kitsu

Just a little something that I found interesting, and thought I should share:

http://www.unc.edu/depts/chaucer/zatta/prol.html  (Sorry for no link--HTML seems to be broken.  Should be corrected soon.)

14 lines from the Canterbury Tales, in Middle English, with accompanying audio file. 

Very Germanic.  My, how English has changed in 600 years.  It's also interesting to note that, while reading English c. 1400 is incredibly difficult, reading it c. 1600 (say, Shakespeare) is quite simple.  That it changed so much between 1400 and 1600, and so little between 1600 and 2000....  Some argue that the popularity of Shakespeare slowed down the evolution of the English language, but I am making no assertions here.  Simply sharing something that struck me.