The History of English

The English language spoken today has evolved over a period of approximately 1500 years, or better since the arrival of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes on the shores of England around the 5th century. 

They brought with them various Germanic languages that would gradually evolve into the English we speak today. 

During those 1500 years, the English language has added or ‘borrowed’ words from many other languages to create a rich, complex and sophisticated language. In some cases, an existing English word has been replaced with one from a different language, in other cases the new word has been added as a variation or alternative to the English original. 

English is now a language full of ‘loan words’. 

https://www.sutori.com/story/the-history-of-english

Writing about global languages

   Nowadays, it is common knowledge that English is the global, worldwide-spoken language. More and more of various ages, such as adolescents and adults, strive to master it. An increasingly number of citizens of the world considers learning this language as an obligatory and beneficial part of their studies. Although a world language results in communication, peace, connection and understanding between nations, there are both positive and negative aspects of this situation.
   Adopting a foreign language which is used worldwide has plenty of strong points. Firstly, a set of grammatical rules and a new body of vocabulary, which are parts of every language, boosts intelligence, cleverness, critical thinking and skills. This means that studying new things is an ideal way of brain exercise and memory practice. Another asset is that through this kind of learning, people are able to communicate and interact with each other even if their nationalities are not the same. Thus, they accept they accept the diversity between cultures as their horizons are broadened. For instance, young children attend exchange programs more easily or teenagers make new friends and meet different customs, traditions, history and values. Apart from intercultural understanding, professional needs and travelling too requires bilingualism. In many cases, students travel abroad to graduate, get a higher education and develop a better future. Travelling overseas is a popular trend, so English is very useful for communication and pleasure from a journey or a permanent installation to a place.
   However, global languages usage has a serious consequence known as globalisation. It is very easy for unpopular languages, tranditions and generally cultures to be consumed or even vanish in the mass of the most popular cultures, leading to limited significance of cultural identity and individual history. For example, in Greece more and more American traditions and rituals are adopted or replace the Greek ones, like carnivals or Christmas trees. Not only are cultural differences eliminated but also people -especially the young ones- have similar tastes in music, clothes and films. Lack of variation is a common phenomenon, which causes conflicts between adolescents and more competition about fashion, trends and popularity. The consequences of this problem are various, because relationships are destroyed by misunderstandings or conflicts and children  adopt the mentality of criticizing based on the outer appearance, instead of character.
   On balance, I believe that worldwide-spoken languages are worthwhile, important for harmony, communication and brain exercise. For me, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, as a world language is the flash of the human spirit representing the connection among all the cultures.

Endangered languages and cultures

This is the video, parts of which we saw during Monday’s presentation on languages. Watch it again and write your own message about language and culture preservation, by also using some of the information we discussed. You can create a new post or leave a comment under this one.

 https://www.ted.com/talks/wade_davis_on_endangered_cultures?language=en

HOW LANGUAGE SHAPES THE WAY WE THINK

https://www.ted.com/talks/lera_boroditsky_how_language_shapes_the_way_we_think

The video I watched was about how language changes and affects the way we think.The speaker gave to the audience multiple examples of how some people think extremely differently because of their language.For example when some people have different words in their languages about the colour shades, then they recognise a lot more easily the difference between the shades.Moreover, she says that there exist about 7000 languages around the world and all are extremely different.I really believe that all the video can be said in one sentence  "Human minds have invented not one cognitive universe, but 7,000." I believe this video was very informative and also a very strong motive to continue learning english.

English as the global language

  Nowadays, English is the most common and recognised language all over the world. Many people each year take up lessons and try to master the language and be professional speakers. This phenomenon has resulted in a NOVEL SITUATION and many people when they are trying to learn the English language they are indifferent to their mother tongUE, which means do not take part in their own language evolution. So, learning the global lanuage has both positive and negative aspects. 
 First of all, there are many significant reasons, why mastering English language has positive aspects. To begin with, although English offers to its speakers a big variety of possibilities such AS communication with foreign people and a better working environment, because of better proFESSIONAL qualifications, it is also an undisptuted fact that English can open up A NEW WORLD OF interesting foreign cultures. More specifically, travelling, which means that through it we can learn about different societies and their habits, communicate with its people and learn how to be a proficient speaker. Lastly, (COMMAS AFTER LINKING PHRASES) there is one more positive effect of English, being the global language, but this one is all about people. By learning English we improve our thinking skills in an elevated level with the result that we are more peaceful inside and openminded characters.
 On the other hand many languages die every year and English is used more and more as a world language which results in globalization. Even though globalization promotes some positive effects like harmony and understanding between people, in its backpack, contains many dangers for the other languages. Firstly, if this situation continues, there will exist homogenEOUS societies. People are going to have the same tsastes, films and music. Furthermore, if we let this phenomenon inspire our everyday life, we will be dominated by uniformity, which means the elimination of culture and limited significance of cultural identity and individual history. A case of it (no comma) is that local languages are going to vanish, as dialects will, with the final IMPLICATION that some civilisations are going to cease.
 Taking all into consideration there is no doubt in mind that despite the fact that English is the global language and offers many positive aspects, like people understanding and harmony, in my opinion, there must be also differences between us because  I firmly believe that every country should not be affected, as they have their own language and their own cultural identity, which is why every country is special.

English as the global language

In recent years, cultural globalization, which is the transmission of ideas and values around the globe, has resulted in rendering English one of the most predominant languages internationally. However, every coin has two sides and so does the preeminence of English. 

There are many advantages concerning English as a lingua franca. First of all, as the definition f the term "lingua franca" indicates, it contributes to making communication between people who do not share a mother tongue feasible. Apart from that, being bilingual, that is speaking fluently two different languages, provides us with the opportunity to elevate our intelligence and critically thinking skills and to be open to other cultures since openmindedness is a characteristic of civialized and modern people. Last but not least, bilingualism entails economic advantages, on account of the fact that professional needs are satisfied. More specifically, not only is the possibility of being employed more likely when having mastered the global language, since mobility is even more  simplified, but also companies have the competitive edge they need in order to succeed in the realm of global business. 

On the other hand, though, this contemporary trends has some significant disadvantages. Firstly, English results in globalization (i.e. the adoption of the same lifestyle by people around the world) and in homogeneous societies, which are governed by uniformity; that is, the decrease of the uniqueness of once-isolated communities, which is what makes them differ from the world as a unit. Another case in point is that indigenous languages, or dialects, constantly vanish, which means that a whole civialization ceases to exist. More specifically, a culture is undoubtedly contingent on its identity, its language and when it becomes extinct because of the threat of globalization, this is a vile fact. Lastly,the mother tongue may be corrupted by the influx of words in English that dominate their equivalents in the mother tongue.

taking all this into consideration, there is no doubt in my mind that the disadvantages are outweighed by the advantages of English as the global language. Only if we utilize English in moderation and wisely, will we be able to reap its tremendous benefits without brushing aside the fact that language shapes and limits our thoughts an d power. 

English as a global language

       English is becoming used more and more everyday as indigenous languages die. People believe that when languages die, their civilization and customs die too. Some others believe that we should all speak the same language in order to have an easier communication. In this way, the ignore the culture that with great efforts other people created. 

       From the ancient years, different languages were created. People tried to communicate with other civilizations and also evolve theirs. Nowadays, people affected by languages such as English. Therefor, they can easily travel abroad, but also they boost their intelligence and thinking skills.

       People especially immigrants and refugees are trying to learn the language, traditions and history of a country in order to assimilate in this country. As a result, they forget their cultural traditions, customs, music or film tastes which directly affect their civilization. Also because of the globalization in the next years, every country will have the same tastes of music or clothes, but they will also not have any difference.

       In conclusion, I firmly believe that every country should not be affected by others, as they have their own language and their own cultural identity. People should all learn other languages and know other civilizations without ignore their roots.