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Can French understand French from the Middle Ages or even later? No. And this is likely the case for all languages. I am French and have a soft spot for French
by BrandoElFollito 3y ago
Can French understand French from the Middle Ages or even later? No. And this is likely the case for all languages.
I am French and have a soft spot for French Middle Ages history and culture (completely amateur interest, and very shallow).
I tried to read MA texts. It is really difficult, and gets a tiny bit easier when you understand the calligraphy. As for the meaning, this is basically a foreign language.
When you know what the text is about, you can work out some words and the meaning of some sentences. But only some, and this some is rather small.
I heard spoken MA French and it is not understandable at all.
Languages change much more than we expect it. My son texted me a moment ago "Oe ptdr g vu". Kudos if you guessed that this is teenage French, and congrats to you understood what he meant (when you are not French and a parent of teenagers:))
- donpott 3y agoSeems to be a homophone of "Oui <BLANK> j'ai vu" -> Yes <BLANK> I've seen [it]. Anyone has an insight on what "ptdr" might mean?
- tyi 3y agoPété de rire. In English, somewhere between LOL and ROFL.
- NoZebra120vClip 3y agoI've had no trouble reading 16th-century Spanish works. As I understand it, Don Quixote is really no problem for modern Spanish speakers either. Perhaps French has moved on since then, but Spanish seems to have been quite stable.
- gumby 3y agoIcelandic kids can read the sagas too.
- BrandoElFollito 3y agoThis is an example of a XVI century French text: https://transcriptions-actes.pagesperso-orange.fr/16eme_siecle.html https://transcriptions-actes.pagesperso-orange.fr/16eme_siec... Reading the original is close to impossible (but, hey, I think the same of my children's and mother's handwriting so this is not a good argument :)) The transcript si very, very difficult to read. Both the vocabulary and the grammar are significantly different from contemporary French. It is possible by carefully analyzing the text to understand the general ideas (having learned latin and liking etymology helps). The texts from the XVI-XVIII centuries we learn at school are basically translated (some words are left to pretend that the text is close to the original).