Vernacular

During the Renaissance books and other things began to be printed in the Vernacular or everyday language. Before the Renaissance literature, including the Bible, were printed in Latin which many commoners could not understand. This was a huge transition because now commoners and those of lower status could begin to understand literature and had easier accesss to knowledge.

To highlight the importance of the transistion I have included two versions of a song by Shakira, one in spanish and one in English. I chose Shakira's Whenever, Wherever or Suetre because it is the same song in two different languages- one that the majority of the class will not fully understand (spanish) and the other that is in the english language which is the common vernacular in our class. Listen to the song with the lyrics in spanish first and then listen to the one English. (If you speak spanish fluently try to imagine it in a language you do not understand)

Spanish verzion (The is equivalent to the time period before the availablity of the vernacular when most people could not understand the information around them because it was typically put in Latin.)
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In the second video the same song is in English (which is the vernacular of our classroom)


For your comment about the vernacular I want you to consider the following.
1. Why did Shakira record the same song in two languages- what does she gain?
2. What does this say about people having access to popular culture that is in their vernacular?
3. How do you think this transition to the vernacular influenced how much information people had avaialable to them? (In other words did you gain access to a lot more information about the song once it was in your vernacular)