I wonder if native english speaking people can understand ancient english langua

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   Pavlo Badovskyyposted 11 years ago

   I wonder if native english speaking people can understand ancient english language?

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   MickSposted 11 years ago

   Generally no, modern English is very diferent to the old language.

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      Pavlo Badovskyyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Now i see why my question quoting a poem "Beofulf" was deleted :-) Moderator probably thought it was in foreign language :-)

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   Hauntyposted 11 years ago

   Pavlo, can you understand this?
   Jeg har lært å snakke mange språk riktig.
   This is Norwegian and it's easy for an English-speaking person - ESL or not - to translate, much easier than a line from Beowulf.

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      Pavlo Badovskyyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      No, I can not understand this at all. I am from Ukraine and Ukrainian language is a little bit different :-) or rather to say absolutely different. I wish you asked me if I can understand ancient Russian....

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      Hauntyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I'm from Hungary, so we are neighbors. hahah
      And this is an interesting question. CAN you understand Russian?

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      Pavlo Badovskyyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      You asked me a very good question. No i can not (funny isnt it), but I hoped English language is different and native speakes do understand it. Ancient Russian learn only students of russian philology. it is a dead language

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      MickSposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I can't translate, English is my mother tongue.  Guessing - Jeg (you) har (are) laert (?) a (a) snakke (snake) mange (manage) sprake (speak) riktig (?)

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      Pavlo Badovskyyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      to Mics: a moment of truth. Can you translate this? Fyrst forth gewat. Flota waes on ythum bat under beorge. (dear moderator PLEASE do not delete this. It is not a foreign language)

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      MickSposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      No, I can't translte, but I'll have a guess at some of the words: flota (float) Fyrst (first) waes (was) bat (but) beorge (boat/barge) so, something about a boat first floating on water, but was then under something. (sank/wrecked)

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      Pavlo Badovskyyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you Micks. You can live on translating Ancient English :-) I found this translation: Fyrst forth gewat. Flota waes on ythum bat under beorge. - "Time on departed. Floater was on waves boat under hill". Thank you again. That was interesting.

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   The Indexerposted 11 years ago

   It depends on what you mean by "ancient". The language normally referred to as "Anglo-Saxon" is virtually a foreign language, although it contains the roots of much of modern English. This was the language spoken before the Norman Conquest of 1066, but that event brought French and Latin influences into English, and the "Middle English" of Chaucer's time (14th century) is much easier for for a modern reader to understand. It still takes a bit of work for most people, but a little immersion in "The Canterbury Tales" (for example) pays dividends in terms of understanding.

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      Pavlo Badovskyyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you for an answer. Actually i thought about earlier times than the 14th century. When i was a student of Romano-German Philology we learned a big part of Beofulf by heart. I was always wondering how much english it sounds for a native speaker.

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   Bretsukiposted 11 years ago

   Hello Pavlo,
   
   It could also depend upon whether one hears the language or has to read it.
   
   Some English dialects and accents are closer to Old English than others so hearing the language spoken can be easier than trying to read a transliteration of a script.
   
   As with all languages though meanings of individual words can change over time so while we may hear an Old English word today, there is no guarantee it means the same to us as it did a person 1,000 years ago.

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      Pavlo Badovskyyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you for an answer. Probably this is the reason why the same old texts are translated by different people defferently. Every translator tries to find his own meaning of the interpreted text

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   aethelthrythposted 11 years ago

   Once I was in Yorkshire, having great difficulty understanding a Yorkshireman who was saying something about ducks and the river.  My friend from Colorado did not join in the conversation at all because he thought we were speaking German.
   So actually, native speakers of modern English can't even understand other native speakers of modern English.  Probably Yorkshire English is closer to ancient English.
   Or maybe the musical "My Fair Lady" is right in saying Americans haven't used English for years.

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      Pavlo Badovskyyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      to tell the truth people in eastern part of Ukraine not always can understand people from western part. That became a source of inspiration for many and many linquists who write their books devoted to language analyses :-)

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      MickSposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      North Eastern English vernacular is said to be rooted in old Norse.

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