2. Who speaks English? Where ? Why? How?
3. What varieties of English do you know? Give examples of differences between them.
4. Give examples of words from other languages used in English and English words used in other languages.
5. Where and how can people learn English?
6. Is English difficult or easy for you? Why?
http://the_english_dept.tripod.com/esc.html#whatfor
According to research by the British Council, "English has official or special status in at least seventy-five countries with a total population of over two billion. English is spoken as a native language by around 375 million and as a second language by around 375 million speakers in the world. Speakers of English as a second language will soon outnumber those who speak it as a first language. Around 750 million people are believed to speak English as a foreign language. One out of four of the world's population speak English to some level of competence. Demand from the other three-quarters is increasing."
English is the third most widely spoken language in the world after Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. It is spoken by around 375 million people as their native language and by around 375 million people as their second language. Many of these people live in the English speaking countries.
The English speaking countries are the countries where the majority of inhabitants speak English as their native language, i.e. the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
English is used as an official language in 53 countries.
After 1918 English became the most important language of international contacts and diplomacy. It is one of the official languages of the United Nations, of the European Union and of NATO.
http://the_english_dept.tripod.com/esc.html#whatfor
Native language- the language you learned at home with your family when you were small.
Official language- the language that is used in official documents, spoken on the radio and on television
Second language - language you learn because you have to live in the country where the language is spoken.
Foreign language - languages spoken abroad, a language you can choose to study at school.
English is a very important means of communication. A working knowledge of English is required in certain fields, professions and occupations. As a result, millions of people speak English at least at basic level.
English is the language of
• politics, international contacts and diplomacy
• international business
• science and technology
• the Internet and electronic communication
• shipping and aviation
• sports
• tourism
• entertainment.
http://the_english_dept.tripod.com/esc.html#whatfor
What people use English for
The British Council says "English is the main language of books, newspapers, airports and air-traffic control, international business and academic conferences, science, technology, diplomacy, sport, international competitions, pop music and advertising.
Over two-thirds of the world's scientists read in English. Three quarters of the world's mail is written in English. Eighty per cent of the world's electronically stored information is in English. Of the estimated forty million users of the Internet, some eighty per cent communicate in English, but this is expected to decrease to forty per cent as speakers of other languages get online."
Varieties of English
There are many different “Englishes“ in the world: British English, American English, Canadian English, Australian English, etc. There are some differences between them in spelling, pronunciation, vocabulary or grammar, but they do not prevent understanding.
There are even several simplified versions of English (e.g. seaspeak, airspeak, tunnelspeak) which are used in international transportation and make communication between ships, trains or aircraft possible. They are based on the English language, but they have a very small vocabulary.
A brief overview of the differences between British and American English:
- pronunciation differences:
city
father
garage
either
- spelling differences
British English American English
centre center
programme program
harbour harbor
gaol jail
catalogue catalog
- vocabulary differences
http://www.english-zone.com/vocab/ae-be.html
British English American English
underground subway
lorry truck
autumn fall
flat apartment
cinema movie theater
holiday vacation
ground floor first floor
lift elevator
full stop period
- grammar differences
British English American English
at the weekend on the weekend
Have you got a car? Do you have a car?
I´ve just had lunch. I just had lunch.
get – got – got get – got – gotten
dream –dreamt - dreamt dream – dreamed - dreamed
25/12/2007 (= 25th December 2007) 12/25/2007 (= 25th December 2007)
Examples of Australian English vocabulary:
arvo (afternoon)
footy (football)
Sheila (girl)
Aussie (Australian)
G´day (Hello)
station (big farm)
jumbuck (sheep)
billabong (a pool in a dried-up river)
bush (countryside away from towns and cities)
outback (remote arid area)
History of the English language
English is a Germanic language within the Indo-European language family. About 30% of today´s English vocabulary are German words. After 1066 (the Battle of Hastings) many French words came into English. English borrowed words from many other languages. Nowadays, many languages borrow words from English.
Nobody knows how many words the English language has. The Oxford English Dictionary includes over 615,000 items including technical and slang vocabulary. Every year many new words are added.
Examples of words borrowed from other languages
Indian languages: maccasin, skunk, toboggan
Arabic: alcohol, algebra
Persian: sandal, magic, bazaar
Italian: influenza, umbrella, spaghetti
Czech: pistol, robot, pilsener
Examples of English words used worldwide:
scanner, pop music, by-pass,
Examples of new words in English:
emoticon, double-click, metrosexual, mouse potato, ring tone, handsfree, teleport,
lite (=light), mallrat, netiquette, junk food
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