Man, 80, on a mission to revive a 1,000-year-old British language

‘Muck goas to t’middin an it’s reight place for it.’

As much as you might recognise the odd word there, don’t worry too much if you have no clue what this says.

This is actually ‘Dirt goes to the dunghill and that’s the right place for it,’ written in an ancient Yorkshire dialect.

And a way of talking that one retired teacher is on a mission to keep alive by teaching it ‘in t’schools’.

Rod Dimbleby, chairman of the Yorkshire Dialect Society, is on a mission to save the county’s language as words dating back over 1,000 years are falling out of use.

And he believes it should be taught to young’uns the same way foreign languages are.

He already gives weekly lessons on the vernacular, made famous in the TV show Last Of The Summer Wine and even used in Arctic Monkeys lyrics, including the hit song Mardy Bum.

But he fears it’s dying out and that there are only a few pockets in Yorkshire where the authentic dialect is still spoken today.

Rod, 80, said: ‘This is a part of our cultural heritage, something that anyone born or growing up in Yorkshire has every reason to be proud of.

‘It will die out unless we do something about it. I’d love to see schools teaching the Yorkshire dialect or maybe accept it as an after-school activity.’

What is the Yorkshire dialect?

Yorkshire is easily the largest county in the UK, so there’s no single ‘Yorkshire dialect’ – or a way that people in Yorkshire tend to talk – but a fair few.

There are some common threads between them, though, such as a love for the letter ‘t’ in words.

You, for one, become ye, thee or thou. Something and nothing are ‘owt and nowt. This is partly because the dialect has its roots in Old English and Old Norse.

The dialect also makes a lot of cutbacks when it comes to how many letters and syllables are in a word. Happen becomes ‘appen, how are you becomes ‘ow do.

Some examples of the Yorkshire dialect are on the society’s website. ‘It’s better to fettle an shaht abaht it nor nivver to fettle at all,’ for example, means: ‘It’s better to do something and shout about it than never to do it at all.’

And this is something Rob is living by.

The former German teacher added: ‘I teach the Talk Tyke Course in the same way I taught German. Covering the four skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing.

‘Since the first course, we’ve seen a welcome spike in the number of new members joining the society.’

Rod, who grew up in Bradford, said the dialect has been kept alive by working folk.

He added: ‘It’s because the working class continued speaking dialect that people often wrongly associate it with being uneducated or confuse it with slang.

‘No, it’s a real language. Many of the words are derived from the Germanic languages and some of the phrases are linked to the Industrial Revolution.

‘I’m fortunate to have been brought up bilingual speaking Yorkshire dialect and English.’

Courses have so far been held in Keighley, Brighouse and Cleckheaton, with a fourth due to start in Leeds in May.

This article was originally written on May 11, 2024.

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