When I was learning to read Middle English I found that learning to pronounce it out loud helped a tremendous amount; it made the whole process a lot easier for me, and it helped others understand it as well since I could impart some contextual meaning that made some of those 'close' words very clear.

Being able to recite monologues from Canterbury Tales was also a good party trick that apparently piqued the interest of this girl who later decided to marry me. So there you go.

> recite monologues from Canterbury Tales was also a good party trick

I'm guessing not the Knights Tale

> apparently piqued the interest of this girl who later decided to marry me

I waited until after the first date before trying this one (Millers Tale). Reader - she married me!

I recall at that particular time I just reeled off the prologue, but I was always partial to the Monk's tale.

The reason is silly. One of the first times I heard any of it read out loud, it was an English prof with an extreme Southern drawl reading Monk's Tale. I got a real kick of it, and always gave the Monk a little hint of the Blue Ridge Mountains in his honor.

To my untrained (Russian) ear it sounds like a mixture of Scandinavian, Italian, and Romanian. Fascinating!