Has the English language changed since 1854?

Question

I've started reading a book named Walden, published in 1854. I am not a native English speaker, I am Persian, and I want to read this book for two reasons:to improve my English and because I think I'll enjoy it.But the words and the grammar the author uses look difficult for me and I presume it may have been written in Old English. Am I right? (**note:** *I'm reading this book with the help of a dictionary and I'm writing each word what I learn in a notebook.*)

Answer 1

Yes, the English language has changed since 1854. It's changed since 1954. For that matter, it's changed since 2004 (who knew what hashtags or unfriending were in 2004?). Language constantly changes. And even native speakers sometimes find Thoreau difficult, so congratulations to you for trying it!

However, "Old English" refers to much much older English than that. Old English refers to about the 400s to the 1100s CE, and is basically not intelligible to modern English speakers. Beowulf is probably the most famous work written in Old English, and today people either read it in translation, or else have to spend at least a few weeks learning Old English first. (I'm not expert enough to be totally sure of this comparison, but think of how something like Gilgamesh or other Akkadian works compare to modern Farsi). If you google "Beowulf original," you'll see right away that it barely even looks like English.

Middle English goes from around the 1100s to the 1400s. Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is probably the most famous work in Middle English. That's more recognizable than Old English, but most people still need a few weeks of study before they can read Chaucer or other medieval English works in their original forms.

After that is what is called Modern English. So even Shakespeare and his contemporaries, as difficult as they are at first, are Modern English. What that means is that the vast majority of the vocabulary is recognizable and the fundamental grammar rules are the same. And that's true for Thoreau as well. It doesn't mean that every word is used exactly the same way or that every grammatical construction is exactly what you learned in your English classes. Again, language changes, and my classmates in school had trouble reading stuff from the 1930s without laughing because of how the word "gay" has changed, to pick just one obvious example.

The good news is that it does mean that it's similar enough that if you take your time with it, you probably have enough English to get it, and it will become easier as you go.

So keep going! And let me know how you like Walden, and if you'd ever like to discuss it in more detail.

Answer 2

Hello! Congratulations on taking on the challenge of reading Henry David Thoreau's WALDEN! It's a classic book of American literature. It was published a bit before the U.S. Civil War in 1854. I would not call it "Old English" from a World History standpoint, because, for example, English was MUCH "older," let's say, in William Shakespeare's time (1564-1616)! But 1854 WAS 165 years ago, which is long enough ago for the English language to have been at an earlier stage, in both speaking and writing.

Even native English speakers need to adjust the way they read to get comfortable with writing from this time period. For example, on U.S. standardized college entrance exams such as the SAT, students often especially struggle on the reading comprehension passages that are drawn from either U.S. or British history/literature of the 18th and 19th centuries. I have developed several techniques to help them, but it does take time, and, in particular, patience. Overall your goal is to try to "become Thoreau" -- to get inside his cabin with him, in the woods overlooking Walden Pond in what was then rural Concord, MA (today, suburban, though still very green, and Walden Pond is still lovely!) -- and try to get into Thoreau's mood and thoughts along with him. It's not vital that you understand every word -- few typical American readers do, so use your dictionary selectively -- but go for the "big picture" and try to understand who this interesting man was, and what he might think about our world today.

Enjoy!

--Dr. Robert A.