Know a good MIDDLE english translator?

Question

If the translator can translate a line or two, the better :P

Answer 1

Middle English is the proper term, ignore the first poster. And while the Chaucer blog is witty, it's not good Middle English. It's just Early Modern English (Shakespearean) respelled somewhat to look like Middle English. There aren't any on-line translators for Middle English. The problem is that Middle English is a transitional period between the Norman invasion and the Great Vowel Shift. During that time, English was undergoing some radical changes and restructuring so that the language of Chaucer (14th century) would be only partially intelligible to the servants of the barons who forced King John to sign the Magna Carta (12th century). The second problem is that spelling in the Middle English period was highly variable, there were no standards and no standard dialect. Even Chaucer was completely inconsistent in his spelling. For example, Chaucer spelled some words as many as 15 different ways, and sometimes several different ways in the same story. So building a Middle English translator would be exceptionally difficult. Your best bet is to contact your local university's English department and find out if the "midievalist" (I don't think I spelled that right) there knows Middle English. If you don't have too much, he/she might do it for free, otherwise you would need to pay a little for their services.

EDIT: Insincere has some good practical points. I got a chuckle about his "read it aloud" comment, though. At first, I was incredulous that he would say such a thing, then I realized that if you read it in CORRECT Middle English it still won't make much sense, but if you read it with an incorrect, post-Great Vowel Shift pronounciation, he is absolutely right.

Answer 2

Middle English Translator

Answer 3

As Taivo observes you can't really have a Middle-English translator because Middle-English isn't really a single language. The way Chaucer writes is different enough from the way William Langland writes that even if you can read Chaucer at sight you will still have trouble with Piers Plowman. And then again the language which the Gawain Poet uses is so different from the other two that you are almost faced with learning Middle English all over again. But all three men lived at about the same time (though in different parts of England).
The easy thing to do with Middle English is actually to translate it yourself. The grammar is nearly the same as modern English (or at least nearly the same as the grammar of the Book of Common Prayer) and it is only the vocabulary which is a pain in the b***. Most books of Middle English will have a glossary of hard words in the back - but you can work a lot of them out just by saying the word aloud.

My gostly fader I me confesse
First to God and then to yow
That I stale a cosse of grete swetnesse

looks difficult, but is quite easy when you read it aloud.

Answer 4

First learn Celtic or Gaulic or Pict then put it over top of some French and a little Latin thrown in and mix it all together and if you don t get Russian what you have is middle English. And oh yeah just spell it like you think it might sound. Might want to as some Danish to it as well or at least Norwegian.

Answer 5

Thanne him spac the god&etilde; king:
Wel bruc thu thi nevening;
Horn thu go wel schüllé
Bi dal&etilde;s and bi hüllé;
Horn thu lud&etilde; suné
Bi dal&etilde;s and bi duné;
So schal thi nam&etilde; springé
Fram kyngé to kyngé,
And thi fairnessé
Abut&etilde; Westernessé,
The strengthe of thine hondé
In to evrech londé

Answer 6

I know lots of middle age ones

Answer 7

Mayhaps thou shouldst aske the manne hisself, the drede pyrate and moste honourable Geoffrey Chaucer? He canst be reachede upon clicking thy mouse upon this addresse:

Answer 8

GooGle Translate :http://translate.google.com/translate_t

Answer 9

this'll doeth thou well enough. http://lingojam.com/EnglishtoShakespearean

Answer 10

What on Earth is Middle English? If your relating to Traditional English, such as Chaucer, its known as Traditional English