The Hamlet Project

I can’t tell if Horatio speaks in a stilted manner on purpose or if I’m reading more stilted-ness in his language because the first Horatio I worked with had a bit of brain damage and had to do a little extra work to sound like an authentic person. I thought maybe I was projecting that stiltedness from that first performer but this line is stilted.

It actually has the flavor of a non-native English speaker – which is, of course, a theory I’ve floated before. Horatio doesn’t have a Scandinavian name, he doesn’t know the customs of Denmark and often has to ask about obvious things. The fact that he rarely has a line that isn’t a follow up of the previous line or a simple question also suggests someone communicating in a language that is not his first.

Certainly, when I learned Italian, some of the first successful conversations I had featured lots of things that allowed the other person to keep talking and thereby took the burden of language off of me.

This slightly more complex thought may be revealing more of Horatio’s growing skills in English/Danish.