From what I can recall of a supposedly authentic reading of Chaucer that we were played at School ( a sort of Franglais) , you would struggle prior to 1400.
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IanS
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I think you would understand English from the era of Elizabeth 1 onward without too much difficulty, once you get used to the differences in spelling and idiom - its not too unlike reading "legal-ese".
Other languages do evolve in a similar manner - Quebec French, for example, has remained much closer in its grammar and style to the peasant French that would have been spoken by early settlers. The German spoken in northern Germany (middle German, the closest equivalent of King's English), Bavaria and Austria are sufficiently different - the Austrians have different names for many everyday things - that a friend of mine from Hannover has more trouble understanding Austrian German than I do! Equally, among Celtic languages, Scottish, Welsh, Manx and Irish all stem from a common ancestry, but are different enough that, for example, I couldn't read Welsh having studied Irish through all my school years.
Latin and Scandinavian languages seem (to a casual observer such as me) to have diverged less as they evolve - Spanish and Portugese or Spanish and Italian are about 80% common such that most people from either country can conduct a conversation, each speaking their own language, and still understand each other. Same goes for Norewegian and Swedish and, to a lesser extent, Swedish and Finnish. Its quite disconcerting when you hear it happening for the first time!
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English as a language is constantly evolving, how far back in history could I go and still be able to understand what my ancestors were saying, and do other langauges change equally
launguage evolution is fine for those at the fore front alive and using it now. For example, turn this question on hits head and ask:
"How far back in history would I need to go to not understand English as it is spoken today" IE if my long dead grandparents suddenly came back, how flumoxed would they be.
Computer? whats that then exactly
Text speak? what does that mean?
Phone? whats that (let alone Mobile Phone)
The funny thing is all that in all languages all new words added are english (well American)
like Le Weekend, or Le Big Mac.
Esperanto is coming, but its called Global American
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Chinese coming up fast on the rails though...
(yes I know there are lots of flavours, but still)
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The chinese however are bright enough to not care about their "cultural heritage" unless its a money earner.
Mandarin isnt, so they have no compunction about protecting it, all their bright little kiddies are learning american believe me,
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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The funny thing is all that in all languages all new words added are english (well American) like Le Weekend, or Le Big Mac.
Not strictly true. That does happen a lot, but different languages come up with different solutions. For example, I speak Irish pretty fluently and while some Irish speakers might use the word "fón" for "phone", most of those I know use "guthán" - it stems from the word for voice, "guth". Likewise mobile phone is "guthán soghluaiste" - "gluais" is one of the verbs indicating motion in Irish, and the prefix so- equates to the English suffix -able or -ible, so this is a literal translation of the phrase mobile phone. I could cite several more examples but I might lose the will to live ...
On the other hand I have heard French speakers talk about "le mobile".
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andymc
Vroom, vroom - mmm, doughnuts ...
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Thats because all Irish people are multilingual. They have to be, you dont survive in the world being just a gaelic speaker.
The french however think they can
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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What, all of them? ;-)
The education system when I was growing up introduced Irish as a second language from age 4. However, very little emphasis was placed on communication skills and actually using the language - instead it was taught much as Latin would be, i.e. as a dead language would be. A foreign language (usually French) would be introduced either towards the end of primary school or else at the start of secondary. I suppose picking up French at that stage may have been helped by language learning having been addressed, after a fashion, from a relatively early stage. The ideal time in human development to pick up a second language is between the ages of 3 - 5 ... after that it becomes increasingly difficult to acquire another language, which is why a curriculum introducing second languages at age 11 is such an exercise in futility.
In reality Irish people tend to be linguistically rather poor when compared with Germans, Dutch, Spanish, French etc. There are only maybe four or five hundred thousand truly fluent Irish speakers and fluency in any foreign language, let alone two or three is pretty rare. Still not as bad as over on your side of the water though! Having said all that, there has been a substantial growth in recent years in the popularity of bilingual "immersion" education in Ireland, where children are taught all subjects through the medium of Irish and are brought up to be truly bilingual. The effect of this is to increase not only language skills but an improvement in academic ability across the board - maths in particular stands out as a subject which shows higher levels of attainment in bilingual education.
Anyway, I've diverted a bit from the original topic so should probably leave it there!
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andymc
Vroom, vroom - mmm, doughnuts ...
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On the other hand I have heard French speakers talk about "le mobile".
I thought the french for mobile phone was "un telephone portable"?
They still have "le weekend" at the end of each week, and will eat "un hotdog". Funnily enough, in Canada, the pro-French purists have banned those two terms, replacing weekend with "la fin de semaine", and hotdog with "le chien-chaud" - literal translations of the english!
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How about Gromit's post translated into Cockney!
Uvver 'am sandwichs do evolve in a similar manner - Quebec French, right, for example, right, has remained much closer in its grammar and style ter the peasant French that would 'ave been spoken by early settlers. Yer can't 'ave a knees-up wivout a joanna. The German spoken in norffern Germany (middle German, right, the chuffin' closest equivalent of Kin''s English), right, Bavaria and Austria are sufficiently different - the Austrians 'ave different names for many evryday fings - that a mate of mine from 'annover 'as more Barney Rubble understandin' Austrian German than I do! Oi! Equally, right, among Celtic 'am sandwichs, Scottish, right, Welsh, Manx and Irish all stem from a common ancestry, but are different enough that, for example, right, I couldn't read Welsh 'avin' studied Irish frough all me school years. Latin and Scandinavian 'am sandwichs seem (to a casual observer such as me) ter have diverged less as they evolve - Spanish and Portugese or Spanish and Italian are about 80% common such that most blokes from eever country can conduct a conversation, each speakin' their own 'am sandwich, and still understand each uvver. Same goes for Norewegian and Swedish and, right, to a lesser extent, Swedish and Finnish. Its quite disconcertin' wen yer 'ear it 'appenin' for the first time! Blimey!
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It may be, but the French students staying with me a couple of weeks ago referred to the "mobeel" - when they were speaking French!
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andymc
Vroom, vroom - mmm, doughnuts ...
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