> >  Italian students
> > of Dante do not have much trouble with the language or grammar although
> > there are problems with some terms

> Thanks, Rick, that's really interesting. Did he say why English has
changed
> more than Italian? Or maybe it just isn't known why.

No he didn't.  It was a short conversion just before getting on the boat to
visit the Dry Salvages (as I recall.)

There are many reasons why but I would not do them justice.  A number of
years back PBS did a TV series called "The Story of English" that was
fascinating.  They had a compagnon book also.  PBS has a Adult Leaning
Series using the videos and it should be possible to find tapes in
libraries.

The following is a synopsis of the nine videos of the PBS series The Story
of English.
http://homepage.mac.com/branscombcourses/HEL/story.html

PBS ALS - Guide to Courses - The Story of English
(bookmark because the course is being redone and the page is worthless until
then.)
http://www.pbs.org/als/guide/courselistings/courses/story_english/

Book info at Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140154051/qid=985003885/sr=1-1/ref=s
c_b_2/107-5730034-7606159

Regards,
   Rick Parker