At that point (between 4th and 8th century A.D.) Vulgar Latin became what we call Vulgar Italian, Vulgar Occitan, Vulgar Castillan, Vulgar Galego-Portuguese etc. that at the time was called Lingua Romana (romance vulgars) as opposite to Latin (that was perceived as an artificial language for literates that was never really spoken in everyday life). read more
Vulgar Latin dialects began to significantly diverge from Classical Latin in the third century during the classical period of the Roman Empire. Nevertheless, throughout the sixth century the most widely spoken dialects were still similar to and mostly mutually intelligible with Classical Latin. read more
Word order in Classical Latin is wonderfully flexible, while Vulgar Latin tends to reflect a more set order familiar to English and German speakers. Thus the subject matter, vocabulary, and grammatical structure of most Vulgar Latin texts tends to differ from Classical Latin. Thus it's simpler and easier for a modern English speaker to read. read more