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Practice dictation & shadowing on the daily life story: The History of the English Language
The History of the English Language
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The History of the English Language
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Most people know that the English language is spoken by millions of people around the world.
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However, few people are aware of the history of the English language.
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Today, English is one language, but in some ways it's a mixture of many different languages.
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The English language is most closely related to a group of languages called the Germanic languages.
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This group also includes languages such as German and Dutch.
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About 1500 years ago, these languages were not yet distinct from each other.
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Some of the people of Germany and the Netherlands then moved to England.
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Those people were called the Anglo Saxons and their language then evolved into English.
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Most of the basic words of the English language are derived from these very old Anglo-Saxon languages.
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For example, words for the parts of the body, for numbers and for animals are mostly Anglo-Saxon words.
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Some new words were brought to England over 1000 years ago by people who came from the Scandinavian countries of Northern Europe.
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Many words that begin with the letters SK, such as skin and skill, are Scandinavian words.
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A major change happened in the English language after the year 1066.
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In that year, England was conquered by a king from the northern part of France.
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He and his followers spoke French, so French became an important language in England.
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During the next few 100 years, the English language absorbed a very large number of French words.
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In fact, today's English dictionaries contain more words of French origin than of Anglo-Saxon origin.
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Part of the reason why the English language has so many words is that it often has 2 words for each idea, one word of Anglo-Saxon origin, and one word of French origin.
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Many more words entered the English language a few 100 years ago when science and technology became more widespread.
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Most scientific and technical words are derived from words of the ancient languages of Latin and Greek.
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Because there are so many of these scientific and technical words in the English language today, the influence of Latin and Greek has been quite large.
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Other languages have also contributed many words to the English language.
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Some words have come from the Celtic languages spoken in Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
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Many words have been added to the English language by immigrants who came to North America from various countries of Europe.
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Also, many more words have been adopted from the native languages of North America, Australia and the Pacific, and from the languages of the peoples of Africa and Asia.
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All of these words have made English a very interesting language.