How much do you know about the English language? Which of these sentences are true and which are false?
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English is the mother tongue of more than 400 million people.
85% of all the messages on the Internet are in English.
Every 3 out of 5 young people in Europe learn English.
There are about 200,000 words in English.
Etymology studies the origins and history of the form and meaning of words.
The most common word in English is THE.
Spelling in British and American English is sometimes different.
How was the English language formed?
England was invaded constantly for more than a thousand years so the English language is an extraordinary mixture of other languages. This explains why the English spelling is sometimes illogical and difficult to learn, and why there is such a choice of words with the same meaning. Now more than 400 million people speak English as their first language and an additional 1.5 billion who speak it as their second or foreign language... and there are 790,000 words in the English language - a world record!
Do you know anything about the nations that influenced the English language the most?
the Celts
the Romans
the Angles and the Saxons
the Vikings
the Normans
Watch the video to find out some information about the history of the English language and do the tasks afterwards.
1. English isn’t named after the country of England. T F
2. Which Germanic tribes influenced the English language? _________________________
3. Which language did the Britons speak before the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons?
a. Old English
b. Celtic languages
c. Latin
d. Norse languages
4. The Romans colonized parts of Britain before the Anglo-Saxons. T F
5. When did English become properly established as the language of England?
a. 12th century
b. 14th century
c. 16th century
d. 18th century
6. Who was the first English king to speak English as his native language? ______________
7. What historical event significantly contributed the spread of English?
a. The invention of the printing press
b. Colonialism
c. The Renaissance
d. The Industrial Revolution
8. In what century did English continue to spread through the entertainment industry?
a. 15th century
b. 18th century
c. 20th century
d. 21st century
Now read the text and fill in the missing words.
1066 Latin Britons Old France 5th Germanic window Scandinavia Britannia
In 600 BC the Celts arrived in Britain from Central Europe and they were considered to be the native __________________. They lived in clans and were mostly warriors. In the 1st century AD, the Romans conquered Britain and they named it __________________ . They founded a lot of settlements, among them one on the River Thames. It was called Londinium.
The Angles and Saxons came to Britain from the north of Germany in the __________________ century. Their languages slowly developed into the oldest form of English called __________________ English. You wouldn’t understand much of it today, but there are many words for everyday objects which have a __________________ origin. For example, milk, finger and horse. In 597, the Christian church came to Britain. The language of the church was Old Latin. Words like candle, rose and bishop came into English from __________________ .
From the 9th century the Vikings from __________________ attacked Britain. They spoke a language called Old Norse. The word __________________ , for example, comes from an Old Norse word vindauga which consists of two words “vindr” — wind, and “auga” — eye. So, window is “an eye that lets the wind in”. A lot of words in English beginning with sk come from Old Norse. For example sky, skin and skirt.
In __________________ , after the battle of Hastings, the Normans, the people from the north of __________________ , started ruling England. Ordinary people still spoke English, but everybody who was educated and wanted to be successful had to speak Latin and Norman French. Many French words became a part of the modern English we speak today, for example: government, music, colour and costume. The word milk is a Saxon word, but cream, which is something connected with luxury, is a Norman word.
Around the 14th century English again became spoken generally. Britain became a powerful colonial empire. It came in contact with many countries and languages. As a result, many new words and phrases entered the English language. At about that time Britain colonised North America and American English was created.
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