A Light History of the English Language | 
| Director: Carl Gilfillan
Actors: Carl Gilfillan, Dr. Elliot Engel
Buy New: $24.95
New (1) Used (2) from $24.94
Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 2899
Format: Color, Ntsc
Media: VHS Tape
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 37 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8 x 4.8 x 1.2
ISBN: 1890123102
EAN: 9781890123109
ASIN: 1890123102
Release Date: January 1, 1997
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 Wrong, wrong, wrong. July 8, 2004
13 out of 16 found this review helpful
This video is "light," indeed--light on correct information. I purchased this video for the History of the English Language course I was teaching, thinking it might be a useful teaching tool. Unfortunately, it proved useful only in that I was able to have students point out the fallacious statements. For instance, Prof. Engel says that there are only twenty-six sounds in English, confusing letters and phonemes, it seems. One need only consider the vowels to see that this statement is erroneous. Then there are palatal fricatives and affricates and the voiced and voiceless interdentals. This purely wrong statement of English sounds is but one of the many errors with which this video is filled! If the review system would allow, I would give this lecture a 0 stars.
 Awesome April 6, 2004
Alex wilkans (Florida)
9 out of 11 found this review helpful
I, myself, am a junior at a high school in Florida. Today, we watched this video - and I cannot tell you how many people in my class enjoyed the video. I went around telling all my friends about how the English lanuage was formed by anglo-saxon german. Explaining to them was awesome, I felt like I really learned something. I read some of the reviews of his lectures before and they talked about his voice not being great, and what not. I thought his presence was excellent, he communicated to us on a personal level instead of going to another "boring" lecture, this one made me really get into it. Since I'm a student, isn't my opinion the one that matters? If you're a teacher contemplating whether or not to show this to your class, I really encourage it - it was awesome! I guess it made enough of an impact for me to come to this website. I hope to see him in person some day, he seems like a very intelligent man!
The perfect perfect tool to learn about history of English February 22, 2003
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
I got this first from our Library. Since I felt this to be an invaluable asset, I decided to buy a copy to keep. Though it has a touch of humour, it is packed with information.
Professor Eliot starts with the history of human Languages. Explains what sounds are and how they came into being bu using different lip movement. Then he moves to the Germanic language that existed from 500 AD followed by how William the conqueror mixed English with French in order to create what is called the old English. He quotes from Chauser's Canterberry tales in middle English, and gives us a feel of how different it was. Then he proceeds to point out how he laziness of people resulted in the habit of accenting the first sylluble, and the modern English.
Finally he points out how English is expected to change by using the example of "JEET" ( "Did you eat" )very very interesting
A great piece of work January 7, 2001
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This cassette is filled with information. Professor Elliot Engel( This cassette is a recording of one of his presentations ), is really at ease with the facts. I had tried to read about the history of english earlier. But nowhere did i find a so consice presentation of the subject. Thanks a lot professor for the great work.
 A Mistake January 30, 2004
Betty Jensen (Sarasota, FL USA)
4 out of 8 found this review helpful
I guess I should have read the reviews of this video more closely. I am a 9th grade English teacher who teaches a brief unit on the history of English. Looking for new material (I currently use the PBS program, The Story of English) , I ordered Professor Elliot's video. After approximately fifteen minutes, I turned the video off and boxed it for return. The video is indeed a video of the professor at a lectern, talking. Nothing else, just a man talking. He talks very fast, too fast for high schoolers. One reviewer found his voice pleasing; I cannot agree. If you enjoyed lectures in college, you'll enjoy this one, but I would not recommend it for high school students.
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