Why does everyone speak Modern English?

[ALAKA]

In SP2, all the Anglo-Saxon characters speak in Modern 21st Century English, with a few Old English words thrown in.

As highlighted in the book itself, this is really weird, and is handwaved away by the Guide as being an absurd coincidence (FAQ after chapter 19). I'm wondering if actually there's a different reason for this and that the Guide is wrong.

I'm thinking that it's a function of all the dimensions being downstream from ours, so they end up talking mostly like us by some kind of "magic" - any ideas?

Edited April 17, 2023 by ALAKA

[AquaRegia he/him]

My impression is that 1) there is literally an infinite number of dimensions available, and 2) any fraction of infinity is still infinity. So no matter how unlikely it is for 5th century people to speak something resembling 21st century English, there are nevertheless an infinite number of such dimensions - and those are the ones selected for sale.

[ALAKA]

2 hours ago, AquaRegia said:

My impression is that 1) there is literally an infinite number of dimensions available, and 2) any fraction of infinity is still infinity. So no matter how unlikely it is for 5th century people to speak something resembling 21st century English, there are nevertheless an infinite number of such dimensions - and those are the ones selected for sale.

If that was true, you'd get talking bananas! And it seems like the company picks them at random and doesn't take a million years to find each relevant one...

[AquaRegia he/him]

I seem to recall the promo material describing how the experts carefully choose which dimensions are fit for sale; ones where modern English does not exist are sold at discount prices.  It certainly isn't random.

[cometaryorbit]

Out-of-world, I don't know why Brandon did that rather than just give the nanites translation powers.

[+Oltux72 he/him]

On 18.4.2023 at 5:57 AM, cometaryorbit said:

Out-of-world, I don't know why Brandon did that rather than just give the nanites translation powers.

If he did that what reason would you have to go to medieval England? Hardly the weather, the beaches or the food.

[digitalbusker he/him]

On 7/2/2023 at 2:30 PM, Oltux72 said:

If he did that what reason would you have to go to medieval England? Hardly the weather, the beaches or the food.

Don't underestimate the number of Anglophiles in the history fandom.

Edited July 13, 2023 by digitalbusker

[Treamayne]

On 4/17/2023 at 1:09 PM, ALAKA said:

In SP2, all the Anglo-Saxon characters speak in Modern 21st Century English, with a few Old English words thrown in.

As highlighted in the book itself, this is really weird, and is handwaved away by the Guide as being an absurd coincidence (FAQ after chapter 19). I'm wondering if actually there's a different reason for this and that the Guide is wrong.

I'm thinking that it's a function of all the dimensions being downstream from ours, so they end up talking mostly like us by some kind of "magic" - any ideas?

On 4/17/2023 at 1:22 PM, AquaRegia said:

My impression is that 1) there is literally an infinite number of dimensions available, and 2) any fraction of infinity is still infinity. So no matter how unlikely it is for 5th century people to speak something resembling 21st century English, there are nevertheless an infinite number of such dimensions - and those are the ones selected for sale.

Don't forget the one, very subtle, impact on how they speak:

Spoiler

FW "Have I time travelled" CH3/4:

Quote

While your surroundings might seem medieval, your Personal Wizard Dimension™ has seen roughly the same number of centuries as ours has. However, our specially cultivated dimensions have moved slower through their technological and social development. Therefore, you do get a semi-accurate experience reminiscent of medieval England, but you haven’t time traveled.

Of course, implying the same amount of time for lingusitic drift - even if it lacks any technology-derived vocabulary that arose in our society (or John's).

 

[Mardragon]

For them to speak modern English there would need to have been a Norman, or at least French incursion into the island, probably around the same time as our own.  Not necesarily an Invasion like the 1066 of our world but significant enough to affect the language, but not the political landscape and buildings like it did ours. I believe that was mentioned briefly in the book, but a bit more explanation would have been nice as I don't really buy it. A technological explanation would have been better, or just borrow the idea from other world hopping books (an example, Stephen King and Peter Straub's The Talisman, for example) where the traveller automatically thinks and speaks in the equivalent language to their own in the world where they travelled. A bit of a hand-wave too, but makes sense in a "their universe, their rules apply' kind of way.

Not that it ruined the book for me. It didn't matter that much.

[Firesong she/her]

5 hours ago, Mardragon said:

For them to speak modern English there would need to have been a Norman, or at least French incursion into the island, probably around the same time as our own.  Not necesarily an Invasion like the 1066 of our world but significant enough to affect the language, but not the political landscape and buildings like it did ours. I believe that was mentioned briefly in the book, but a bit more explanation would have been nice as I don't really buy it. A technological explanation would have been better, or just borrow the idea from other world hopping books (an example, Stephen King and Peter Straub's The Talisman, for example) where the traveller automatically thinks and speaks in the equivalent language to their own in the world where they travelled. A bit of a hand-wave too, but makes sense in a "their universe, their rules apply' kind of way.

Not that it ruined the book for me. It didn't matter that much.

Pretty sure that they actively mentioned that that did happen. 

And it didn't ruin the book for me as it actively lampshades it, it is fully aware how unlikely it is, and it actually talks about that. They just actively choose worlds they can find where their English is very close to modern English. So, I accept it as it is just like "we just found worlds where they happen to speak modern English, don't think about it!", found it kind of funny and endearing, actually.