Who are you?

[Rushmore]

I'm sure that most of the people using this site aren't Professors of Old English etc, and I'm fed up with being ridiculed by my friends as being the only 25 year old interested in the subject.

What other types of people are out there that enjoy this language as much as I do?  I bet the field is a bit more varied than stereotypes would make out...

[PhilBarthram]

Hi - I'm the author of this website and was very interested in your post. I left it a while to see if anyone else replied - but they haven’t - so maybe by replying myself it will encourage others to do so.

I would also be very interested in who else uses the site. I have google analytics running to get usage statistics and mid week usually over 150 people per day visit. It is fascinating to see the countries from which people visit. The leader is the US with 1494 unique visitors. Second the UK with 764, then  Canada 289, Russia 129… In fact most countries of the world have at least one visitor. Who are all these people?

63% of traffic comes from search engines, 29% from referring sites.

If you are reading this – please let us know something of your interest in Old English. This would make very interesting reading.

I will start the ball rolling:

I’m 54 years old – semi retired after 28 years in Software Development, and have now started producing websites for different organisations. See www.blueengine.co.uk

I got interested in Old English a few years back. Modern languages have never been my forte. I can only speak modern English. But what was this language our ancestors spoke and why was it so different? How did it evolve? This website and the application behind it, was only produced initially as an aid to my pathetic attempts to translate texts. I am still trying to learn old English – one day I may reach novice level!  Referring to your point – yes – my friends also ridicule me for what they consider such a strange hobby – and one that is very different from my normal hobbies – I’m still an active at motocross and mountain biking and used to be very passionate about playing Rugby.

So – who else is using this website?

[Kevin F]

I've just visited this site for the first time today, after seeing a message about it several months ago in the English list serv.
I'm a 38 year old who has always had an interest in languages, and succeeded in mastering German (although, unfortunately, have never been able to use it for my career). I can also get by relatively well in French.
I had always known about and been interested in aspects of Old English, but for some reason my interest (ok, obsession) in actually learning it did not take off until about two years ago, after my wife bought me a book about the history of languages.
Now if I didn't have to waste time with a full time job, I could dedicate more time to learning Old English. My goal is to become fluent enough to do translations, such as helping out with submissions to the modern-day Anglo-Saxon chronicle, or any other similar projects.
I will be visiting this site as often as possible to learn more about declining nouns and conjugating the verbs. I have an Old English grammar book...not the one featured on this site, and I am not happy with it. I soon plan on buying Mitchell's edition.

[Thiaf Yeroled]

I am a 14 year old who has an obsession with languages, and found the seventh edition to Mitchell and Robinson's guide in my bookcase, though I do forget how it got there, which has spurred me on to find out more about the language. I know English, obviously, and have been trying to learn German, and hopefully soon some French or Spanish. Old English is a lovely language, but it appears to actually have more word forms than German, which is putting me off it a bit, Lol. But I do want to learn at least a reasonable amount, so I'm working at it. ^^

[Chris C]

Hello,

Cool site! I like the translator. I am sort of a “language enthusiast.” I have a degree in English (and another in math). I work as a math teacher right now, but I’m planning on getting into ESL teaching in the future. I’ve had an interest in Old English for a number of years, but I haven’t yet done anything but dabble with it a bit--mainly because I’m always distracted by other languages that I work on! Unfortunately, there are only so many hours in a day :)

I speak Spanish acceptably well (I’m not totally fluent, but I would be quickly if I were immersed in the culture). I have been working mostly on Norwegian lately and also French. On the back burners are Icelandic, Russian, Romanian and a couple of others (along with Old English). I mess with these when I have time. Yeah, I know... I'm nuts!

It’s fascinating to see what English was like before it was so heavily influenced by several other languages. It’s also interesting to see how this “true” English compares to other modern Germanic languages (Norwegian, Icelandic, etc).

[Eric Andy]

Hi,

This is a great website.  It is proof that for every question there is an answer (or almost an answer in my case).  I am here for a silly reason - I am curious, but no language afficionado, but I thought my story would add to your understanding of the random type of folks that turn up here.  I found a phrase on an image in an art book and it has been driving me crazy.  I had no idea what it meant or even what language it was, so after trying gaelic and welsh I finally figured out it was Old English.  Thanks to your translator, so I am very grateful.

(I still have no idea what it means - each word was translated but my inability with grammar means that I can't turn them into a sentence.  But I'm pleased that I know the language so that won't bug me anymore).

Just to let you know - you have built a brilliant translator.  I tried other old English translation engines before finding this website and they didn't find any of my words.

Thanks,
Adam.

[Donna Kalloch]

I am a graduate student studying Old English as well as other languages.  I have a background in French, Spanish, English and a little bit of Latin languages and Literature.  I am hoping to get my grammar in check.  Translating the vocabulary seems to be going well but I seem to need help with cases.  

I hope to finish my MA degree in a couple of years.  It's been a while since I've been in school and I feel a bit rusty and hope to get back into the swing of things and am very thankful to have this site and others like it to check my work.

Thanks.
DPKalloch

[PJN]

I'm also a 25 y/o interested in Old English. I live in the U.S. and am a student of philosophy at George Mason University. It's ancient Greek philosophy that I love most, so I started to pick up various ancient Greek terms (e.g. sophrosyne) that don't have close modern equivalents. I found studying the language informative and almost as fun as studying philosophy. From there I took up Latin for a bit, and when in my studies German philosophers such as Kant and Nietzsche came up, I had to learn a few German words.

It became clear to me that MnE contained words etymologically related to Greek, Latin and German, and those are the circumstances under which my interest in OE grew.

[Avalon27703]

I'm 47 and live in the U.S.  I have no facility for language, sometimes not even my native American English, which is the only one I speak or read.  But I do like being able on occasion to be able to read Gaelic, or at least pick out several words related to the 20 or so words of Gaelic I know or that have been absorbed by modern English.  And there are a lot of those.

My primary interest in languages is that I play role playing games and I often want to lend some authenticity to my games.  Specifically now, I am running a game for some friends and my 19 year old nephew set against the backdrop of Rowling's Harry Potter universe.  Last night I was asking for help going from Old English to "old" Scottish.

I can't quite find my way around this site yet.  I wanted to add some of the answers I personally found late last night to my question but don't know where my question is yet.  But it'll turn up or be found.

Thanks for the site.

[Gwynwynwyn]

I am an Australian, 50 years young, who has been a member of the SCA (learning about history by trying to do the things as they were done in the past) for going on 9 years.  I've always loved history, but the SCA has made me aware of documentation, of PROVING, even if only to myself, that what I BELIEVE happened has a basis in fact.

One of my main interests is Saxon England.  I've done a Medieval cooking course on line which featured two texts on Anglo Saxon cooking, so my next endeavour is to learn the language so I can read the texts (leechcrafts/ AS Chronicle etc) in the original language.  I've yet to make AS clothing, but that's on the agenda.

Add to that the current financial crisis has forced me out of work, so I am now a Uni student and my Minor is History (twentieth century, but I really really prefer the Saxon period), and this is a nice easy to use site.

I was directed here from one of the SCAs many interest-focussed lists.

Tracey (ska Lowry)

[Kikimorra]

Thank you a lot for this site, it's really damn useful!

I'm a student of philology in MSU, Russia, department of translation, 3d year. We have a 2-year course of Old English and a DREADFUL teacher who doesn't know it and doesn't care. I like the language a lot, but it's a real trial to learn it against the teacher's lack of interest or respect.
I also like this site so much because the dictionary is very extensive, much more volumnous than what we've got in paper here, where there aren't even all the words from chosen texts in main dialects.
It would be a great help, though, if along with gender there were noun-stems marked. Because we have to mark all the nouns in texts with their stem-endings, and they are so hard to define...

[kendall259]

Engineer by education, musician by passion, long time student of German, fan of Finnegan's Wake.

[EastAnglian]

Well Im a 19 year old Englishman living in New Zealand who loves all languages!! I go to Victoria University where I study Spanish, Portuguese and German and hopefully taking an Anglo Saxon literature course next year!
My interest in Anglo-Saxon is the fact that it's a dead language that was once spoken by our ancestors and one which I really want to learn! The mythology is fascinating and the vocabulary is so vast it's amazing!

I would like to add that this website is ace and I'm very grateful it's here!!!

[Evgeniia]

Hi! I'm the 2d year student from Ukraine (nearby Russia). Now I'm doing my hometask that is translation and linguistic analysis of texts in original Anglo-Saxon language.The translator helps me very much. Thank you a lot!

[Scrivener]

I'm a female teenage highschool student who enjoys writeing in their free time. I use this site for place and character names that sound more otherworldly. It's been really helpful!

[Scandibrit]

Hi everyone. Forgive my nick - it's awful, I know, but purely descriptive. What a wonderful site - I'm still a bit stunned! Brilliant!
If anyone's still interested here's my spec: 48 year old, British, former language nerd (read dictionaries/etymologies as a teenager till the early hours), fomer linguist (linguistics and Scandinavian studies at Univ of East Anglia) och TEFL teacher who became a CBT psychologist in Sweden...Well, I feel quite normal anyway. I've been away from languages for nearly twenty years now put am reexperiencing the pull. Found this site trying to obtain 'Bûter, brea en griene tsiis (cheese, pronounced the same!) is goed Engelsk en goed Frysk' (yep, it's good Frisian too) and Freeborn's book on the development of English. So, at the moment I'm most curious about the transitional aspects of Frisian and Middle English althought OE will always be the ultimate dream. I can (try to) answer questions about Swedish cognates of English words if anyone's interested....

[viola]

We were researching names to give our house - fields, cows, meadows, and came across this site.
What a fascinating site. What a shame that the ae spelling is being banished! Our language should reflect its rich and wild history.

As teachers, we enjoy exploring words and their origins but are equally interested on a purely explorative plane. I teach English Language A level where the students have to study a development module. D has taught linguistics at Coimbra University in Portugal and has a keen interest in language.

Academically and personally, it's just captivating. How fascinating to come across a realm of people exploring OE.

[Seadog Driftwood]

I'm a long-time linguistics fan, especially historical linguistics. Love ancient languages (e.g. Proto-Indo-European, Tocharian B, Hittite, and of course, Old English).

That and music, especially stuff composed around 1900, as well as various kinds of folk/"world" music. One can find all kinds of wonderful melodies in the most unexpected cultures!

[DominicCyning]

I'm a Cambridge English student (19), studying Old English. But I'm also captivated by it and want to teach myself to speak as well as translate it. I'm trying to translate my webpage into the language but the going's slow--faster thanks to this site, though I'm still having to invent compound words for anything more technologically advanced than a longboat. I'm also trying to get Facebook to offer an Anglo Saxon language setting so I can pass procrastination off as educational...

My interest was really sparked by an interest in the historical Kingdom of Lindsey (my home) as much as by Beowulf.

[ArthurKirkland]

I'm a 20-year-old American college attendee, searching for ways to reconnect with her British-Isles heritage and disappointed that there's no class here that offers the wonderful language of Old English. I'm moved by how it sounds when spoken.

Plus, I'm a rightly history fanatic and it doesn't help when you get into the fandom of an anime that only feeds that addiction.

I greatly desire to learn how to speak this beautiful language.