English as a world language.
Today, when English is one of the major languages in the world, it is difficult to realize that this
is a relatively recent thing – that in Shakespeare´s time, for example, only a few million people in
Europe spoke English and that it was unknown to the rest of the world.
English has become a world language because of its establishment as a mother tongue outsie
England, in all the continents of the world. This exporting of English began in the 17th century,
with the first settlements in North America. Above all, it is the great growth of population in the
USA that has given the English language present standing in the world.
People who speak English fall into one of three groups:
- those who have learned it as their native language
- those who have learned it as a second language in a society that is mainly bilingual
- and those who are forced to use it for a practical use (administrative, professional, educational)
One person in seven of the world´s population belongs to one of these three groups.
75 % of the world´s mail and 60 % of the world´s telephone calls are in English.
Basic characteristics
Simplicity of form. Old English, like modern German, French, Russian and Greek, had many
inflections to show singular and plural, tense, person etc., but over the centuries words have been
simplified. Verbs now have very few inflections, and adjectives do not change according to the
noun.
Flexibility. As a result of the loss of inflections, English has become, over the past five centuries, a
very flexible language. Without inflections, the same word can operate as many different parts of
speech. Many nouns and verbs have the same form,e.g. swim, drink, walk, kiss, look and smile. We
can talk about water to drink and to water the flowers, time to go and to time a race, a paper to
read and to paper a bedroom. Adjectives can be used as verbs. We warm our hands in front of a
fire ,if clothes are dirtied, they need to be cleaned and dried.
Prepositions too are flexible. A sixty-year old man is nearing retirement, we can talk about a round
of cards and drinks.
Openess of vocabulary. This involves the free admissions of words from other languages and the
easy creation of compounds and derivatives. Most world languages have contributed some words to
English at some time, and the process is now being reversed.
The future of English. Geographically, English is the most widespread language on Earth, second
only to Mandarin Chinese in the number of people who speak it. It is the language of business,
technology, sport and aviation. This will no doubt continue, although the thought that all other
languages will die out is absurd.
Most of us feel that our own language is an essential part of our national identity, yet at the same
time we realize that we need a world language, a sort of lingua franca.
Over the centuries, Greek, Latin, Spanish, Malay, Swahili and other languages have been used as
international instruments for trade, diplomacy or religion.
But there are three new elements in the linguistic situation:
The first is the rise of English to the position of world language. This makes life easier for many
people, but it irritates others.Many speakers of less widespread languages feel threatened by English
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The second is that speakers of minority languages fear the disappearance of their cultural
identity.Within the next century nine out of ten of the 6,000 languages will die out.
The third, more dangerous, novelty is the modern reluctance to accept multilingualism.(Why
shouldn´t a Corsican use Corsican in some cases and French in others? Indeed, why should a
Frenchman feel dishonoured using English to sell Camamberet to a Japanese ?)
Nowadays, linguistic rivalry is the third common cause of conflict, after race and religion, and
is often mixed with the other two. It need not be so.
Everyone is right in trying to preserve his or her own tongue. But it should not exclude other
languages. Speakers of minor languages will also have to learn a major language to profit from the
expanding world economy.
How do you feel about using English words in our language ? Does it matter ? Can it be stopped ?
What is the language situation in our country ? Are there many different dialects ?
What would it be like if everyone in the world spoke the same language? What would be better or
easier ? What would be worse?
What are your motives for studying English ?
How are languages taught at our school ?
What differences are there between British and American English ?
English is a very mixed-up language. Its grammar is similar to German, but its vocabulary is drawn
from French, Latin, German and many other languages. E.G. in the sentence: He smuggled a beef
sandwich into the dormitory in his anorak. (Propašoval v bundě do ložnice chléb s plátkem
hovězího)
smuggle is a Dutch word, beef comes from French, sandwich is named after the man who invented
it, dormitory is from Latin, and anorak is an Eskimo word!
How did this mixed-up language become the way it is today ?
About 2,500 years ago a tribe called the Celts arrived in the British Isles. They came from Europe
and spoke a language we now call Celtic.
In 55 BC the Romans invaded and for the next 500 years they tried hard to take over the country
and its language. The Romans spoke Latin. A great many Latin words found their way into the
English language, either at this time or later. In about AD 700 new invaders landed- the Angles and
the Saxons. We call the language which they spoke Anglo-Saxon or Old English. By about AD
1000 the word Englaland, later shortened to England, started to be used.
In AD 1066 the Normans invaded. They came from Normandy in France and brought their
language with them. Although ordinary people continued to use English, the up-and-coming middle
classes all adopted French as their language. To get on in society it became essential to speak
French. As a result of this a new language began to be formed. Slowly Old English and French
merged together into something which we now call Middle English.
Very informal words are called slang. Here is a list of some slang words on British English.(It´s
different in American and Australian English) Try to match them with the definitions below.
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British English slang
a cops
b wicked
c tele
d chick
e guy
f thick
g fag
h booze
i mate
j quid
k Ozzie
l nick
Standard English
1 girl
2 the police
3 beer or other alcoholic drinks
4 really good
5 boy / man
6 a pound
7 steal
8 cigarette
9 television
10 stupid
11 friend
12 Australian
Translate this story into more formal English:
My mate can be really thick sometimes. He stopped to get some jags and left the car open. He
talked to the bird in the shop for about five minutes, and some guy nicked his stereo and two
hundred quid from the car. Then he called the cops- but what can they do ?
Studying foreign languages
It is very important to study foreign languages so that people all around the world can
understand one another. We have many reasons to study them. We need it for travelling abroad, for
reading foreign books, newspapers, magazines, for business communication, for corresponding with
our friends, for cultural reasons (watching films, understanding lyrics, etc.)
Nowadays the most important language for the communication is English. We come across English
expressions more and more- in technical and electronic scientific circles people use many English
abbreviations, computer programmes and games are in English and many websites as well.. At
every international meeting participants speak English, during sports matches we hear mostly
English.
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