Roman Legionary speaks Latin to New Yorkers — watch their reaction! 😳 ⚔️ · Legionarius ·

Salvī sītis! We are very pleased with the positive response to this video. Here are some pieces of information you may find interesting. THE STORY OF RUFUS & THEOPHILUS This video is not intended to be the true continuation of the “Interview with the Legionary” series on this channel. Part 3 of that series showed Rufus accidentally activating the time machine and arriving in New York City. Part 4 (yet to be made) will deal with Rufus’ initial disorientation and finding Theophilus, who was also transported back to the present day. The above video takes place a good amount of time after Part 4, once Rufus knows enough English to make it through these interviews. THE ANCIENT ROMAN ACCENT This was an especially fun thing to imagine and put into practice. Many have often asked what an Ancient Roman accent would sound like English. The accent I gave Rufus was a combination of a few ideas: Italian: The foundation is essentially a highly stereotypical Italian accent. This includes some intonational characteristics, or how I say “okay,” and a few other factors. Indeed, when I speak Latin, I try to employ Italian-like intonation and oral posture — but it’s important to say that I fall well short of my intended goal in my actual production of spoken Latin, especially in an uncontrolled environment like the streets of New York. Classical Latin phonology: I reverted the Italian base to Classical Latin wherever in made sense: v is /w/, final /i/ /o/ /u/ are frequently lengthened, s is retracted [s̠], and th is [tʰ], for example “very nice to meet you” [ˈwɛ.riː na͡e̯s̠ tuː miːt juː] or “thanks I do to you” (calqued from Latin grātiās tibi agō) [tʰɛːŋks̠ a͡e̯ duː tuː juː], as if they were written phonetically in Classical Latin orthography “verī naes tū mīt jū,” “thēnx ae dū tū jū.” Latin also permits final consonants -s, -n, -t, -nt, unlike Italian (where there is an audible schwa vowel following in stereotypical Italian accents), but not final -m, hence “I am strong” (valeō) [a͡e̯ ã strɔn] or [a͡e̯ ẽ strɔn]. Latin idiom and syntax: Rufus tends not to use articles in English, as articles are not part of the Latin language. I also calqued many Latin idioms into English, such as “thanks I do to you” from grātiās tibi agō, “what is name to you?” quid est tibi nōmen?, “beautifully!” pulchrē!, “the most beautifully!” pulcherrimē!, “optimally!” optimē!, “minimally” minimē; or randomly inserting Latin grammar into the English, such as the dative case in “to the dominae.” I also attempted to spontaneously not “know” how to say things in English, trying my best to imagine the challenges that a native Latin speaker would undergo. The result is an accent that sounds like a strange mix of Italian (the intonation), Slavic (inconsistent use of articles), Spanish (not as many schwas after final consonants), and Greek (retracted s). Over the course of the day before we went to New York to film, I spent a few hours speaking this way, practicing the accent with my wonderful fiancée — who did such an amazing job recording this whole video — and she generously laughed at each one of my silly jokes or weird ways of speaking. If I had spent more time practicing the accent, I bet it would have been a lot more consistent and a much more “authentic” representation of how Ancient Romans might have sounded in Modern English. But I’m happy with the result, and it’s great that so many of you have found it entertaining as well. THE PARTICIPANTS The participants were all very affable people and it was great to meet them. I did not break character at any time, so I assume they thought I was Italian (as I kept insisting I was from Rome); my fiancée behind the camera actually is from Rome, however, and she and I only speak to each other in Italian, so if anyone overheard us talking (and didn’t know Italian well enough to hear my American accent), they might just assume I was Italian too. We gave each participant a little card with the YouTube channel name so they could find this video — hopefully they do; we recorded back in August, so that was a while ago. But if any of them come across the video and this post, they should know they have our deepest thanks.

Not only are you reviving a 2000 year old language, but you made a foreign accent for your own native tongue based on the limitations of its phononogy? Dude you are awesome!

Latin should be the official language of the USA

As a Celtic language geek, I loved that you translated New York as Novum Eboracum, with Evor (meaning yew tree) being the Celtic name for York at the time the Romans invaded Britain.

My favorite part about this video is that he actually invented and perfected an English accent for an ancient Roman soldier whose native language is Latin. Amazing.

Speaking fluent Latin is amazing, speaking English with a Latin accent, godlike!

"Naturally the time machine brought us to Times Square" 😂😂😂😂 loved that part

I was thinking this guy must really stand out and no one even gave him a glance. Then i saw Elmo walking past and i realized, New York must just be an endless circus.

The Spanish speaking lady had a huge advantage over the others. She probably understood a good part of Latin already.

Rufus is remarkably chill for someone who got transported to bassically an alien world with everything being completely different yet familiar

I love how Rufus keeps calling it Atlantis. The accent and calques are fantastic.

As an Italian I'm extremely proud of you 👁️👃👁️🙏

as someone who uses Ecclesial Latin regularly during the Mass this was awesome lol you're spot on

I really like how Rufus "accidentally" said quaestion to really play it up

I love how the "legionnaire"'s accent sounds like a mixture of Italian and Russian accent

I often sing to my son in Latin. I can read it and speak what I read, but I struggle with actually speaking it. Such a beautiful language.

That Canadian did pretty good for never reading Latin out loud.

They should really start calling it Forum Temporum

Do this in Tokyo and watch everyone who is not a fan of Thermae Romae identify you as an American.

Rufus: "Duc me ad imperatorem tuum" New Yorker: "The empire state building is over there!"