Comedy for ELT - Pronunciation Problems 

This sketch is not about race, but about the idiosyncrasies of the English language, which has borrowed words from all over the world. Ronnie Barker was a clever man.

Man i lived in UK for 9 years. Its heart warming to see the shop keepers tolerance. Because my english was weak and this happend many times for me. British people in my opinion are the most tolerant with people of faith/other nationalties.

I am a native English speaker & have lived in 4 different countries. When trying to speak German some shop assistants stand there with an angry face & say "WHAT!" as if I am from outer space. When trying to speak Greek I am met with smiles as they appreciate I am trying. Also the level of English spoken by Greeks is high.

Wordplay was their favourite shtick and a significant element of British comedy. It’s about leading the audience through absurdity to the punchline. Not a bad bone in their bodies these chaps 👍🏼

This is top level old school British humour.

I'm a native Arabic speaker and I find that very funny. I still remember my friend who used to call pictures.. Picityours 😂

Absolutely priceless we were allowed to laugh once upon a time. Nobody took offence we all laughed together.

I worked as an EFL teacher in recent years, mainly with students from Saudi Arabia. They were good at jokes and making me laugh. Such lovely fun-loving people. I remember when one class ground to a halt as it started snowing and they all went to the window to watch it, before asking me if they could go down to the street to play in it!

I'm an Arab and I have lived in the UK for quite some time.. When people in the UK communicate with non English speakers I must give it to them they are the best listeners, they have tolerance and respect the person in front of them and try to help him even if he is struggles to speak English, and I respect that very much in them.

When you have money, everyone would dance your tune😂

Its so sad that these two comedy crackups are not here anymore,they were soooooo clever and so funny they were such geniuses

I have split my sides laughing at this!! I have to watch it again. How clever! To actually create a sketch showing how the English language is difficult to navigate given it has borrowed from other languages, and demonstrating how it is not at easy as it seems where pronunciation is concerned.

For those that have disliked this video - get a sense of humour! It’s not racist, it is from a time when you didn’t live in fear of offending each other!

I'm an Arab and I can relate! 😂😂 Reminds me of the old sitcom Mind Your Language... Hilarious!! 😂😂

Thank you for reminding me how great these 2 were I wish they would put these on TV again 😂😂

The Two Ronnies are brilliant as always. This is up there with the “Four Candles” sketch 🤣🤣

The sketch isn't about the Arab being an Arab, but about the English language. It's not always immediately obvious where the stresses are, or how the vowels are pronounced, silent letters etc.

As an African, l've endelessly watched this brilliant out-of-the-world comedy. It is on a different planet.

The 2 ronnies were such an amazing comedic duo, will always be loved for bringing a smile to anyone lucky enough to watch =)

I have watched it over a dozen times and laughed more and more. I have forwarded it literally to hundreds of people here in Jeddah and they all cracked at the humour.

I miss these two. Their talents with word play was phenomenal

Just amazing English comedy. Nobody did it better than them.

I remember this sketch. Brilliant. Couldn't make it now without someone getting upset.

I remember watching this sketch almost 40 years ago when we lived in the UK. Until this day our family still pronounces cinnamon as China man.

Just seeing Ronnie Corbett walk into the shop in arab garb is a delight !

British manners, metaphors and the way they turn any talk is amazing, just like a 1970s radio commentary of a test match, great usage

What is funny is I lived in the Middle East for 3 years back in the ‘70’s and i went through the same think trying to speak their language. Everyone was SO helpful and I am sure they had a good laugh at me trying to pronounce their words.

this is totally hilarious. his pronunciations are incredible - i finally started to understand him. he was very good - not a parody on a person, just trouble with accents and reading English words, which sometimes make no sense whatsoever! 😋🌷🌱 i think Arabic pronounces each letter the same, just like Hebrew.

Still funny now, timeless both of them and I do miss this humour and them not being on the TV.

I’ve watched this at least 50 times and it always makes me laugh

I love their humor... it was better in the good ol' days.

Two of the very best. National treasures.

Can't get enough of this. Superb acting, plot and humour. Me, being a non native speaker, would have been in the Arab's clothes for quite a few of those items I believe.

Hilarious 😂😂 This is what I call proper comedy .

Old school comedy, love it. People are making money and careers from being “offended”.

Large brass ears for those enormous tights! 😂😂

Loved it. Got better as it went on. I'm northern and I love it when sketches take the piss out of the regions and accents. Far too many people lack humour these days based on the thumbs down for this sketch. Miserable sods.

The shopkeeper is very good at decrypting the actual message.

I love the British humour. The best part was, Juiyish for Juice, gets corrected as 'She looks a little bit Jewish, but she is not Jewish 🤣🤣🤣

I am arab and this scene has never made me fail to laugh out loud 🤣🤣🤣.

We watched this video in our English class and we could split our sides with laughing. It´s also motivation for us to improve our own pronunciation. Jacob said that he had never seen a funnier video that this.

Hilarious! Reminds me of the series "Mind Your Language"

“Mamalade?” “Yes he’ll cure you’re malady for you” 😂

I understood every word. As my Uncle Aristotle used to say, “ when money talks everyone listens” - everyone except for old Uncle Ari, that is...he was an insubordinate...Requiescat In Pace.

It is making fun of English language idiosycrocies, not the people. Word play has always been a part of the Two Ronnies' repertoire.

I’m arab and I speak english with an arabic accent but this man actually sounds indian 😂

Utterly brilliant Just wished they make them nowdays !

I remember this clip vividly from the 70s! Very funny Tamtoo Puree & c of e! Have not seen this till today about 40 years later!😂

So the grocery list was: Chocolate Mousse; tomato puree; bicarbonate of soda; apricot juice ("jewish") Cinnamon (Chinaman) tin of tongue; Veal and Ham pie; coffee (c of ee "church of england") marmalade for toast; chocolate "kack"cake!! Hilarious!

We are blessed here in 🇬🇧 to have had these two ❤

I'm an Arab & I find this funny 😂😂

Two of the finest comedy legends 😂

These two comedy icons were just beyond words. I know many people who don't even know their name and just know them by the two Ronnies.

Never get tired of watching these two, especially this..!!!

I’ve seen this thousand times and still laughing so hard LOL witty lines and great actors

That’s f***ing CLASS! Piss myself laughin, even though I’ve seen it many times! These guys were the best!

The reason this is hilarious: because this happens in real life! I'm from the north of England and people in the south struggle to understand me sometimes, so for people with English as a second language this must happen all the time Haha. And it isn't racist. It's cultures laughing at each other in a respectful way. I bet white people are mocked in other cultures for comedy value. Laugh at our differences, life is shit, and we only have humour to keep us going.

This is indeed comedy at its best. No cuss words, no insults. Just pure comedy.

Legends, so well written. The delivery was so good. You can watch this sketch over and over again...just amazing 👍👍🇬🇧

This is what I call classic,brilliant

Ah ,the dying breed of English shopkeepers.

😂😂. Nothing beats British humour 🙌

1:48 I love it when Ronnie C gets more and more Scottish when he's saying 'Soddar'. Bic-ar- bonnet of Soddar! 🤣🤣🤣🤣👍 Pure classic! 😊

Lol the kind of comedy you can't get away with now adays. AWESOME!!!!!!!!

This my friends is when our country had a sense of humour!

Never seen this before. Top drawer, old school british comedy.

As foreign i testify that the classic British comedy is one of the best class entertainment thats can never be alternate with today modern comedy 🎭

To the head from that school who had a bit of bother over this - i hope you realise, the vast vast majority find it hilarious and really dont care, that includes those from the mid east. there are always a few who dont get it. thats not your problem and it shouldnt be front page news !! as a head, you should make a stand. you'd gain alot of respect , especially from the community who this clip jokes about. even they feel bad that people think they feel bad about it when they certainly dont... its so annoying having to spell it out.

"Sod her!" (Soda) "Yeah, that what I say."

This is so clever the way it takes the michael out of the English language it is timeless, I love the two ronnies at Christmas on yesterday or similar channel, its what makes Christmas for me

They were so helpful ..polite with full of manners etc..

Gosh! What's with all these negative comments and taking things personally?! That's the wrong mindset with which to watch a comedy sketch. Get a sense of humour people!

im arab and i don't find the sketch offensive at all its actually funny lol

As a multiple culture country shop assistant like this comedy soo much.

Reminds me of when I first came to London to work and I tried to describe a flower to a colleague. I kept saying … ‘no, but it is facksia, don’t you know the colour facksia? and I could not understand why everyone was laughing and asking me to repeat my statement over again. In the end I learnt the correct pronunciation for fuchsia. It was very funny 😄 😅😂😂😂

I am Arab and i was laugh a lot, its so funny 😂

Brilliant - two comedy legends especially Ronnie barker

Makes me laugh every time I watch it! Brilliant!!! 😂😂😂😂🤪🤪🤪

Can see why "Mind Your Language" sometimes leads one down a rabbit hole of British comedy from back in the day, no wonder I choked from laughing too hard 🤣

I just can't get bored of the Two Ronnies.

Hahaha! This is sort of scenario reminds me of myself in some ways. I'm Aussie so our English is pretty well butchered anyway. But I'll always welcome people of all countries/ethnicities if they need help out in public and or are struggling to learn English. I like to learn the sounds so I can understand different accents as it intrigues me how it has evolved over time, a bonus is you get to meet someone new and hear their story even if you stand there for ages you get a glimpse as to what life is like where they're from. Having two kids myself that had to go through speech therapy, which 90% of it was at home, I had learn to understand what they're saying and then correct them by slowly pronouncing the word and getting them to repeat it. It takes quiet a few years and the patience of a saint, more so for the kids. Bc It's usually them that gets frustrated not me as I'm always saying pardon? Pardon? To try and work out some of the words and it makes me feel bad bc they get angry and frustrated not at you but themselves bc they wish they could speak properly the poor little buggers.

Love the Two Ronnies. The days when u could make a joke without people taking offence. Great Comedy 😀👍

Haven't laughed this hard in years! 😂 To be honest, the accent is more Indian than Arabic. We from the Indian subcontinent are the undisputed CHAMPIONS of making English sound like Gibberish!

Reminds me of arriving in an English country first time. Wanted a new double bed, ledikant, Dutch word for it. The man turned bright red as we always tried Dutch first and tried to get the English word for it. Still remember it vividly!

Genius, but please note, it’s mocking the white guy - notice how he becomes very interested at the sight of money.

I love this video! Hilarious..certainly not affensive! Yes..Ronnie B was a comedy genius..

I love this! I can’t stop laughing when he went down the list at the end to sum it up and check that he’s got everything!!!! Lollll my sides are hurting! I think British comedy is the best!!!

I am An Arab and I had no clue what the arab dude was saying, but it was funny!

I couldn’t stop laughing. I was literally pissing myself laughing aloud. This is hilarious. These guys were geniuses to come up with this stuff. Comedy nowadays is unintelligent untalented unfunny rubbish. This is comedy gold.

Don't worry the money can do the translation for you and I love how at the end he repeats his order and seems proud to finally buy what he needs by himself

I come from an Arabic background and i find this hilarious.People need to chill out a bit and stop taking everything personally.

Great wit blended with quality delivery. British comedy remain par excellent always, at least to my senses. I am an Indian guy staying in Singapore - Thumbs-up

Where's Mr. Jeremy Brown when you need him. Thumps if you get my reference :)

Brilliant…..brilliantly funny two of Britains finest funny men made me night 👍🏻

After a long time I got to see this clip.....such a natural genius of humour.

I laughed to tears. What a funny scene. LOL.

Fantastic comedy and fantastic English sense of humour.

Kudos to the shop owner who witnessed the destruction of the english language yet he stood like a gentlman in fron of those 300 pounds ,haha

every time, every single time british humour doesn't fail to surprise me. loved it!

Very funny! I love the play on words and clever comedy. I wish that this style of comedy still existed. I have brown skin and I'm not at all offended by the makeup. This is hilarious!