I’ve always heard that the way Appalachian Mountain folks speak is as close to Shakespearean English as you’re going to get without a time machine, and a whole lot closer than the way actors at the Royal Shakespeare Company talk. (Maybe that’s why I put so much Shakespeare quoting into my Laura Fleming mysteries.) But the truth is, even folks who are mighty fond of the Bard can have a hard time following every thing he says, so I thought this quiz would help translate Billy’s words into the kind of English regular people use. At least they talk like this where I come from.

Don’t forget to rate your results: 
1 – 4: You must be a Yankee and an Oxfordian!
5 – 7: Hamlet could do better than this, and that was after he died! Brush up your Shakespeare and your Southern.
8 – 10: Now you’re talking – you know your iambic from your pentameter.
11: All’s well that ends well – Billy would be right proud of you!