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English language in the world

English language in the world

 

(First, students’ ideas in the classroom with mentimeter.com)

 

  1. Where does English come from?

 

Look at the language tree below and answer the question:

 

  • What is the origin of English?
  • Which language family does it belong to?

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ce/1a/76/ce1a76ab6a4ec1eef7dbe8d38ca8f88d.gif

 

  1. Some information about the history of English language

 

  • English was first spoken in early medieval England
  • English is influenced by other languages, for example other Germanic languages/dialects (Anglo-Saxon settlers in the 5th century), Latin (coming of Christianity, 6th century), Norse (a North Germanic language of Vikings, 8th-11th), French & Latin (Norman conquest in 1066)
  • Old English ca.449-1100 (Norman conquest 1066)
  • Middle English 1100-1500 (printing press 1440)
  • Early Modern English 1500-1800 (Shakespeare)
  • Modern English 1800 -> has been spreading around the world since the 17th century with the influence of the British Empire and the United States. It is a lingua franca, the leading language of international discourse, science, navigation, law etc.
  • Watch this video if you want to know more about the origin of English. It is optional: https://youtu.be/YEaSxhcns7Y

 

 

  1. British imperium, former colonies

 

All land ever owned by the British Empire: https://i.redd.it/y5fgvh9k51y21.png

 

 

  1. English spoken in the world today

 

  • Most spoken language in the world
  • Most widely learned second language: there are more second language speakers than native speakers
  • Official (or one of them) language in almost 60 sovereign states, for example in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Republic of Ireland etc.

 

Most spoken native languages in the world (March 2019):

  1. Standard Chinese 12% of the world population = 918 millions
  2. Spanish 6% = 480 millions
  3. English 5% = 379 millions

 

Number of speakers (both L1 and L2) in different languages:

  1. English 1.132 billion (maybe even 2 billion?)
  2. Mandarin Chinese (incl. Standard Chinese) 1.116 billion
  3. Hindi 615 millions
  4. Spanish 534 million
  5. French 279 million
  6. Standard Arabic 274 million
  7. Bengali 265 million
  8. Russian 258 million

 

English language in the world:

 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e7/Official_English_language_in_the_World.svg/1200px-Official_English_language_in_the_World.svg.png

dark green: English is an official language

light green: English is one of the official languages

 

  1. Varieties of English

 

There are a lot of varieties of English in the world, foe example American, British, Canadian, Australian, Irish and New Zealand English. In addition, there are millions of native English speakers in South Africa, India, Nigeria, Philippines, Jamaica, and Trinidad & Tobago. They all speak their own languages, from English-based creole languages to Standard English. All English varieties are equal and there is no right or wrong type of English. One is not better than any other. Watch this video: https://youtu.be/YvbEODnJVTc

 

Sometimes different varieties can confuse people: https://youtu.be/DxxAwDHgQhE

 

You can learn to speak with different English accents: https://youtu.be/v-en-iDeZEE

 

Which varieties have you heard? Which one do you use?