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office@mota-mo.comOrigins of English
So much to say about English – the language connecting most people all over the world, the language which arguably allowed modern Internet boom to flourish, the flame which led the way out of Babylon myth darkness.
So, who lit up the torch? We have the Germanic tribes’ appetite for new lands conquest to thank to. Ja, genau!
It was way back in the 5th century when the Saxons, the Angles and the Jutes came to the British island all the way from today’s northern Germany and Denmark and with their invasion the local Celtic language was swiftly replaced by the Angles’ “Englisc” (old word for the language spoken in “Englaland” – “land of the Angles”).
Since this crucial time in history, English began its transformation from Old English to Middle English for four centuries since 1100 AD, to Early Modern English for three centuries since the fifteen hundred, and finally to Late Modern English from 1800 to present days.
English around the world
For 220 years now, Modern English has been adopted as the ultimate Lingua franca all over the world, spoken on all seven continents.
Although the “original” English is British English, the most popular version of English is American English, mostly due to the prevailing fame of American pop culture, music, cinema and, of course, the almighty Internet, which is also dominated by American English.
As far as population size, American one holds the gold with roughly 300 million people speaking, followed by Indian, Pakistani, Nigerian and Filipino. British English holds the sixth place with Canadian, Australian and South African on the line behind.
Although using relatively the same grammar and vocabulary, English spoken in all corners of the world has trickled down into many unique and region-specific accents, the diversity of 24 of which we invite you to enjoy here.
Spoken by the intimidating 13% of the world’s population in 67 countries as official language, English holds the crown as the most adoptable, easy-going and agile language of choice.
Fun English Facts
Enough with the stats and numbers – it’s high time we go a bit “down the rabbit hole”. As common as English is, there are still some fun facts and idioms in English which might make you “pick your brain” a bit.
Praising the first letter in the word English, roughly 11% of the entire language is the letter E.
Remember the “spelling”? Apparently, English casts a happy spell using the word “happy” three times more than the word “sad”, “good” being the most commonly used adjective and “Goodbye” meaning “God be with you!”.
On the other hand, it is true that the “owe” is “some” in awesome and “full” in awful.
Past Shakespeare’s richness of expression, 90% of today’s English text consists of merely 1000 words (many of which are created by himself, such as outbreak, generous, lonely, excitement, etc.).
“Pardon my French”, but “keep your eyes peeled” for “the elephant in the room” – as long as a quarter of the whole content of the Internet is in English, it will always keep the golden first spot.
