VIRTUAL LESSON # 1
"ENGLISH has evolved from a language spoken by a few people into the most widely spoken language in the world."
In this first lesson, we´re going to learn about the origins of English and the reasons why it became such a powerful language in the world today?
Let´s get started ....
It goes without saying that English is not the first or native language of all these people, but it plays an important social, cultural or educational role in many of their countries.
- How much do YOU know about the English-speaking world?
- Do you know how many people in the world speak English?
- Which, as far as you know, is the most spoken language in the world today? And the most widely spoken and learnt language?
It goes without saying that English is not the first or native language of all these people, but it plays an important social, cultural or educational role in many of their countries.
⏩⏩
Let´s watch a short video clip to learn about this ...
English has become a global language.There´s no doubt about this now! Although it is not the most spoken language in the world today (Mandarin Chinese is first on the list mainly because the number of Chinese people; that is, Mandarin Chinese is basically spoken as a native language by Chinese people in China), it is the most widely spoken and learnt language in the world! The video is quite clear about it! What´s more, English is spoken as a first language by people whose countries are very powerful, and this makes it a very powerful language as well.
As lingüist David Crystal once said, "the power of a language does not depend on how many people speak it, but on who those people are." What do you think?
WATCH the first video and:
✎Write down the countries you hear. How many did you count?
🔉 Practise reading them out loud. Easy? Difficult? Which one did you find the most difficult to pronounce? Were any of the countries unknown to you?
✎Which continents do these countries belong to? Try to locate all these countries in a world map? Doing this will help you understand how English spread all around the o
WATCH the second video:
https://youtu.be/WZI1EjxxXKw
1- David Crystal says that power means different things at different times. Which types of power does he refer to?
2- According to him, why did English become a global language?
In reference to the first video I posted, it is important to understand that the role English plays in all those countries is definitelynot the same. English can be a first language; it can be made an official or semi-official language in places where it is not a first language; or it can just play an important role in business and/or education where English is a foreign language.
In 1985, an Indian linguist called Braj Kachru studied the different Englishes spoken in the world and developed the following three concentring circles to show them.
Global Englishes (Kachru 1985)
Included among Inner Circle nations are countries where English is spoken as a first language (L1). Englishes in the Inner Circle, such as UK and USA, are often the model for other Englishes to follow.
Outer Circle nations are countries where English is often an official language, mostly the nations which were previously colonised by Britain. Therefore, these nations usually develop distinctive varieties of the norms of English, e.g. India, Singapore, Malaysia, etc.
Expanding Circle nations, e.g. Thailand, Japan, Nepal, etc. are those where citizens learn English as a Foreign Language and English does not serve a crucial communication functions within the countries (Mooney & Evans, 2013, p. 200).
In many environments, the pronunciation of expanding-circle Englishes is often characterized by a mixture of the innercircle accents (British and American), and also derived from the speaker"s mother tongue.
To which of these concentric circles does Argentina belong to? Why?
What is the difference between English as a first language, English as a second language and English as a foreign language?
Over to YOU
Before watching
English has evolved from a language spoken by a few people into de most widely spoken and learnt language in the world. Before watching
Watch this last video to see how this happened...
After watching
+Take down notes of, at least, three new things you did not know about English and have now learnt.
✚ Find out the meaning of the term "lingua franca". Had you ever heard it before?
ANSWER:
1- English is the language of preference in many different situations. Which ones are mentioned in the video? Name them.
2-According to the information we get from the video (bare in mind that the figures presented in this video may have already changed....), how many native speakers of English are there in the world today?
3- How many people use it as a second language?
4- What´s the estimated figure for non-native speakers of English in the world today?
You can go over the contents of this first lesson as many times as you need during the week. I suggest you complete this first lesson little by little. Do not try to do everything together.
After watching
+Take down notes of, at least, three new things you did not know about English and have now learnt.
✚ Find out the meaning of the term "lingua franca". Had you ever heard it before?
ANSWER:
1- English is the language of preference in many different situations. Which ones are mentioned in the video? Name them.
2-According to the information we get from the video (bare in mind that the figures presented in this video may have already changed....), how many native speakers of English are there in the world today?
3- How many people use it as a second language?
4- What´s the estimated figure for non-native speakers of English in the world today?
Last but not least, don´t forget to register the most important activities in your e-PORTFOLIO.
Bye for now!
Grace 😊
Didn't know about German as a powerful language before the great war!
ResponderEliminarI, as a lover of History, believe that it's important to know why and how English became the most spoken language of the world. I think it's an interesting matter because globalisation it's happening, we are all being rounded by English without being noticed!
ResponderEliminarAnd also, it's incredible how a small island from Europe had, in the very beginning, the language that today is spoken by over two billion people! It's crazy... but sure it's real!
Great video! Very interesting! I didn't know thay during de 19th century, french was the global lingua franca.
ResponderEliminarSorry *that
EliminarGreat video! Honestly, I did not know much about the history of the English language. For me, it is such a familiar language that I have never thought about that, and now I am learning lots of things about it, and I find it very interesting and exciting. I want to continue learning about this!
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ResponderEliminarI found the video really interesting and clear.
ResponderEliminarI think that english could become even more global,but as we can see in the video,there are other countries that would like to impose their language.Like China.
Anyway,i don't consider that mandarin would be the next global language,because of its different alphabet.It might make the learning of the language a bit more difficult,than the learning of a language that shares the same or a similar alphabet with other countries!
It was so informative and interesting!A lot of historic information which explains us how English has become so important nowadays.
ResponderEliminarHi! It´s great to hear you´ve enjoyed the video! I have found it very illustrative and easy to follow.
ResponderEliminarDON´T FORGET TO LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS HERE PEOPLE!
Grace
Very interesting and useful video!!.Through it I could know the English language history since its origins in order to understand how it became the most powerful and dominant language in the world.There were some information which I didn't know about,for example:the colonization of France in a big part of United States and Canada before the War Of The Seven Years,the power of German as a second language in United States before World War1,the writing of the Treaty Of Versailles in English,the presence and influence of United States in Europe after World War2 and the own social network which China has.I reflect on how trascendental some historical events such as The War Of The Seven Years,World War1,World War2,Treaty Of Versailles,etc were in the dominant role that English has in the world today. I strongly believe that English will continue being the International Language for some reasons: First of all,the amount of superpoweful countries with English as the first language which makes it a consolidated language in the world. Secondly,in spite of the growing power of China,its culture,tradition and alphabet are absolutely different from those of the rest of the world making almost impossible for Mandarin language to become the Global Lingua Franca.Last but not least,English has walked a long way to reach to be the international dominant language so I find it difficult to think that it will be so easily replaced by other language.
ResponderEliminarOnce again the sum of power, mass media and enterteinment industry results in domination. Before they needed an army but since the globalization economic power (USA)just needs to spread their culture and language through músic,tv,movies,games, the show busines industry. And the last but not least the allmighty internet.
ResponderEliminarMatías ingaldi
Very interesting!I really like history, but i didn't know that french was an important language in the 19th century.
ResponderEliminarWhat supriced me the most about all this new information I have just learnt is to know how powerful French and German lenguages used to be. At the same time how widely these languages were spoken in North America (meaning as continent) during the 19 century.
ResponderEliminarI must admit I really enjoyed this video!!
i Didnt know that British Empire covered a quarter of the population on earth and I didn't know that it happened in 1922
ResponderEliminarThis video is very clear and interesting. It helps me to understand why English is consider a lengua franca. It is very important the connection between economical power and hegemony.
ResponderEliminarIt is amazing how English language became a lingua Franca in the world. Knowing about why others languages can not be a global language is also interesting.
ResponderEliminarInteresting video! I didn't know about the importance of Russian and German languages in history. It's amazing how English spread in the last century, but considering how powerful USA is and its importance in history, it shouldn't surprise me the role they had in this worldwide spread of English language.
ResponderEliminarI find this video very interesting because it tells the history that's behind the reason why English is the internacional Language nowadays.
ResponderEliminarThe imperial expansion was one of the reasons of the spread of the use of English. The tecnological revolution and Globalization were crucial in this part too.
The English has spread around the world because of International treads, political unions, marketing, Internet, Hollywood movies, etcetera.
In response to some of the questions at the end of the video I consider English Language as a very important tool that allows people not only to comunicate with people that speak a different language, but also the be part of the world, which is, in certain way, connected/united through the tecnologies, Internet, etcetera. I think that this would not be possible if it were not for the existence of a common language like English.
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EliminarThe video was very interesting! I didn't know that French were that important. I think that English might not be a global language forever but is important that we can learn and speak in English because it will help us to connect ourselves with the world (at least for now)
ResponderEliminarI didn't know that the last opponent for English to become the main language of speech was Russian due to the cold war and I found it very interesting.
ResponderEliminarVery interesting video! And the reason that English has become internacional language nowadays
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ResponderEliminarThe video was very interesting. I liked how the events and important things are presented and explained. It was easy for me to undertand all the content, take some notes and think about the general idea exposed in the video.
ResponderEliminarI learnt that English is an international language given that has taken part in lots of contexts.
Also, there was interesting information I didn't know about the British Empire, its power and colonies.
I found the video really interesting because it explais us how english has became so important nowadays.
ResponderEliminarto be honest, I didn't know that for a long part of the USA's story German was its second most widely spoken language and during the 19th century, French was the global lingua franca.
Hello there.
ResponderEliminarI supposed a little bit about the history of English. It was a little bit obvious that North America were part of the massive influence of English.
Altought I've learnt a lot of history, and that includes how the lenguage become in the Lengua Franca.
I really like the part that speaks about the travellers, that they communicate in English no matter where you from, and I think that is awesome.♥ ☻
Micaela Bozza.
Great video! It contains a lot of interesting details and information about the History of how English spreaded around the world and became a dominant and global language. And why is considered the main global Lingua Franca.
ResponderEliminarwhat a good video!! The man in the video made it really easy to undestand, and now i can add so many interesting information to my portfolio and my knoledge.
ResponderEliminarcan't wait to see more videos like this!!
It's such an interesting video! I think that most of us didn't know about those details shown in this informative video.
ResponderEliminarHello! This video was really easy to understand. Even though I knew that English was a very important and global language, I didn't really know the reasons and it's good to learn about it, specially because we are studying to be English teachers. When I started studying English, nobody told me why it was important to do it. It would be good to explain this reasons to students in order to make them more willing to learn the language!
ResponderEliminarI think that every person in the world can at least name the American culture exporting as the main reason to keep spreading English nowadays and learn a few words.
ResponderEliminarIt's strange to think that this happened in the last few centuries of our history, but knowing how the Roman Empire started to install the Latin back in the 1st century a.C as a "lingua franca" or the vehicular language to comunicate in the conquered zones, isn't difficult to think about how the military and administrative personnel flux along with economy, politics and technology development helped English to grow until its current level all around the world.
Honestly I thought that there were more than around 2 billion people in the world who can communicate in English. And I trully believe that this happens because English is an easy language to learn if you need to communicate in a no professional way.
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ResponderEliminarHi! I really love the video. I found it very interesting and it gave me the opportunity to learn many things that I unknown. Thanks!
ResponderEliminarIt's amazing to know that there are so many countries in the world where English is spoken. In fact, I didn't know many of them. It's good to know that this language hasn't the same role in all these countries. It's interesting that the Treaty of Versailles was written not only in French,but also in English! And the fact that over 96% of scientific articles are written in English sounds surprising! I hadn't heard about lingua franca before. Although it's something new to me, I understood easily.For instance, if I travelled to another country I would speak in English because it's used for communication by a lot of internacional travellers with different native languages. I didn't realize that China exists in a bubble,cut off from the rest of the Internet and social media world. But the people of this country continue learning English to communicate with the rest of the world. I like studying a language so important!
ResponderEliminar* international
ResponderEliminarHello!.i think that the video is really useful because it have informatio n that is important to know. I didn't know why English is the modern lingua flanca. English is the language of preference in many different situations like: Global commerse, the language of international diplomacy, air trafic control, academics jornals, and the language that travellers use to comunicate. lingua franca is a common language spoken that was a mixture of differents languages and it allows comunication or trade between diferent native people.
ResponderEliminarIn other words,a chinese who travels to finlandwill probably not leart finnish and the finnish will not learn chinese, the lenguage mostly used for communication will be english. Which is, in fact, the modern lingua franca. There are 1,132 million english speakers and over 1.5 billion speak it as a secundary language.
It was very interesting to know through the video and the text hoW English language became a global language!thanks
ResponderEliminarI really liked the video because it is understood very clearly also the way it explains the history of how English became an international language.
ResponderEliminarI totally agree that today we are in contact with English in many situations. Even at an early age, since children watch videos or play games.
It is amazing how easily they assimilate the words in English.
The video was very interesting! I have learnt so many new things about the history of English. Countries of all continents spoken English. The English is the most widely spoken language in the world, for that reason English is the facto global lingua Franca, It´s was unknown for me before this video, lingua franca is a language used for communication between group of people who speak different languages, other reasons that considered English the language of preference all over the wordl are that it´s the language of global commerce, it´s used of air trafic control, It´s most common language of academic journalist, it´s also the language that international travallers with different native language use to communicate, English is the most common language on the internet. The English is grew in powerful countries for that reason the films, music, TV shows spread througout the wordl. It´s estimated that there are two billion people around the world speak English today, Over a billion people use it as a second language,Argentina belong to countries that English is used like a second language, I estimated are more a billion non-native speakers of English in the wordl today.
ResponderEliminarI know that English is the most widely spoken and learnt languaje in the world which is spoken as a first language by people whose countries are very powerful,although it's not the most spoken language in the world today as The
ResponderEliminarMandarin Chinese, is the first in the list becouse of the chinese population
as it's basically spoken as a native language by Chinese people in China, The
Inner circle Nations show countries such as Australia,UK and USA where
english is spoken as a first language while in the outer circle we can see
India, Singapore and Malaysia which ere previously colonised by Britain, english
is an official language, but in the Expanding circle, nations such as Germany, Japan and China learn english as a second language (foreign language)as english
does not crucial for their communication. Argentina is situated in the expanding circle becouse the english language is used as a second language.It's estimated that there are over a billlon second language speakers, 360 million native speakers and some people say as many as 2 billion people around the world speak english today.
Hi! The video was superb! I liked it very much especially for some information I didn´t know that was not English and its economic , cultural and social influence depending on the country or city English invaded but French in the past. And I also consider that Mandarin Chinese is the New economic, cultural world power nowadays that could fight face to face the hegemony of english in the world.
ResponderEliminarI had never thought how english became a global language... it's amazing how importan it is. It's the language of global commerce, international diplomacy, air traffic control... I had no idea!
ResponderEliminarI think it is very important to learn it.
And also, I didn't know French was a global language!
It was very interesting.
This video made me understand why English language is considered a Lingua Franca, i didn't know that French language was so important. I think that the English language is a tool that allows people communicate with people who speak another language! Great video! Very interesting!
ResponderEliminarI love History facts, and I neves heard about that the Treaty of Versailles was writen in English too... That shows us that the important of that Language started a long time ago... and not only for the Globalization or the Internet..
ResponderEliminarIn my opinion it was a great video !
Before watching the video, I thought English was a tool to facilitate the communication between countries but it was not a simple language. Behind that, English has a longer, influence and powerful history. At the beginning, England established overseas colonies in the 16th century and in the 18th century the colonization of the British Empire expanded in differents countries allowed to grow up the empire and made it more powerful. After the first world war, USA had become a strong economic power. All these events became English as a dominant language. It was influenced by centuries and centuries of historical events. It was considered as a prestige language,a language of diplomacy and nowadays it is considered as a lingua franca. the importance of English was increased all time.
ResponderEliminarHi! the video was very easy to understand. It is amazing how english and another languages as well have involved to what we know today. I like the comparative and similarities of the language and how english has words provenient from German and the roots of it. Language can mutate in a shorter time span from one generation to the next.
ResponderEliminarHello everyone!
ResponderEliminarFirst of all I'd like to thank you Grace for sharing this information with us. I find this lesson very interesting! The videos and the information are really easy to understand.
It is amazing how a language can be spread around the world until it become a lingua franca.
I have never realized that countries like India or Zambia also learn and speak English. To conclude, I find the 'Global Englishes' circle by Kachru very usefull and clear to understand.
Hello everyone!
ResponderEliminarI really liked the video, it was very interesting because there are things that i did not know, for example, that the French language was important in the 19th century.
I was surprised by how many people in the world speak English.
Hello everyone!
ResponderEliminarI found this lesson very interesting. I honestly, before watching the video, didn´t know the meaning of "lingua franca".
One of the things that caught my attention was that the Versailles Treaty was also written in English.
It is a very didactic video, well explained and entertaining. I enjoy it.
It was fascinate learnt how English has been become a Global Language, such a story of conquest and culture exposure.
ResponderEliminarApart of that, I dind't know that French, Russian and Spanish was considered Linguas Francas in other centuries.
I find this video very interesting as it makes me think that I´ve never realize that English would have this category as a language: Lingua franca which means a language that is adopted as a common language between speakers whose native languages are different. 360 million native speakers and more than 1 billion of people around the world speak English as a second language. This is due to the fact that is the language used to communication and commerce between people with different native languages. It is also used on global commerce, international diplomacy, air traffic control, academic material and in internet and international travelers.
ResponderEliminarI really like the video. It explains how the English language spread around the world. Nowadays, it is the most important language, it has become the international language of the planet, in a kind of lingua franca that allows you to travel and develop anywhere in the world.
ResponderEliminarHi! I didn't understand the importance that English had around the world, and now I want to learn everithing that I can about this beautiful language! The video was full of information, I had to watch it a couple of time and take notes!
ResponderEliminarEnglish has became a global language. it's speaking this language thirty countries. It's the most spoken language in the world today. I think that argentina is in expanding circle because english not serve a crucial communication function.
ResponderEliminarNowadays the English is clearly the language of preference in diplomacy, on the internet, among the scientist community,also in tourism and business.
ResponderEliminarHere in Argentina we learn it as a foreign language and we don't use it for communication purposes. That's why we belong to the expanding circle of the study of global Englishes,made up by Kachru in 1985.
I feel like I have my mind more open with this information, I didn’t know how the English has become a global language, look the things that the power does. I liked the video a lot, it has particular things, but I could understand it in general. Personally, I’m bad at history, and I don’t like it, but I have to admit that it was an interesting video.
ResponderEliminarHello!!! I have never thought about why English Is a global language. This information clear my mind and the video explains me why this language Is very important now in the world. AND Is very amazing that in the past others language like french or german used to be powerfull.
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ResponderEliminar(off deadline) Really very interesting, I study French too, and is a beautiful language, also some words in English come from French, for example "beautiful" the word "beau" refers to the beauty.
ResponderEliminarIn my opinion, the circle I choose within Argentina is the third expanding circle because as it says in the explanation and what I understand here in Argentina, English is not used to communicate with another person. Unless you are studying in a bilingual school or the job requires an experience with the language, etc. If English is used as a second language in most countries, such as Argentina, but it is not required, it is only learned if necessary.(OFF DEADLINE)
ResponderEliminarAlthough English has many official states, another reason for being a global language is the culture. I learned English by listening to music and watching Tv. The music industryin foreign countries is bigger than the ours and it´s easy to hear songs in Enlish everywhere we go. (off deadline)
ResponderEliminar( Off deadline) English became the global language since is the most spoken language all over the world, as well as a native language or as a second language.
ResponderEliminarIt is a LINGUA FRANCA because it is adopted for those who have different languages, as a convention. Is the language of global commerce, international Diplomacy, air traffic control, for academic journals, the most common language used for international travellers, and the most used on the Internet.
From the 16th century the British Empire colonized the world, to 1922 it covered almost a quarter of the Earth that is why this langiage gained power. After the World War II United States became a superpower Nation, and with it the language.
The English version of The Versailles Treaty signalled the start of English as a language of Diplomacy.
Then the mass media spread the language throughout the world with American movies, music, books, and it was even faster with the Internet.
Nowadays many countries have English as a curricular mandatory subject.
It is undeniable that there are many reason why English became the global language.
ResponderEliminarI used to think that English was the most spoken language in the world but several years ago I learnt that Chinese was the most spoken language (due the great population of Chinese people). I always wondered why the English has so much relevance, why we don't learn chinese instead? this video helped me with this question, and the answer is quite simple, It’s because the language carries certain “power” or Historical background wich made it so known, there are many factors but we can summarize them in two crutial ones, The World War and Globalization, we can also relate these factors with The USA, a country well known for their participation in the World War ( I & II), Technological advancements and huge human achievements ( A. Bomb and the landing of the first man on the moon), and by the side of Globalization we have pop culture like Movies (Most of the time the hero of a story is an american), and the rising of new waves of music like rock and roll, a genre since its creation was a world phenomenon and many countries and social movements were influenced decades later. The recognicement that this language has around the world is the reason why it is so learnt. (off deadline).
I was surprised to learn that German was the second most widely spoken language in the United States. We can see that the English has become a very important language because it is used in business, in diplomacy and as a common language to communicate. Everything is due to the reach of the English Empire and because the United States took advantage of that after the wars and thanks to globalization, English has taken even more relevance in the current era. It is incredible because there are more than a billion people who know English as a second language. (off deadline)
ResponderEliminarI didn't know that there were so many countries where english is spoken. Also it calls my attention to how many people have english as a second language and the number of people who are not native speakers. Those are a big number that I could ever imagine. Something to highlight is also how English has become so important that it is used to carry out diplomatic, economic and more acts. (off deadline)
ResponderEliminarI really enjoyed this lesson, because it’s interesting to develop how English has become a Lingua Franca and, as I mentioned in the past lesson, the power of invasions,conquests and wars have. I knew about English was the Lingua Franca nowadays, as Latin was centuries ago.
ResponderEliminarI got astonished when I read that English is more spoken by learners than natives - I hadn’t thought about it in that way.
The fact of the Mandarin Chinese won’t be the Lingua Franca is another thing that caught my attention. I believed that the power of China could make its language become global.
On the other hand, I think that Argentina belongs to the Expanding Circle nations, because it’s learned as a foreign language, and although people here know more about this language, most can’t speak it, so it’s not considered as a second language. (OFF DEADLINE)
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ResponderEliminarHello Grace.
ResponderEliminarWell, I feel a bit surprised at the history of english, but at the same time I'm not. I `ll explain you why. I know that english is a global language and I see and listen to it on real life situations, on the internet platforms and social networks. Tourism in Microcentro for example. There are always many people speaking english to communicate. What seems to me really interesting is the way British colonialism made english spread all around the world. And not to talk about the American. These ones have had a very important power over the globe.
Ok, that's all for now. I'll continue on my portfolio to answer the questions above.
Bye!
Hi everyone, I think the three videos were very interesting. I didn't know much about the colonization so I liked the information.
ResponderEliminarHi everyone, I think the three videos were very interesting. I didn't know much about the colonization so I liked the information.
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