I was taught Dutch, which is my native language, French, English and even a little German during high school. I noticed that even on high school level, we were able to read and translate older English and French texts, think Shakespeare and Voltaire, while Dutch texts from even as recent as 19th century seem utterly alien in spelling and grammar, apart from the occasional use of archaïc vocabulary.

Is it just because as a native speaker I notice these differences better, or is there actual evidence of Dutch evolving relatively faster than for instance French, and if so, why does this happen in a more general sense?