How Far Back In Time Could You Go And Still Understand English?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fxy6ZaMOq8

LOL...I've traveled to Louisiana and couldn't grasp or barely decipher WTH those locals were trying to tell me ~~~ between the southern drawl - the Cajun verbiage - the rapid way that they throw their wording out at ya ---

You ever read Chaucer?  He died in 1400

It's a different language.  Part of my English Literature exams.

Try visiting Wigan!

geordie anyone???

sassy wrote:You ever read Chaucer?  He died in 1400

It's a different language.  Part of my English Literature exams.

Seriously, as much as I so enjoy the BBC channel and so many of those televised sitcom shows; I find myself struggling to understand WTF did that actor/actress just say ---

 by Lord Foul on Mon Mar 14, 2016 6:57 pm
geordie anyone???

 by HoratioTarr on Mon Mar 14, 2016 6:54 pm
Try visiting Wigan!

Well this is reassuring in a way...that all of our countries have pockets of dialect that have made the understanding 'Common English' a struggle and pure torture to understand! 

As part of my history degree I had to read sometimes quite lengthy treaties and letters from the 14th and 15th centuries. Not eaay, and I wouldn't fancy reading anything story length.

Eilzel wrote:As part of my history degree I had to read sometimes quite lengthy treaties and letters from the 14th and 15th centuries. Not eaay, and I wouldn't fancy reading anything story length.

I've blamed my migraines on trying to wade through the hand written journals of the Lewis & Clark expeditions across America {circa mid 60's} for a history class ~~~ never want to do that every again!

I actually enjoyed it, just not what it got too much, in fairness I've never read those journals.

In terms of old writing on a larger scale, nothing further back than the classics like Dracula, Frankenstein, Dorian Grey and such things. I loved those books though, and was not put off by the 19th century style at all.

Depends if its stormee ...about a week i guess

Eilzel wrote:I actually enjoyed it, just not what it got too much, in fairness I've never read those journals.

In terms of old writing on a larger scale, nothing further back than the classics like Dracula, Frankenstein, Dorian Grey and such things. I loved those books though, and was not put off by the 19th century style at all.

I will say; I've been swayed to both sides of the issue for our public schools to stop teaching cursive to our grade school children.  The normally begins in 3rd - 4th grades and some schools have just ceased to teach it.  While I applaud that decision for the young Autistic children I worked with; once lifting them up and on well on the road to reading and writing - tossing cursive at them was like throwing them into a Greek Language class.  Then the other side of the issue; my generation will be able to 'secret code hand written notes' to each other and barely any of the staff in our Long Term Care Centers {aka nursing homes} will be able to decipher what we're saying about our care  
But then the method of our Text Messages/emotioncons/abbreviations/etc., will have many humans {150yrs into the future} wondering WTF we were typing/texting/saying with all of our codes and moving EmotionCon images.

korban dallas wrote:Depends if its stormee ...about a week i guess

aspca4ever wrote:

Eilzel wrote:I actually enjoyed it, just not what it got too much, in fairness I've never read those journals.

In terms of old writing on a larger scale, nothing further back than the classics like Dracula, Frankenstein, Dorian Grey and such things. I loved those books though, and was not put off by the 19th century style at all.

I will say; I've been swayed to both sides of the issue for our public schools to stop teaching cursive to our grade school children.  The normally begins in 3rd - 4th grades and some schools have just ceased to teach it.  While I applaud that decision for the young Autistic children I worked with; once lifting them up and on well on the road to reading and writing - tossing cursive at them was like throwing them into a Greek Language class.  Then the other side of the issue; my generation will be able to 'secret code hand written notes' to each other and barely any of the staff in our Long Term Care Centers {aka nursing homes} will be able to decipher what we're saying about our care  
But then the method of our Text Messages/emotioncons/abbreviations/etc., will have many humans {150yrs into the future} wondering WTF we were typing/texting/saying with all of our codes and moving EmotionCon images.

Language changes all the time, but the digital age and emoticons etc have sure changed it in ways we could not have foretold a few years ago!

The question is 'understand', not 'fail to understand'.  So how far back can I understand English?

I had to study ancient forms of Scottish, English and French in order to write a doctoral dissertation about 17th-Century Hobbesian philosophy, so I would guess that the language wouldn't be fully recognizable to us until around the 1730's.

The English Aristocracy spoke French up until the Court of Edward III (1327-1377), when a gradual shift over to English began.  Up until then, English had not even ripened into a full language. It was a hybrid between French and Germanic forms. We still have two words for many things: Sheep or Mutton; city or town, etc.