English Language :
Over a period of time, English language has dominated the world of business. It spread from Britain to other parts of the world primarily to serve the purposes of trade and commerce. In India it has been in use for more than two hundred years
and now the language English is globally preferred languages for communication. It is not only the official language but the language of business and administration. The most ambitious young men and
women are looking for the lucrative jobs in business sector and the first and foremost condition of success in these areas is ability to communicate effectively in English.
English language is the main medium of
communication of people across the globe. It is spoken in more parts of the world than any other language and by more people than any other language except Chinese.
In India, English is the second most important language, which has acquired great importance in various fields. It is a link between various regions in India. It is the medium of instruction for higher studies all over the country.
Due to the computerization almost all
communication is through internet. Knowledge of good spoken with written English is a desired qualification for most of the jobs.
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into South-East Scotland under the influence of the
Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria.
Following the economic, political, military, scientific,cultural, and colonial influence of Great Britain and the United Kingdom from the 18th century, and of the United States since the mid 20th century, it has
been widely dispersed around the world, become the leading language of international discourse, and has acquired use as lingua franca in many regions.
It is widely learned as a second language and used as an official language of the European Union and many Common wealth countries, as well as in many world organizations.
It is the third most natively spoken language in the world, after Mandarin Chinese and Spanish.
Origin of English Language :
Historically, English originated from an amalgamation of several Germanic (Anglo-Saxon) tribes and their varied languages and dialects, now collectively termed Old English, which were brought to the eastern coast of the island of Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon invaders and settlers beginning in the 5th century. The word "English" is derived from the name of the Angles (one of several such Germanic tribes). The language was further influenced by the Old Norse language with Viking invasions in the 8th and 9th century.
The Norman conquest in the 11th century gave rise to heavy borrowings from Norman-French, and vocabulary and spelling conventions began to give the superficial appearance of a close relationship with Romance languages to what had now become Middle English.
A significant number of English words are constructed based on roots from Latin, due to Latin in some form being the lingua franca of the Christian Church and of European intellectual life.
Modern English developed with the Great Vowel Shift that began in 15th-century England, and continues to adopt foreign words from a variety of languages, as well as coining new words.
English is arguably the largest language by number of words, and is certainly considerably larger than any other European language; the Oxford English Dictionary lists 500,000 words, not including a variety of technical or scientific terms.
Because English is so widely spoken, it has often been referred to as a "world language”, the lingua franca of the modern era, and while it is not an official language in most countries, it is currently the language most often taught as a foreign language.
Some linguists believe that it is no longer the exclusive cultural property of "native English speakers", but is rather a language that is absorbing aspects of cultures worldwide as it continues to grow. It is, by
international treaty, the official language for aerial and maritime communications. English is an official language of the United Nations and many other international organisations, including the International Olympic Committee.
Global Impact of English Language :
English is the language most often studied as a foreign language in the European Union, by 89% of schoolchildren, ahead of French at 32%, while the perception of the usefulness of foreign languages amongst Europeans is 68% in favour of English ahead of 25% for French. Among some non-English speaking EU countries, a large percentage of the adult population can converse in English - in particular:
85% in Sweden, 83% in Denmark, 79% in the Netherlands, 66% in Luxembourg and over 50% in Finland, Slovenia, Austria, Belgium, and Germany.
Books, magazines, and newspapers written in English are available in many countries around the world, and English is the most commonly used language in the sciences with Science Citation Index reporting as early as 1997 that 95% of its articles were written in English, even though only half of them came from authors in English-speaking countries.
The impact of the English language globally has sometimes had a large impact on other languages,leading to language shift and even language death and to claims of "English Language Imperialism".English itself is now open to language shift as multiple regional varieties feed back into the language as a whole. For this reason, the 'English language is forever evolving'.
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