English language

English language

English in the Third Millennium:

On the anniversary of Shakespeare´s death, Bridget Lewis talks about the future of the English language.

Two thousand years ago English did not exist. A thousand years ago it was a language used by less than two million people. Now it is the most influential language in the world, spoken by more than a billion people on the planet, as their first, second or third language. English at the moment dominates science, business, the mass media and popular culture. For example, 80 % of e-mails on the Internet are in English. But where will English be at the end of the third millennium?

One view is that English is going to become even more important as a global lingua franca, while most other languages will become localised or just die out. At present, over half the world´s 6500 languages are in denger of extinction. Another view is that English is already breaking up into several separate languages. There are already dictionaries of the „New Englishes“, such as Australian English, full of words that a British English speaker would not recognise.

Hopefully, neither of these things will happen. Standard English will survive for international communication. Other languages are frighting back against the iron grip of English on the Net. Governments around the world are also starting to protect smaller languages and recognise the importance of cultural and linguistic diversity. English will probably stay in control for a long time, at least while the USA remains the top superpower, but it definitely won´t become the only language in the world.

In United Kingdom are local varieties of English spoken. Besides the form that is spoken by the educated people, say in London or Oxford called Standard or British Englis we can mention Scottish and Irish English influenced by Gaelic. (f.e. lake = loch ). In Wales, however, some Welshmen still speak Welsh which is quite different from English as it comes form a different origin, the Celtic one.

British English has a lot of dialects, f.e. the Liverpool one mad well-known in the sixties by the Beatles, in the song like „I wanna hold your hand..“

Than we shouldn´t forget born Londoners who call themselves „Cockneys“, and speak the cockney dialect. Foreigners coming to London can hardly understand a single word pronounced by a Cockney Londoner.

Culuture spot, English:

English is the language of international communication in many areas of life: trade, air and sea transport, tourism, sport and entertainment. More and more people also need English for studying at universities and colleges. New ideas in science, technology and medicine happen so quickly that it is impossible to translate everything into different languages. So most things are published in English, and if you want to keep up with the latest ideas in any subject, you need English.

Millions of people around the world want to learn English. Many of them come to Britain (and other English-speaking countries) to study at language schools, especially in the summer. There are thousand of different schools. They offer courses for children, teenagers and adults. There are courses in General English, Technical English, Business English and so on.