diff --git a/spacy/language.py b/spacy/language.py
index 73fcda77d..82d9b6d2c 100644
--- a/spacy/language.py
+++ b/spacy/language.py
@@ -246,7 +246,7 @@ class Language(object):
         self.end_training()
 
     def __init__(self, path=True, **overrides):
-        if 'data_dir' in overrides and 'path' not in overrides:
+        if 'data_dir' in overrides and path is True:
             raise ValueError("The argument 'data_dir' has been renamed to 'path'")
         if isinstance(path, basestring):
             path = pathlib.Path(path)