Can you read or speak the old versions of your language? (school, live)

[Mouldy Old Schmo]

If Italian, can you read The Divine Comedy in its original dialect?

If French, can you read The Song of Roland in Old French?

Old Chinese? Middle Chinese? Old English? Middle English? Etc?

[Catbelle]

Yes I can, some words and sentences change but it is understandable, Don Quijote book is usually in the original dialect for example, and other books we used to read at school.

[Greysholic]

It depends. Some ancient Chinese texts could be incredibly difficult to understand.
Usually the older the texts are, the harder they are, though it's not always the case.

[Eden Morlevent]

This ? https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/La_Ch...e_Roland/Texte

Li reis Marsilie out sun cunseill finet,
Sin apelat Clarin de Balaguet,
Estamarin e Eudropin, sun per,
65E Priamun e Guarlan le barbet
E Machiner e sun uncle, Maheu,
E Joüner e Malbien d’ultremer
E Blancandrins, por la raisun ****er.
Des plus feluns dis en ad apelez :
70« Seignurs baruns, a Carlemagnes irez.
Il est al siege a Cordres la citet.
Branches d’olives en voz mains porterez, (des branches d'olives dans vos mains vous porterez)
Ço senefiet pais e humilitet.
Par voz saveirs sem puez acorder,
75 Jo vos durrai or e argent asez,
Teres e fiez tant *** vos en vuldrez. »
Dient paien : « De ço avun nus asez ! »

I can understand a bit but certainly not pronounce it.

I found this pretty ugly TBH.

[viribusunitis]

I don't understand Old High German, but can read bits and pieces of Middle High German and Early New High German. But frankly, even the latter is a pain in the ass to read. Mostly because the Syntax is quite messed up.

Martin Luther's translation of the bible in standardized Early New High German: http://enominepatris.com/biblia/biblia2/B040K002.htm

[deneb78]

No. Old English is about as different from Modern English as German is from Modern English. I can understand a few words here and there and that's it.

[folicure]

Spanish can be understood. I have read "El Quijote" and "El Conde Lucanor" in their original versions and did okay.

[xander.XVII]

Yes, I can read and understand Divine Comedy, although the literal meaning can be quite different from the literary signification.

[erasure]

Originally Posted by viribusunitis

I don't understand Old High German, but can read bits and pieces of Middle High German and Early New High German. But frankly, even the latter is a pain in the ass to read. Mostly because the Syntax is quite messed up.

Martin Luther's translation of the bible in standardized Early New High German: http://enominepatris.com/biblia/biblia2/B040K002.htm

That doesn't look too much different from modern German, does it?
How Old High German is different?
Is it more "Scandinavian" in nature, or what's the difference?

[Ruth4Truth]

I can read Old Slavic/Old Church Slavic. I love it; it takes me way back in time to another era.