How well would someoke who speak English in the 21st century fit in with someone who speaks English from the 1500s? | AskHistorians Archive Observer

How well would someoke who speak English in the 21st century fit in with someone who speaks English from the 1500s?

by Crimson_Marksman

Is 500 years too many years of change for the English Language?

silverappleyard

Hi! You might be interested in this related question with an excellent answer from u/bloodswan:

When I hear Chaucer spoken in Middle English, it almost sounds more like Dutch than English. But though Shakespeare is closer in time to Chaucer than the present, his English is much easier to understand. What happened to English in between, and why?