Assuming they speak English(ish) do you think you would understand WW2, WW1, Napoleonic, 7YW, ECW,WOTR, Dark ages troops or ancient briton troops?
martin :)
SYW onwards; prior to that the English becomes increasingly archaic and eventually Welsh. One of the reasons I have never fully committed to ECW is the insistence most historians have of inserting quotations from the period letter for letter in King James English, which I find tiresome to read after a few minutes. Thus, if people actually spoke like that then I would be floundering.
what what would you talk about. if you tried explaining anything from this day and age it would probably be classed as witchcraft with the inevitable result. Anyone from WW1 onwards would just be so disallusioned about what's happened since then they would probably run off and commit suicide due to the complete futility of what they are doing lol.
There is probably little in the way of common references between you that any meaningful conversation would be very hard. That's despite the lack of understanding each others vocabulary and phrasiology. Think how many slang words you use in everyday speech. They have the same amount except we no longer understand them.
About the only thing in common would be the deriding of the senior officers. :)
Derek
I think WOTR might be just about OK. Just talk slowly.
ECW should be fine?
Ancient britons would be very difficult I suspect. Apart from pointing at things maybe?
We need Mary Beard to contribute to this chat?
martin :)
Shakespeare might be a good reference point?
16th Century.
His plays can be difficult to understand, but the gist is always fairly clear(?).
martin :)
Quote from: martin goddard on January 28, 2025, 08:05:12 AMI think WOTR might be just about OK. Just talk slowly.
ECW should be fine?
Ancient britons would be very difficult I suspect. Apart from pointing at things maybe?
We need Mary Beard to contribute to this chat?
martin :)
I think the Ancient Britons would be speaking a flavour of Celtish, not English? :D
Simon
Indeed! Modern England is made up of what was once North Wales, East Wales and South Wales. Of course those areas had different names then as the word Wales comes from the old English/Germanic for stranger, also found in Wallonia (now French speaking Belgium) and Wallachia (now Romania).