Audrey and the attercop - coming soon

Day 1

Audrey's adventure begins with an unexpected encounter on her first day in her first web development job. What is that language with which the stranger greets her? "Wes t`u__ ha__l!" And is it the key to meeting the challenges she will face at Summit Media?

Wondering what Audrey and the attercop is, or how it works? You'll find the answers below.

In a nutshell, you'll learn to read, write and speak Early Middle English at a leisurely pace - just one new word per day. A new chapter will be posted each week.

You can see a preview of Day 1 right now.

I can't believe it's a language course!

Well it's not really, at least not a course in the traditional sense. Audrey and the attercop is a serialised story. The idea is that you learn Early Middle English simply by following the story. There are no numbered exercises at the end of each chapter, and no assignments to complete. I doubt you'll be aware of the process of learning.

Each chapter contains sixteen Early Middle English words. Of these sixteen, ten have survived to Modern English and will be quickly recognised. The other six are words which are either lost to Modern English or have changed their form or meaning beyond recognition. The meanings of the six new words are made clear within the chapter. In subsequent chapters these new words are used again and again, since they are everyday words or essential to the environment in which Audrey - the main character, finds herself. With repeated use, they'll become familiar to you.

The thing that sets this story apart from most is the gradual languge shift. With each each succeeding chapter, more and more of the text is in Early Middle English, until by the last chapter, Modern English words are rare, scattered exceptions. Take me to Day 1 »

What's the story about?

The story could have been entitled 'the Adventures of Audrey' since there will be many of these as Audrey struggles to establish herself in her first job as a web developer at a leading design agency at the height of the dot com boom. On her first day on the job Audrey meets Ed who soon becomes her comrade in arms, teaching her Early Middle English which they employ as their secret code in an ongoing battle against malicious and renegade forces within the company. Chief among the hurdles, and one that Audrey must face alone, is the attercop. What manner of creature is this? To learn more, you'll simply have to give it a burl »

How long is the story? And what will I learn?

Audrey and the attercop will be run initially over a period of 12 months from December 2023. A new chapter will be posted once a week - every Monday morning, during those 12 months. Generally speaking, each chapter will present 16 Early Middle English words, 6 that will be new to you and 10 that have survived to Modern English. On occasions, a grammatical feature - usually a verb form, will be introduced. (Note that for speakers of Modern English, grammar plays a comparatively small role in learning Early Middle English.) In some of the early chapters, a series of simple techniques for transforming a group of Modern English sounds and spellings into their Early Middle English equivalents, will also form part of the conversation between Audrey and Ed her co-worker.

At an average of 16 words per chapter, and 50 chapters, you can expect to learn around 800 Early Middle English words by the time the story ends.

The combined text for the story should be the equivalent of around 300 pages of a typical paperback. This assumes roughly 6 pages per chapter. You can read a preview of the first chapter now.

When does it start... and end?

A preview of the first chapter has been posted. The next chapter will be posted in early December this year. Thereafter, new chapters will be posted once a week, on Monday mornings (GMT/UTC). The final chapter will be posted twelve months later.

For the most part, a new chapter will appear every Monday. However there may be occasional variations.

Of course, you don't have to worry about missing a day. You can start any time and read at your own pace. You can start after the final chapter is posted if you like and take six months, or a year, or three years. There'll be no time limit. Audrey and the attercop will still be here. Why not have a squiz now at Day 1?

btw if you miss a chapter (or more), an archive will enable you to choose the day(s) you missed.

And after that?

Audrey and the attercop will form part of a trilogy. I plan to write two follow-up stories, a part two which introduces around 800 more words, and a part three which teaches the grammar of Old English (i.e. Alfred the Great's Early West Saxon), and introduces a further 400 words. Both would feature the central characters from Audrey and the attercop and both would be written largely in Early Middle English, though part three would also feature excerpts in Old English from works such as Beowulf, the Battle of Maldon and the Seafarer. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Take the first step.