Hello everybody!
What is English? This may sound as a stupid question, because the answer to that is that English is a language. But there is a lot more to English than only the fact that it is a language.
English is an Anglo- Saxon language, but why do we insist on calling it that? It has influences from French and Scandinavian. It is also a product of ages, which changed a lot over the years and eventually it became a hybrid language. Nevertheless, English has a lot of influences from French, Greek and Latin, but it is still a Germanic language.
English is also a lingua franca.
This means that the language is used by a lot of people as a way to communicate with people who have a different native tongue. Because of that, English is changing very quickly. English as a lingua franca (ELF) speakers put emphasis on getting the message across to their communication partner, which means that it is often not done in a correct way. Here is an example of a typical ELF situation: a Spanish student asking a local for the way in England.
Thirdly, English is a global language.
It is the second most spoken language in the world, after Mandarine. English, however, is widespread. It is the most important language worldwide, because next to the fact that it is the language used for international communication, it is also the language of business and knowledge.
Lastly, English is also the official language in multiple countries.
English is the only official language in, for example, the United Kingdom, Australia and The United States of America. Though the case of America is a peculiar one. It is nowhere stated that English is actually the official language, that is why there is now a legislation process in most states to make it the official language. There are also a lot of countries where English is one of the official languages, like Canada. And lastly, a lot of people in other countries have it as a second language or foreign language.
In conclusion, English is still a very important language, but since languages are always changing, this might not always be the case. Learning English is definitely an advantage: when you can understand and speak the language, a lot of doors open. It also means that you can communicate with more people and read more books or articles, which help to broaden your horizons.
See you soon!
x Evelien x
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