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  • The Adventure of English

  • The Biography of a Language
  • By: Melvyn Bragg
  • Narrated by: Robert Powell
  • Length: 12 hrs and 9 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (924 ratings)
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The Adventure of English cover art

The Adventure of English

By: Melvyn Bragg
Narrated by: Robert Powell
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Summary

This is the remarkable story of the English language; from its beginnings as a minor guttural Germanic dialect to its position today as a truly established global language.

The Adventure of English is not only an enthralling story of power, religion, and trade, but also the story of people, and how their lives continue to change the extraordinary language that is English.

©2003 Melvyn Bragg (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Both entertaining and informative." (Booklist)

"This 'biography' succeeds in its broad, sweeping narrative." (Publishers Weekly)

What listeners say about The Adventure of English

Average customer ratings
Overall
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

All the voices

This is not perhaps the most obvious choice for an audio book but it proves in fact to be an excellent work to listen to.Melvyn Bragg writes in a way that is a model of intelligent popularisation : without ever being either too technical or patronisingly simple he conveys much information about the history of the English language in a way that will entertain and instruct anyone with any degree of interest in the subject.Robert Powell -always a most competent and intelligent reader-copes superbly with what is often a difficult text.He manfully does his best to impart interest even to the long lists of words that occur in some chapters, but where he excels particularly is in the plausible rendition that he gives of the various dialects and languages related to English - his Frisian and Anglo-Saxon may or may not satisfy experts but they sound most convincing.He clearly enjoyed the challenge of conveying how differently English did and does sound. With such expert reading this is one of the occasions when an audio book has a distinct advantage over the silent printed text.If you have any interest in our language, you will enjoy this work and this reading.

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168 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Outstandingly well-read and enjoyable journey

Melvyn Bragg writes in an accessible style well-suited to be read aloud. He has been well-served by the reader, Robert Powell, who has brought the book alive by his outstanding ability to pronounce all the variants of English that can only be depicted by phonetic symbols on the page. The use of the word 'Adventure' in the title is apposite as the book is as lively as a good historical novel.

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56 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A great accompaniment to any journey

I found the Bragg Powell combination very enjoyable. I thought Powell produced passable attempts at the European pronunciations, but my Caribbean wife and I had to laugh at some of the creole and pigeon he produced. Small criticism though and it even at times added to the listening experience. The news that we British communicated officially in French until Edward 1st was quite a surprise. Heartily recommended

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23 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Fascinating language

I had a hard time learning English but when I came to the stage I was able to read and listen without using my dictionary and still understand it I became more and more interested in the history of the language; both the development and the paralels I see in my own language.

Now I have both read and listened to this book. It's worth it!

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Very educational

Fascinating book, which captures a mass of interesting facts about the English language inside a well narrated and informative history. Highly recommend it to someone interested in the roots of the language from the 5th century onwards - this is a very accessible listen and I would go so far as to say it is indeed an adventure to listen to. It touches on the way English spans the globe in it's many forms and derivatives and why it is such an extensive, flexible language.

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Great book, great narration

I keep going back to listen to this book. It is so interesting and a product of lots of research that doesn't become tedious, although the lists of words probably work better on the page. But that aside, I love it.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Not what I was hoping for

Not really what I was expecting. I wanted something more about linguistics/grammar etc and how they have evolved in English, but this feels more like a history of England with the gimmick of being told from the perspective of the language. Nothing wrong with that as a subject, but it's not what I was looking for. I also found the constant anthropomorphising of the language quite irritating.
I tried to get into it anyway, but have given up a couple of chapters in as it's just too much of a slog.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Great for language enthusiasts

Really enjoyable for anyone who likes history or languages. As a teacher of English as a foreign language, it was very interesting to pick out all the influences and words from other languages that have made up English. Long may that continue!

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Why didn't I enjoy this?

Fascinating subject, full of facts - so why didn't I enjoy it? I nearly didn't make it past the first chapter. Perhaps it's better read on the page than listened to? The endless lists, for example. And too many examples per fact (yes we've got the point, thank you). Or maybe this book is of more interest to a non-native speaker/lover of English Language. I really don't know, but this is the most disappointing talking book for me so far.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Fascinating

A really good listen for anyone interested in the English language. Some of the information presented I already knew but overall I realize how little I knew about my own language. As always the narration is as important as the book itself. Robert Powell can always be relied upon to keep me interested. I will certainly be listening to this book again.

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8 people found this helpful