this post was submitted on 20 Jan 2025
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Interesting, knowing German and modern English makes this about as decipherable as Dutch.
Old English was more mutually understandable with Old Norse than German and Dutch are today as I recall. Northern English dialects still show the influence of Old Norse on the English they spoke not just in location names but in vocabulary and some grammar. It’s been years since I studied this in grad school, so please take it with a grain of salt.
As a Dutch person, I disagree ;)
But yeah, knowing Dutch, English and German makes this pretty understandable, right up until someone starts to speak it.
The same applies to Danish. Sorta kinda readable, impossible to understand when spoken.
Well, as a German I understand about as much old English as I would Dutch.
There’s a guy on YouTube who, among other things, makes language intelligibility videos. Here’s the one he did on how well German speakers can understand Old English
This video is also a good one!
Or this one.
As a Dutch speaker, I can understand some of the Old English, but not all of it.