Thorn Wilde

My minor is 16, so don't know if that counts as child or not. Would you happen to know how much of the case is likely to be heard in the magistrate's court? That is to say, will witnesses be examined there at all or is it more of a prosecution presents their case, defence responds and magistrates/district judge go, ok, this one's too big for us, take it upstairs?

That's pretty cool. Looks totally fictional.

Specifically, procedures in the magistrate's court vs. procedures in the crown court in England and Wales? I'm writing a story in which a sexual assault case where the victim is a minor takes place, and I want all my scenes to be correct. I've been able to find resources on basically everything except how things are actually done in the courts, and I really want to get things right. Any information anyone has would be extremely helpful.

Happy Birthday!!

Maybe you should? In my experience, it's when you're not looking that they come out of left field and take you completely by surprise. Don't worry, darling. When you least expect it, he will come, and you won't even know what hit you.

I was lucky enough to catch A Midsummer Night's Dream when I was there earlier this autumn, and not only was it wonderfully performed, but they really played on the homoerotic undertones of Oberon and Puck's relationship, going to far as to have them kiss. And Oberon was HOT, too! I've been to The Globe once before, but then I saw Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus and not Shakespeare. That was awesome, too, though. Other than that, I've seen two productions with The Royal Shakespeare Company; Love's Labours Lost and Hamlet.

What did Shakespeare’s English sound like to Shakespeare? To his audience? And how can we know such a thing as the phonetic character of the language spoken 400 years ago? These questions and more are addressed in the video above, which profiles a very popular experiment at London’s Globe Theatre, the 1994 reconstruction of Shakespeare’s theatrical home. Click for full article. I find this very interesting. It shows that for instance Irish and west country dialects are in many ways a lot closer to English the way it was spoken in Shakespeare's time than more 'refined' or 'straight-edged' dialects.

I'm beginning to feel like you're really just trolling me tonight, Zombie, because no matter what I say you seem to find some way of misinterpreting me, or you just ignore most of what I say. I tried to send you this as a PM, but your inbox is full, so I'd just like you to know that I find you extremely disrespectful and very unpleasant to discuss things with. I don't know if you're targeting me specifically, or if you're like this with everyone, but I actually thought you were a nicer person than this.

That actually wasn't what I said, and you cut out most of my post, Zombie. Nor did I judge anyone. Even when someone commissions a work, the artist can and generally does put their own mark to it. It is when you mass produce and pump out a product without giving any thought to what you're doing, without even trying to make it interesting or original, without even trying to give it your own voice, just so you can make money, that it ceases being art. In my opinion. And nobody knows that but the artist themselves, so really the point is moot. I thought I was pretty clear on all this.

I think you'll find, that the claim that you challenged was, 'That said, this video is a pretty accurate portrayal of what English sounds like to non-English speakers.' You answered this by saying that, no, this is what American English sounds like to non-English speakers, which was a claim you were entirely unqualified to make. I then tried to make you understand that when confronted by a language that contains a set of sounds very unlike the sounds you have in your own language, dialects and accents aren't going to register much. I did so using several examples, all of which you seem to have entirely ignored. You act like I have somehow insulted your language. I happen to love English. It's my favourite language in the world, that's why I write in it so much. That's why I've learnt to speak it as well as my first languages, why I am functionally tri-lingual, and why I have done extensive research on English accents and dialects. But there was a time even after I had learnt to speak English fairly fluently that I couldn't tell Australian and British English apart. That is to say, I could hear that there were some differences, but I couldn't say that Australian English was definitely Australian. I also had some trouble telling New Zealand and South African accents apart. They sounded very similar to me. Now I can tell them apart, but that requires practice. I have nothing but my own experiences and the experiences of the people around me to draw on, this is true. But it seems to me that you are challenging my opinion, all of my opinions on this matter, on no grounds whatsoever. You are a native English speaker. You have never heard English without understanding it (well, not since you learnt how to speak, anyway). Yet, instead of asking other people who may have some memory of having not spoken English what they think, you've contradicted me using your own point of view, which frankly has very little to do with anything, as you are, as already established, a native speaker and have always been. That's because Antonio Banderas speaks Spanish Spanish, while the Spanish you hear at Wal-Mart is South American Spanish, and these are quite possibly even more different than American and British English. Spanish Spanish is softer, for instance. It's also a language you're used to hearing. Just like how I can tell different Japanese dialects apart, and Zombie can hear the difference between some French dialects. But if you're hearing a new accent of a language that you don't speak yourself for the first time, it's going to be a lot more difficult to tell them apart.

Also, you say 'a few other people'. Try every other person I've shown this video to who isn't a native speaker and who went through the same process as I did to learn it. I haven't shown it to every single human being I know, but 100% of a sample of people is a pretty good indicator, and I've shown in to people whose first languages are Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Dutch, Arabic and Russian, to name a few.

You seem to be under the impression that English is somehow special. There are many languages in the world that have just as varied amounts of dialects and accents as English, but you won't immediately hear the difference between two dialects of Hindi (loads of people can't tell Hindi and Punjabi apart either), or Thai, or Arabic, or even between two entirely different but closely related African tribal languages, will you? You'll only do this if you're very used to hearing them. They don't sound the same, but what you in your head perceive as sounding like that language will be a jumble of all the different accents, dialects and whatever that you've overheard. Perhaps, if they are significantly different, you might be able to tell if you hear them spoken next to each other. But if you try to recreate or mimic that language, the accent you'll produce will be a mix of what you've heard. These days, having watched a significant amount of anime over the years and having been educated by a friend who studied the language, I am capable of naming several Japanese dialects (Osaka-ben is fairly easy to place if you know how) even though I don't speak the language. But if I, for instance, hear two Slavic languages next to each other, even though I've been exposed to many of them, I probably won't be able to tell you which is which, or in some cases even that they're different. As for other people's testimonies than mine, there are several in the YouTube comments. I've taken the liberty of copying a few examples for you: Also, inexplicably (because I do agree with you that it sounds mostly American, but then nowadays I actually speak English like a native, and I know and recognise many if not most accents, a few of which I can mimic), someone wrote this:

I'm of the school that says that if you do it primarily to make money, then no, it isn't art. There's nothing wrong with making money on art, the more the better. Nor is there anything wrong with making art that people like, or even being conscious in the process of creating your art of what people like and what will help you support yourself. But if making money is your primary objective, instead of creating something that you can be proud of/telling a story you want to tell/whatever; if you compromise what you set out to create in favour of making an easy buck, then I don't think it's art anymore. Of course, only you can judge that for yourself.

Welcome to the flock, Con!

My only point is that you're a native speaker and as such are even less qualified to make judgments about this than I am. And I have a really good memory. I am also not the only person I know of who once could not speak English who has commented on how accurate this video is, and the people who made it must have gotten it from somewhere.

The issue was not about non-native speakers; it was about non-English speakers. People who do not actually speak or properly understand English. I have not always spoken English. I did not speak English when I was a little kid. I'm actually a pretty good authority on this.

There's actually been another thread about this a while back. It's located here if you're interested in seeing what people had to say then.

Can you tell the difference between different accents in a language you don't understand? Could you, for instance, tell two Norwegian dialects apart and tell me which is which (assuming of course that you don't speak Norwegian)? Chances are, you'd barely be able to tell Swedish and Norwegian apart, and you'd be even less likely to tell me which is which. Bearing that in mind, yes, the video I shared is pretty much exactly what any type of English sounds like to a non-English speaker. And the video was, I believe, made by Australians.

I think most people here are speaking for themselves and not really for others. Either they have bad experiences with open relationships and polyamory (a friend of mine knows this girl who basically uses the polyamory thing to get loads of guys to all buy her stuff and treat her like a princess so she never has to do anything for herself, which is pretty shitty) or they have too little experience to even imagine what it might be like. And some of us aren't built for that sort of thing. I myself am the jealous type. I need to have my partner to myself. I don't think I could be in an open relationship. But that doesn't mean that I don't respect you and your partner or the fact that you can. In general, you'll find that people aren't judgmental so much as, occasionally, ignorant.

Welcome, Voleuse! You'll have an awesome time here!

In my experience, it's when you stop worrying about what other people think that you find the people who are willing to love you for who you really are, friends and lovers alike, and there are a lot more of those out there than you'd imagine.

This whole thread makes me kind of uncomfortable, actually. Stereotyping with regards to language also enforces cultural stereotypes. Like the comment about Arabic. I think Arabic is a gorgeous language, I've heard it spoken a lot as I've gone to school with Arabs and lived in an area with a lot of Middle Eastern immigrants, and I don't think they sound angry at all. I mean, I know that no one here is a racist or anything, but (as I recently rediscovered) some things that you can say to your friends and people who know you can come out pretty wrong when you're talking to people who might not know you that well. That said, this video is a pretty accurate portrayal of what English sounds like to non-English speakers: This is almost exactly how I 'spoke English' before I learnt it properly, back when I was about 4. You know, you'd picked up a few words, and you knew what the accent sounded like, so you kind of just mimicked the rest.

Magpie's reaction to this went somewhere along the lines of, 'What a pretentious douche bag! I would pay his partner not to use lube.' I'm more in the camp of, hey, good for you being all empowered and what-not. Different strokes for different folks. *shrug*

I tend to jump right in where matters of the heart are concerned. If I like someone, I find a way of letting them know. And I've had my heart broken many, many times, but it's so worth it for the times where I haven't. The times when things have worked out. A broken heart can be mended, but a missed chance may never come again.

I like spiders. Mostly I just leave them alone. When I was a kid I used to catch them and let them run over my hands. Then again, as previously pointed out, it's too cold and dark for venomous spiders in Scandinavia. As such, European Garden Spiders have generally been the biggest ones I've ever had to deal with (apart from the basement spiders at my mum's house, those things are enormous) and they're lazy as fuck and just spin really pretty webs (they're orb weavers). Magpie's an arachnophobe. Which means that when he sees a spider, he freezes up and starts hyperventilating and has to call me to take the thing outside. Which I do, happily. Oh, and btw, camel spiders (which aren't actually spiders at all) aren't really any bigger than a modest sized tarantula, most of them, and aren't even venomous. You get bitten by one, it hurts, but you're not gonna have any lasting effects at all. Now, coconut crabs, those things actually freak me out for real.