I’m always too afraid to say anything post something in say, kalmarunionen because so many people there actually come from those countries. If I got the wrong impression of a country or just get anything wrong. . . hooo boy, that’d be humiliating.
Oh. My. Gods. THIS. Just... THIS. There is a reason I haven't posted any fic there yet, and also a reason that I rarely comment there. That would be it. I find it so intimidating, and I'm constantly terrified of saying something wrong - or in the case of fic, Doing It Wrong. It's a similar problem with this Swe/Nor Union fic I've been working on - it's intended to be a giftfic for a Swede, and gods, I'm so afraid of getting something wrong. I wish I could relax a little when it comes to those anxieties, because people keep assuring me that it's unnecessary, and yet... yet... Well, I don't know.
I SHALL CONTINUE TO DREAM. Though I realize that in this case, it's probably just a dream. But at least it's a good one. <3 As for hardcover VS paperback, I agree with you - hardcovers are so much nicer, and occasionally they're very beautiful. However, paperbacks are less expensive, take up less room, and they are easier to replace if you are, say, moving across the country and have to leave much of your collection behind. *cough*
Anyway, yes, I can read/understand Middle English. Most people can, actually, as it isn't that much different from modern English, except that the spelling is rather phonetic (but not in accordance with modern pronunciation) and nonstandardized. In most cases, translations for Middle English works are unneeded. However, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is an exception. Though this work was written at about the same time as Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, it was written in a northern dialect that was, at that time, less modernized, and was very close to Old English. So, it's much more difficult to read than works written close to London, and though I did read the original I would often find myself having to glance at the translation as well, just to ensure that I fully understood the passage. In most cases, though, the works I read are only in Middle English, with no translation whatsoever.
I'm not sure if you've read anything in Middle English before, so here's an excerpt as an example. This is from the poem "The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell", dating to around 1450:
Of alle kynges Arthure beryth the flowyr, And of alle knyghtod he bare away the honour Wheresoever he wentt. In his contrey was nothyng butt chyvalry And knyghtes were belovid by that doughty, For cowardes were evermore shent.
Nowe, wyll ye lyst a whyle to my talkyng, I shall you tell of Arthoure the Kyng, Howe ones hym befell- On huntyng he was in Ingleswod With alle his bold knyghtes good- Nowe herken to my spell!
As you can see, most of the words are familiar, but the spelling is different. Some phrases are archaic ('beareth the flower', instead of saying 'was the best') and some of the words have fallen out of use ('doughty' for man, 'shent' for ruined) but on the whole it's not too different. After a while of reading this stuff, it isn't difficult to read at all - especially if one is used to deciphering netspeak. Though I do find that after reading or studying something in Middle English, my speech patterns tend to be more old-fashioned than usual, and my spelling worse than normal.
These factors - phonetic spelling and archaic vocabulary - are the reason that translations should be avoided when reading Middle English literature. When it comes to poetry, if the words are translated or the spelling modernized, it throws the rhythm and rhyme off (as some words are pronounced differently - "Nowe" and "Alle", though they mean Now and All, have a slightly different sound than the modern and the ending E would be pronounced). And words that are no longer used have particular means that sometimes can't be translated, of course.
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Yuu. Fic writer & book lover. M/Canada.
Re: Your comment of 16693 characters exceeds the maximum character length of 4300
Date: 2009-08-09 03:09 am (UTC)Oh. My. Gods. THIS. Just... THIS. There is a reason I haven't posted any fic there yet, and also a reason that I rarely comment there. That would be it. I find it so intimidating, and I'm constantly terrified of saying something wrong - or in the case of fic, Doing It Wrong. It's a similar problem with this Swe/Nor Union fic I've been working on - it's intended to be a giftfic for a Swede, and gods, I'm so afraid of getting something wrong. I wish I could relax a little when it comes to those anxieties, because people keep assuring me that it's unnecessary, and yet... yet... Well, I don't know.
I SHALL CONTINUE TO DREAM. Though I realize that in this case, it's probably just a dream. But at least it's a good one. <3 As for hardcover VS paperback, I agree with you - hardcovers are so much nicer, and occasionally they're very beautiful. However, paperbacks are less expensive, take up less room, and they are easier to replace if you are, say, moving across the country and have to leave much of your collection behind. *cough*
Anyway, yes, I can read/understand Middle English. Most people can, actually, as it isn't that much different from modern English, except that the spelling is rather phonetic (but not in accordance with modern pronunciation) and nonstandardized. In most cases, translations for Middle English works are unneeded. However, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is an exception. Though this work was written at about the same time as Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, it was written in a northern dialect that was, at that time, less modernized, and was very close to Old English. So, it's much more difficult to read than works written close to London, and though I did read the original I would often find myself having to glance at the translation as well, just to ensure that I fully understood the passage. In most cases, though, the works I read are only in Middle English, with no translation whatsoever.
I'm not sure if you've read anything in Middle English before, so here's an excerpt as an example. This is from the poem "The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell", dating to around 1450:
Of alle kynges Arthure beryth the flowyr,
And of alle knyghtod he bare away the honour
Wheresoever he wentt.
In his contrey was nothyng butt chyvalry
And knyghtes were belovid by that doughty,
For cowardes were evermore shent.
Nowe, wyll ye lyst a whyle to my talkyng,
I shall you tell of Arthoure the Kyng,
Howe ones hym befell-
On huntyng he was in Ingleswod
With alle his bold knyghtes good-
Nowe herken to my spell!
As you can see, most of the words are familiar, but the spelling is different. Some phrases are archaic ('beareth the flower', instead of saying 'was the best') and some of the words have fallen out of use ('doughty' for man, 'shent' for ruined) but on the whole it's not too different. After a while of reading this stuff, it isn't difficult to read at all - especially if one is used to deciphering netspeak. Though I do find that after reading or studying something in Middle English, my speech patterns tend to be more old-fashioned than usual, and my spelling worse than normal.
These factors - phonetic spelling and archaic vocabulary - are the reason that translations should be avoided when reading Middle English literature. When it comes to poetry, if the words are translated or the spelling modernized, it throws the rhythm and rhyme off (as some words are pronounced differently - "Nowe" and "Alle", though they mean Now and All, have a slightly different sound than the modern and the ending E would be pronounced). And words that are no longer used have particular means that sometimes can't be translated, of course.