How far back in time would you have to go before the English language becomes to different to understand?

by TheJohny182

So as a native English speaker at what point in time would I begin to lose a grasp on what's being said in a conversation in English

citrusonic

Probably sometime during the Great Vowel Shift, which occurred roughly from the mid 14th century and is approximated as complete by the 1600s. If you've studied middle English or are a native speaker of Dutch, Plattdeutsch, or a Frisian dialect, you can probably go all the wày back to 1390 or so. This would be a better question for r/linguistics.