, tv shows and books in the historical fiction genre that cover the spectrum from abysmal (Braveheart, Reign, Breakheart Pass) to so-so (The Patriot, Dances With Wolves) to pretty decent (IMO Outlander, Vikings and others). If you demand outright exact accuracy from any sort of fiction you're doomed to disappointment. For that matter such disappointment will follow you into the full-on study of history. The amount of inaccuracy of even original sources is stunning.

So, in order to be able to watch and read historical fiction I find a policy of noting the minor foibles in storytelling, promising myself to write the producers a stern note (which I never actually do) and enjoying the rest of the movie, tv show or book to be most useful. I would also point out that I've learned a lot about things and events outside of my specialty as a result of researching some little detail that didn't seem quite right. Sometimes I've even been surprised t find such details were actually correct.

The Material culture is atrocious. Plaid brooches, comicon sword baldrics, obvious machine sewn button holes. It's horrid

I read the books, have not seen anything other than stills as I don't have a functioning TV and neither of my streaming services has the show.

[freep]

The Material culture is atrocious. Plaid brooches, comicon sword baldrics, obvious machine sewn button holes. It's horrid

I read the books, have not seen anything other than stills as I don't have a functioning TV and neither of my streaming services has the show.

More's the pity.

[Luke MacGillie]

OK so I finally bit the bullet and purchased a subscription to the show.

Im actually pretty happy with the storytelling and cinematography.

They should hire me to be a tech advisor so that folks baldric buckles get properly buckled, and frizzens closed when holding a pistol on someone.

I don't get why it took to the middle of the first season for an actual Scottish pistol on a Scot to make an appearance.....

[Tarheel]

I don't get why it took to the middle of the first season for an actual Scottish pistol on a Scot to make an appearance.....

Recovering weapons on a battlefield (even the enemies) was and is accepted practice. Any pistols (non Scottish) shown before mid-first season, may have been picked up after a skirmish.

It is still visual entertainment, even with an attempt to reproduce history-fiction-romantic ideology-etc.

[Luke MacGillie]

Now I can add English Officers wearing 1780's era French Gorgets to my complaints!

[IsaacW]

Now I can add English Officers wearing 1780's era French Gorgets to my complaints!

You can add more as you watch more. Overall... it is a pretty good show and I have enjoyed watching it (and better yet, so has my wife). This said, I cringe at some of the inaccuracies (no surprise) and at the overall American-view, romanticization of Jacobitism. Again, it is fiction, fantasy, and enjoyable. AND... some of that lassies are quite easy on the eye.

[drctl]

So then, is the Gaelic spoken in Outlander regardless of the coaches, utter crap, a fair attempt or pretty good?

I don't know who here is a Gaelic speaker but I'd think it very good to have any that are to weigh in.

I do not speak Gaelic, I DO like the Outlander tv series, I have not read the books. That being said my wife is a fan of the series too and she found this article and mentioned it to me a while ago. At least one of the actors has not gone to "method acting" at least according to this interview. When it comes time to speak Gaelic he speaks gibberish.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/1...hit_TV_series/

[O'Callaghan]

A bit like those who claim to speak Cornish?

Not a Cornish person, but used to know a speaker of the language. Cornish is a revived dead language, reconstructed from written documents that survived. We can't reconstruct versions of Brythonic spoken in Devon or Cumbria, because AFAIK nothing written exists. They may also have taken into account modern Welsh in this reconstruction? Nevertheless, modern Cornish is what they speak in Cornwall now, other than English, of course. There is a very close analogy with how modern Hebrew came about, as I understand it, albeit the latter is used by most Israelis most of the time. Suffice to say, if someone tells me they speak Cornish, then I believe them. They aren't saying they speak ancient Cornish, generally.