Z
Zoom-in
Online-Link: 547160-0001
Zoom-in The world speaks English
DID YOU KNOW?
• The English language has the world’s
C Just another pizza order in Manhattan
a) Listen to this strange dialogue a New York
City radio station recorded for its ‘Believe
it or not’ show. Manhattan banker Dale
Dupont called in with his story. But first
look at the three photos above. Guess
what the story is about.
b) Say what happened to Dale.
c) How does this story show that ‘The world
speaks English’?
•
•
largest vocabulary (ca. 700,000 words).
German (ca. 175,000 words) and French
(ca. 100,000) are in 2nd and 3rd place.
The English language grows by about
25,000 new words a year – a world record.
In France, the Académie Française makes
official rules for the French language.
‘Computer’ and ‘e-mail’ are just two
examples of foreign words which are not
allowed. In countries like the UK or the
US, there is no official regulation.
The world speaks English
When Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603, the
English-speaking world had a population of just
8 million. Today there are over 400 million people
who speak English as their mother tongue, and
for another 600 million it is an official language.
The British founded many colonies, from
America to Australia, Asia to Africa. In the year
1900, the British Empire controlled a quarter of
the planet. By the 1940s, when the Empire started
to break up, English had become important in the
world. But it still wasn’t quite the world language.
That changed after World War II with the
growing influence of the United States. America
8
eight
had become a superpower and more
people were dealing with English-speakers
than ever before. Hollywood, jazz and
rock ’n’ roll helped to make English the
world language of pop culture – a status
the language still has today. The leading
American role in science and technology
has also given the world the PC, the
Internet and e-mail, all of which have
taken English to every last corner of the
world. Now whole fields of business
(e. g. IT and marketing) are dominated by
English terms.
Zoom-in
Now take a tour of four big English-speaking countries.
INDIA
Population:
1.1 billion
(2nd in the world after China)
Area: 3.1 million sq. km (7th)
“
Independent from Britain since: 1947
c
Namáste! I’m from India, the world’s largest democracy.
My country is rich in culture and tradition. English is not the
mother tongue of most Indians – there are over 20 other
languages as well as many dialects of the main language,
Hindi. But English is used a lot in government and business.
Especially in the IT industry, India has become a huge success
story. Foreign businesses see the great possibilities of the
millions of English-speaking workers. But so far, only a small
number of people in just a few regions of the country have
felt our new success. Most Indians have not seen a change in
their standard of living. India is still a very poor country.
Many people who love our Indian culture never actually go
to India and see the poverty in the streets and in the country.
But they needn’t travel so far to enjoy what they like most
about the country – food, music and films. In Britain, Indian
food has become so popular over the years that in a survey,
Britons said that chicken tikka masala was their favourite dish,
not fish-and-chips! And our Bollywood films with their love
stories have millions of fans everywhere in the world.
”
nine
9
Z
Z
Zoom-in
CANADA
Population: 33 million
(36th in the world)
Area: 9.9 million sq. km (2nd)
Independent from Britain since:
“
Legal independence in 1982
c
Hi! For me, Canada is forests, tundra, the Rocky Mountains,
and big cities with big skyscrapers. But there is a strong
European feeling, too: Canada has a large French-speaking
population (Québec was a French colony first) and the British
monarch’s portrait on Canadian money is just one reminder
that Canada and the UK still share the same head of state.
For tourists it is often surprising how some places in British
Columbia and Québec can look, sound and feel almost more
British than Britain or more French than France.
SOUTH AFRICA
Population: 47 million (26th)
Area: 1.2 million sq. km (25th)
Independent from Britain
since: 1910
”
“
c
10
ten
Howzit! In 1994, in my country’s first free elections, our civil
rights leader Nelson Mandela became South Africa’s first
black president – after 27 years in prison. Mandela had been
the great figure in South Africa’s fight against white South
Africa’s racist apartheid (‘separateness’) system. Apartheid
kept control of the country in the hands of the small 10 %
white minority. Going from a police state to a free society has
gone surprisingly well, although poverty and crime are huge
problems for us. The white minority still controls much of my
country’s wealth, and many of us blacks still live in poverty in
the crowded townships. But a new black middle class is slowly
growing.
”
Online-Link: 547160-0002
Zoom-in
AUSTRALIA
Population: 21 million
(53rd in world)
Area: 7.7 million sq. km (6th)
Independent from Britain since:
1901 (British monarch still head of state)
“
c
G’day! Let me tell you something about my country, Australia.
Lots of visitors to Australia love the endlessness of the dry
outback, where you can drive for days without seeing another
car. The same visitors are sometimes surprised to see just
how much of the country is covered by rainforests, too. But
deserts and rainforests aren’t the best places for settlement.
That’s why most people live on or near the coasts, and that’s
where the big cities have grown. Now 85 % of us Aussies live
in cities.
The outback is the home of Australia’s indigenous population,
the Aboriginals. These Australians had already been living
on the continent and developing their unique culture for
over 40,000 years before the British began settling here
in 1788. There was systematic killing of Aboriginals, and
forced relocation tore families apart. During the 19th century,
Aboriginal culture was almost destroyed. Relations have
improved a lot over the past years, and in 2008 the Australian
government apologized to the Aboriginals for past crimes.
For beach fans like me, Australia’s the perfect place with its
warm climate and beautiful coasts! But huge holes in the
ozone layer mean a much higher risk of getting skin cancer. So
at the beach, people wear more clothes than you would ever
see on European beaches.
Australia has been a continent for 50 million years, completely
separated from the rest of the world, so it’s no wonder that
Australia’s animal world has become unique. Platypuses,
koalas and kangaroos (we call them roos ) are just a few of the
animals you can only find ‘down under’.
”
eleven
11
Z