About English

Spoken originally in England, the English language is a West Germanic language that has risen to being used more widely than any other language on Earth. Though it is only the third most common language, behind Spanish and Mandarin Chinese, it is used as the first language of a large portion of the population of many nations, including the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Canada, Australia, and others. It is the most commonly learned second language and is used for communication in many world organizations.

This language developed in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms as a blending of a variety of dialects. These dialects have since come to be known as “Old English” and were brought by the Germanic settlers in the 5th century. In fact, the name “English” was derived from the region of Angeln and the descriptor “Angles”. A large part of the roots of the English language are from the Latin language, but the language was further influenced by Old Norse following the Viking invasions.

Continuing the tradition of influences, the 11th century conquest of England by the Normans provided heavy influences including spelling structures and core vocabulary that led to the rise of major similarity to the Romance languages. This tremendous variety of borrowing and assimilation to other languages and cultures resulted in a modern language that has a massive vocabulary but complex irregularities in terms of spelling and conjugations. Unlike many other languages that have influences limited to similar areas, English is influenced beyond Europe to include words of African and Hindi roots.

The incredible range of the language is demonstrated by the standard dictionary that contains over a quarter of a million distinct words. This does not include particularly scientific and technical words, or slang that has become commonplace in the language usage.

Understanding and having at least a workable ability to communicate in the English language is required in order to function in a wide range of occupations and organizations, particularly those that necessitate clear communication amongst all people involved in the situation. This has led to over a billion people having at least a basic comprehension of the language.

Though English often has the reputation of being exceptionally difficult to learn, it is a valuable skill to have. Learning the language and being able to implement and control it effectively begins with a true desire to use it. There are many high quality classes and courses available to help guide you through joining a huge contingency of the world with the ability to communicate in English.