The Wire - what language are they speaking?

scargill

I borrowed a boxset having heard how great The Wire is, I missed it first time round. Now, maybe it's just me.....but whole sections of each episode go completely over my head. I'm just up to S01 E04, I'm just waiting for it to make sense...

I'm watching it with the wife, we watched E04 last night and halfway through she just looked at me and said - "What language are they speaking??!" I had to admit I just didn't know what the hell they were talking about. I rewound the section and put the subtitles on.......still wasn't 100% sure I was taking it all in!!

Does it get better....or do I have to live in Baltimore for 6 months before watching it!!

Please tell me I'm not thick!!? Does it sink in evenually??!

amacachi

To be honest I had few problems understanding people in it, some people apparently do. If anything I found the accents got stronger as it went on.

johnnybmac

Please tell me I'm not thick!!? Does it sink in evenually??!

It's worth stickin' with

I'm from the heart of the bog...

During my time watchin' the Wire, if anybody met me and asked me how I was, I would nearly always reply SAWLL GOOD, SAWLL GOOD, Yawll...

Was the same with the Sopranos, the gangster speak would just sneak in there...

Stripey Cat

Some people say they find series two easier to get into. The focus switches to the docks, and involves more white people (Polish and Irish Americans) so the accents are a little easier to follow.

They even take the piss out of themselves a little, as the following clip shows:

HavingCrack

Weirdly enough I very much found this issue to be 50-50. Literally half the people I know who watched the Wire had no trouble understanding the accents and the other half had not got a clue what was going on. Maybe some people just have a better ear for accents than some , there doesn't appear to be a middle ground, you either understood it completely or you didn't whatsoever.

Iwannahurl

Perhaps you're having trouble with those Baltimore prerhotic monopthongizations.

Barnacle123

Had no trouble understanding it really, except the odd word here and there. Usually pressing rewind and hearing a second time cleared things up. It's well worth sticking with it...I highly recommend it, great TV series!

jimjimjimmy

Never had a problem understanding any of the language in the Wire.

mikemac1

Could never understand Snoop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE-uY7P3pe4

And for a while I thought Snoop was a guy :eek:

jimjimjimmy

mikemac1 wrote: »

And for a while I thought Snoop was a guy :eek:

Ha, so did I for the first two episodes she appears in, thought I was the only one:D

Yakuza

I've just started watching it (up to S01E05) and, while I've no issue understanding the words they are saying, the meanings eluded me initially, but I've started to pick up what they mean. That includes both the drug dealers and the police; they both have their own lexicon which they will understand when talking to each other, but it leaves the objective viewer out in the dark. I think that is done completely deliberately, there's no exposition and you're left to fend / think for yourself (which I enjoy )

Iang87

mikemac1 wrote: »

Could never understand Snoop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE-uY7P3pe4

And for a while I thought Snoop was a guy :eek:

haha for a while

I thought snoop was a guy till

final scene she was in and asked how her hair looked and Michael said you look good girl

maxfresh

A few times ive had to rewind and put the subtitles on ,but most of the time its pretty easy to understand

Hulk Hands

http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Wire%20season%201%20%28Newbies%29

What Alans Watching does great reviews of each episode. He even does a version so that it doesnt spoil any storylines. The link above has season 1 reviews. I found it great to have a read of the review after each episode just to make sure nothing went over my head

Penn

The dialogue is real, that's why it's hard to understand. They'll talk about G-packs and re-ups in a Baltimore accent while talking in a slang kind of way, because that's the way those characters would talk. They wouldn't explain to each other what these words mean because they already know. You don't. Same with most people who watch the show. You'll get a feel for it, but this isn't a show which explains everything and makes sure you always know what's going on. That's why the show feels so real.

Try it with subtitles for a while until you get more of a feel for it

Dandelion6

African American Vernacular English, Baltimore subdialect. Some of the features of their speech are common to whites in the region too (e.g., dropping the "d" sound in "I don't know" and the "r" sound in "all right").

Ardillaun

There were a lot of outsiders on that show - obviously West, Gillen and Elba but also Royo and Williams and many more. What did the locals think of their accents? Did they get the roasting the boys on Love/Hate got?

trashcan

Ardillaun wrote: »

There were a lot of outsiders on that show - obviously West, Gillen and Elba but also Royo and Williams and many more. What did the locals think of their accents? Did they get the roasting the boys on Love/Hate got?

Quite possibly I'd imagine. While the accents would have sounded authentic to us (to me anyway - I was amazed when I found out Dominic West was English) I'm sure to the locals they might not have sounded so real.

I never had a problem with the accents, and you could soon get the idea of what they were talking about despite the lingo.