With around 380 million native speakers, English is the second most spoken language in the world, as a native language. As many as a billion people speak it as a second language.
English is a Germanic language, which means it originated from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family. Specifically, it evolved from the West Germanic dialects spoken by the Anglo-Saxons in England during the early medieval period.
However, English has also been heavily influenced by other languages, particularly French and Latin. This influence can be traced back to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, when William the Conqueror, a French-speaking Norman, became king of England and French became the language of the ruling class. As a result, French words and phrases began to be incorporated into English, particularly in areas of law, government, and culture.
Latin has also had a significant influence on English vocabulary, primarily through the language of science, medicine, and academia. Many Latin words and phrases were adopted directly into English, while others were borrowed through other languages, such as French.
In addition to French and Latin, Old Norse, a North Germanic language spoken by the Vikings, also had some influence on English vocabulary, particularly in words related to seafaring and warfare.
In around 465 AD, a gold medallion was dropped or buried in a Suffolk field. The medallion was inscribed with the words “This she-wolf is a reward to my kinsman.” This was the earliest known example of Anglo-Saxon writing - in other words the first recorded sentence in English.
The English word “word” was first used in 725 AD.
For more than 300 years after William The Conqueror's invasion, Norman French was the language of aristocracy in England. Modern English emerged as a mixture of Old English and Norman French.
The English language as we now know it began to emerge in the 14th century from a variety of dialects including Old Norse and Late West Saxon.
20% of all words in the English language are words from Old Norse, the language of the Vikings. Consequently, the modern Scandinavian languages are ranked among the easiest languages to learn for English speakers.
The English language used to have six more letters: thorn (þ), eth (ð), wynn (ƿ), yogh (ȝ), ash (æ), and ethel (œ). They all disappeared by the 15th century.
German-born George I was the last king of England who could not speak English. He spoke to his Prime Minister Robert Walpole in Latin.
Language, grammar and particularly spelling only really became standardized with the publication of Dr Johnson’s Dictionary in 1755.
In the early 20th century there was a movement in the US to remove all silent letters and irregular spellings from the English language (eg: although->altho), funded by Andrew Carnegie and supported by Teddy Roosevelt.
UN English Language Day is observed annually on April 23. April 23 was chosen because it is the date "traditionally observed as both the birthday and date of death of William Shakespeare."
Of all the languages in the world, English has the largest vocabulary.
'I,' 'who,' 'two,' 'three,' and 'five' have sounded the same for 15,000 years, making them some of the oldest words in the English language.
A survey of around 80,000 words estimated the origin of English words to be 28.3% French, 28.24% Latin, 25% Germanic, 5.32% Greek, 4.04% No etymology given, 3.28% Proper names, all other languages less than 1%.
The Oxford English Dictionary lists meanings for 414,800 word forms in the English language, though counting different forms of the same word separately, the Global Language Monitor identified 1,013,913 words in English in 2012.
The one millionth word to be added to the English language was Web 2.0- describing the next generation of internet services. To be accepted a word must be used at least 25,000 times across national boundaries and outside specialisms.
"Go" is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.
More English words begin with the letter 'S' than any other letter of the alphabet.
Around one in eight of all letters in written English is an ‘e’.
A new word in the English language is created about every 98 minutes.
Because the English language is so complex, every day the average person will create a sentence that has never been said before.
The three words most common in spoken English are ‘I’, ‘you’ and ‘the.’ The top three words in written English are ‘the’, ‘of’ and ‘and’.
UN English Language Day is observed annually on April 23. April 23 was chosen because it is the date "traditionally observed as both the birthday and date of death of William Shakespeare."
Of all the languages in the world, English has the largest vocabulary.
'I,' 'who,' 'two,' 'three,' and 'five' have sounded the same for 15,000 years, making them some of the oldest words in the English language.
A survey of around 80,000 words estimated the origin of English words to be 28.3% French, 28.24% Latin, 25% Germanic, 5.32% Greek, 4.04% No etymology given, 3.28% Proper names, all other languages less than 1%.
The Oxford English Dictionary lists meanings for 414,800 word forms in the English language, though counting different forms of the same word separately, the Global Language Monitor identified 1,013,913 words in English in 2012.
The one millionth word to be added to the English language was Web 2.0- describing the next generation of internet services. To be accepted a word must be used at least 25,000 times across national boundaries and outside specialisms.
"Go" is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.
More English words begin with the letter 'S' than any other letter of the alphabet.
Around one in eight of all letters in written English is an ‘e’.
A new word in the English language is created about every 98 minutes.
Because the English language is so complex, every day the average person will create a sentence that has never been said before.
The three words most common in spoken English are ‘I’, ‘you’ and ‘the.’ The top three words in written English are ‘the’, ‘of’ and ‘and’.
The most common noun in the English language, and the 55th most common word overall, is “time”.
The combination "ough" can be pronounced in nine different ways. The following sentence contains them all: "A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful plough man strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed."
In the English language, there are only four words that end in dous: hazardous, horrendous, stupendous, and tremendous.
he most common vowel sound in English, the "uh" sound found in an unstressed syllable, doesn’t even have its own letter in the alphabet.
“I”, the first person singular, is capitalized in English – the only language to do so.
There are 923 words in the English language that break the "I before E" rule. Only 44 words actually follow that rule.
Ablaut reduplication is an unwritten English rule that makes "tick-tock" sound normal, but not "tock-tick". When repeating words, the first vowel is always an I, then A or O. "Chit chat" not "chat chit"; "ping pong" not "pong ping", etc. It's unclear why this rule exists, but it's never broken.
The English language is spoken at an average of 6.19 syllables per second.
Mastering just 3,000 words in English will make you able to understand around 95% of common texts.
The English-speaking population is higher in China that in the United States.
English has about twice as many total speakers as Mandarin, while Mandarin has twice as many native speakers.
A greater percentage of Dutch people speak English than Canadians. 90% of Dutch people speak English. Only 85% of Canadians do.
English surpassed Chinese as the most spoken language in the world in 2017 by 20 million people, according to Ethnologue.
The combination "ough" can be pronounced in nine different ways. The following sentence contains them all: "A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful plough man strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed."
In the English language, there are only four words that end in dous: hazardous, horrendous, stupendous, and tremendous.
he most common vowel sound in English, the "uh" sound found in an unstressed syllable, doesn’t even have its own letter in the alphabet.
“I”, the first person singular, is capitalized in English – the only language to do so.
There are 923 words in the English language that break the "I before E" rule. Only 44 words actually follow that rule.
Ablaut reduplication is an unwritten English rule that makes "tick-tock" sound normal, but not "tock-tick". When repeating words, the first vowel is always an I, then A or O. "Chit chat" not "chat chit"; "ping pong" not "pong ping", etc. It's unclear why this rule exists, but it's never broken.
The English language is spoken at an average of 6.19 syllables per second.
Mastering just 3,000 words in English will make you able to understand around 95% of common texts.
The English-speaking population is higher in China that in the United States.
English has about twice as many total speakers as Mandarin, while Mandarin has twice as many native speakers.
A greater percentage of Dutch people speak English than Canadians. 90% of Dutch people speak English. Only 85% of Canadians do.
English surpassed Chinese as the most spoken language in the world in 2017 by 20 million people, according to Ethnologue.
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| Percentage of English native speakers This image has been made by Zorion |
English is the official language for airplane communication.
English accounts for about 52% of the Internet.
Source Daily Express
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