1. The History of English

2. The First Inhabitants in Britain
The original inhabitants on the British Isles left no linguistic traces.
Celtic tribes from Eastern Europe settled on the British isles around 700 BC.
The Romans invaded southern
Britain in 43 AD and left in 410.

3. Who contributed to English ?
Germanic tribes (Angles, Saxons and Jutes) invaded Britain from 449.
The Vikings raided and also settled along the coast of Britain between 793 and 1066.
The Normans conquered England in 1066.

4. The Different stages of English
Old English: The Origin of English is a Ger-manic language spoken by the Anglo-Saxons.
Middle English: After 1066, the Kings of England spoke French for 300 years, many new words were added.
Early Modern English: With the
invention of printing (1470s),
a London-based English spread.
Modern English: the Great Vowel Shift (around 1500) changed the pronunciation
but the spelling remained unchanged.

5. The Spread of English
After Columbus discovered America in 1492, Europeans started colonizing the world.
The first British settlement in America was Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607.
Explorers such as Drake, Raleigh and Cook established British colonies in eg the Caribbean and Australia.
In the late 19th century, the British Empire stretched across the whole world.

6. The English Speaking World
Most former colonies still have English as an official language (at least 400 mill. second language speakers)
Some colonies also have English as the main mother tongue (375 mill. native speakers)

7. A World Language?
English is used as a Lingua Franca in most countries in the world.
It is the language of science and technology, increasingly used in the worlds of business, culture, politics and education.
Spoken by at least 1 billion people

8. Fun facts about English
The most used letter in English is ”e”.
Three quarters of all mails are in English.
English is the most widespread language.
It contains vocabulary from all over the world.
It has the largest vocabulary ( words).
An average native speaker uses words.
Shakespeare used words.
What about you? How many words do you know?