The History of the English Language, 2nd Edition

By: Seth Lerer, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Seth Lerer

This course offers an overview of the English language that is literary, historical, cultural, political, and scientific in its scope and designed to give you greater insight into the written and spoken word.The lectures provide a thorough understanding of the history of the English language - from its origins as a dialect of the Germanic-speaking peoples through the literary and cultural documents of its 1,500-year span to the state of American speech today.

Professor Lerer defines concepts by illustrating them with copious examples. He often speaks in the dialect appropriate to each lecture - be it Old English, Chaucer’s Middle English, or the colloquial style of Mark Twain’s most unforgettable characters.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©1998 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)1998 The Great Courses

Overall Good

Overall I enjoyed the course. I didn't care for the professor's voice/accent but still learned from the course.

Excellent Coverage of the History of our Language

I enjoyed listening to this lecture series. It was comprehensive from Old English through modern effects of electronic communication. Obviously it couldn’t cover every aspect in detail but it provides a great basis on which to understand the major changes in the language, the trends in study of English and issues arising from various points of view.

Excellent

It was great. I loved every bit of it. It was professional and thorough. Highly recommend it.

English by great courses

Study of English, I did learn from Course but wish for something more. Good.

Loved it

I love the great courses series and this one was so good. I learned a lot and the professor was great