The English we use today is as close to identical as it gets to about 500 years ago, when it was given many of its current laws by the Catholic. There is also talk about how English originated from a monk in the early 11th century AD. But, of course, our language is not a spawn from the middle of History, but the product of it (I frequently use etymonline.com , and am familiar with the many-millennia old origins of each word in our language.

I am simply referring to its current state. Of course, it can be argued that it has gotten only more modern ever since, or that since it was regulated by the Catholic Church in the 1500s, there have been some movements to revolutionize the language. But, more or less, if you or I were to go back just over 400 years ago, we would be able to walk in good confidence knowing that most other people can speak with us, since it was a regulated language by then. Not every language can say the same, such as Indian and Chinese, where you can walk a few miles potentially, and find people speaking entirely different variants. English happens to be something where you either speak it or you do not, and that is thanks Greatly to its systematization under the rule of the Catholic Church (who has a deep penchant for Gematria).

Before it's standardization, there were many different forms of English, some not even using the same 26 characters as we use. You could walk through England and be hard-pressed to find a buoyant level of normalcy in the way people of each region speak, even after 1100 AD (not to mention before then).

TL;DR Yes, I am aware that English has been around for more than 500 years; also, I am aware that it has changed since 1500, but it has been for the most part, a uniform and standardized language thanks to the rulership and influence of the Catholic Church's explicit efforts in this matter.