INTRODUCTION TO THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE – LANGMA SCHOOL OF LANGUAGES
English is a member of the Indo-European family of
languages. It’s a member of the West Germanic group of languages. English is
the main language spoken throughout England, although there are many different
regional accents. It is the mother tongue of about 60 million People in the
British Isles, from where it spread to many parts of the world owing to British
exploring, colonizing, and empire-building from the 17th century – 19th
century.
There are different types of English – British English,
Canadian English, Australian English and American English. These are not
separate languages. They are dialects. There are 24 different dialects of
English in the US. Several dialects of English have developed in many of the
former colonies of the British Empire. There are distinct forms of the English
Language spoken in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India and many other
parts of the world.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE AROUND THE WORLD
The English Language originated from Britain and the
ever-expanding British Empire helped to spread the Modern English around the
world during the 18th and 19th centuries. Therefore, many of the countries
where English is an official language were former British colonies, including
Canada, Australia, South Africa and the United States.
Colonialism helped to introduce English to regions like
India and parts of Africa, where it continues to be widely spoken. Although
Hindi is the most widely-spoken language in India today, English remains an
official language in the country and is often used in university education, and
within the field of politics.
The English language has approximately 400 million native
speakers worldwide. It is also the single most popular second language. Thus,
when native and non-native English speakers are combined, it is recognized as
the single-most widely-spoken global language.
In fact, English is recognized as an official language in a
total of 67 different countries, as well as 27 non-sovereign entities.
Moreover, it is a major business language, as well as the official language of
many of the world’s most important institutions, including the United Nations,
NATO, and the European Union.
WHY LEARN ENGLISH? (SOME COMPELLING REASONS)
Here are some reasons as to why learning English can help
you grow and advance individually and professionally:
English is also the official language of airlines and
airports. This means that all the airline pilots must be able to speak in
English while flying, regardless of their origin.
English is the dominant business language and it has become
almost a necessity for people to speak English if they are to enter a global
workforce. Research from all over the world shows that cross-border business
communication is most often conducted in English. Its importance in the global
marketplace, therefore, cannot be understated. Learning English can change your
life.
In the developing world, English is less of a foreign
language skill and more a tool of synonymous with development, expanding a
country’s economy and increasing its connectedness to the rest of the world.
For small countries with few native-language speakers, it also makes sense to
learn a little of the world’s lingua franca for business and policy-making.
Most of the content produced on the Internet (50%) is in
English. So, knowing English will allow you access to the incredible amount of
information which may not be otherwise available. English’s best asset is its
flexibility due to its wide range of vocabulary which allows us to find
different ways to explain the same thing.
Learning English helps you to understand other languages.
English is a hybrid language comprised of Latin, Germanic, and Romance
elements. Hence, if you know English, then you can also learn Portuguese,
Spanish, French, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, German, Italian etc.
English continues to change, evolve, and absorb new words
every year. Thousands of words are added to the Oxford Dictionary every year.
This tremendous development is the result due to technology, social media, and
how people spontaneously coin new words during daily life.
English has a simple alphabet and everyone’s equal. The
English alphabet is straightforward, making it easier to master than the
symbols or pictures that make up some languages.
SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
- English is the official language of 67countries.
- Over 80% of the information stored on computers worldwide is in English.
- “I” is the oldest word in the English language.
- A pangram is a sentence that uses every letter in the English Language.
- The longest word containing 45 letters in English is ‘Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis’.
- It’s a type of lung disease caused by inhaling very fine ash and sand dust.
- The dot above letters ‘i’ and ‘j’ is called ‘tittle’.
- About 90% of everything that is written in English uses only 1000 common words in English.
- A new word is added to the English dictionary in every two hours and around 4000+ new words are added to the English dictionary every year.
In fact, the English Language has been developing for more
than 1400 years. Old English came into use way back in the 5th Century AD. Back then, it was a mixture of
German dialects with some very old Celtic words, as well as other words that
come from Latin. Since then, the language has come on a very long journey to
“evolve” into the modern English that we hear today. Hence, English is a
constantly evolving language as it continues to borrow and absorb new words
every day.
Langma
School of languages is the best platform for learning all foreign Languages. It
is the best institute for English language course. If you worried about your spoken
English abilities, we got you covered as Langma school of Languages offers language
courses in more than 150 languages. So, don’t get upset only visit
www.langmainternational.com
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