English Speaking Countries

We explain which countries speak English and what characteristics this language has. In addition, we tell you the history of the English language.

What countries speak English?

the english It is a European language of Germanic origin typical of the Anglo-Saxon peoples of the north of said continent, and is the most spoken language today, with around 1,352 million speakers in the world, of which 373 million are native speakers. This places it in third place, after Mandarin Chinese and Spanish, among the languages ​​with the most native speakers on the planet.

The predominance of English in the world is due to the enormous economic, political, military and cultural influence that the United Kingdom of Great Britain, and later the United States, have exerted since the 18th century on the rest of the nations. This is why it is the most studied language in the world, since it is considered lingua franca or common language among nations, and is the language in which most international business is conducted today.

English is the official language of the countries that make up (or were part of) the commonwealth (Commonwealth) of the British Empire, including its former American colony, the United States of America. However, unlike other languages ​​such as Spanish, it lacks a single central authority over the language, making it a language very prone to the incorporation of foreign words and the generation of regional variants, among which the following stand out:

• British English
• American or American English
• Canadian English
• South African English
• Australian English
• New Zealand English
• Indian English
• Caribbean English
• Falkland Islands English

Each of these variants has, in turn, different forms and different local accents, which results in a very broad and diverse linguistic panorama.

History of the English language

Modern English comes from Old Anglo-Saxon, a language of certain Germanic tribes native to the coasts of the Baltic Sea in what today we call Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark.

These tribes were composed of the Angles, the Saxons, the Jutes and the Frisians, and together migrated to the islands of present-day Great Britain around the 5th century. There they faced the Celtic peoples traditionally established in the region, such as the Britons and the Picts, many of whom had managed to successfully resist the invasions of the Roman Empire.

The language of the Germanic invaders soon imposed itself on the local Celtic language and four ancient dialects flourished, known as Mercian, Northumbrian, Kentic and West Saxon. Each was the language of one of the Germanic kingdoms established in the region, but the last, West Saxon became more predominant over the rest, and was spoken until around the 12th or 13th century.

This “old English”, however, was strongly influenced by the Nordic languages ​​(norse) that the Viking peoples took with them during the invasions of the 8th and 9th centuries. These peoples colonized northeastern Britain and were eventually incorporated into the nascent British nation.

The same thing happened with the language spoken by the Norman conquerors of the 11th century among them Bretons and Flemish. A much smaller, but not discardable, role was played by the surviving Celtic languages ​​in some regions of Scotland, Wales and Cornwall.

From the 11th century and the Norman invasion, English was strongly influenced by language d'oïl of the invaders, a Romance language that was a precursor to French, and gave rise to Anglo-Norman, a kind of lingua franca that contributed to the formation of the so-called Middle English. The latter is a difficult language to delimit and understand, as it was subject to rapid and violent changes, typical of the strong linguistic variety of the time.

Until, At the end of the 14th century, a literate, written variant of London English made its way through the emergence of a national bureaucracy and to the nationalism awakened by the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) between England and France, which revived English as a patriotic language. This London variant, known as the “Chancery Standard” (Chancery Standard) soon became the cultured norm of the time and allowed the development of a Renaissance variant of English.

Thus, between the 16th and 18th centuries, the use of Early Modern English was imposed (Early Modern English), to which numerous Latin and Greek words were incorporated. This was the language cultivated profusely by William Shakespeare and in which The first English dictionary was published in 1604. Table Alphabeticall.

but just in 1755 when Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) published his dictionary of modern English, titled A Dictionary of the English Language (“A Dictionary of the English Language”), the modern Anglo-Saxon language entered the scene.

Since then, English became the language of the Industrial Revolution, and It quickly spread its influence throughout the world, thanks to the British colonial Empire. Throughout its modern history, English competed with French and Spanish for the status of internationally predominant language, something it achieved after World War II, when the United States took over as the central power of the West.

Features of English

Broadly speaking, the English language is characterized by the following:

• It is an Indo-European and Western language from the Germanic language family, associated with the Anglo-Saxon peoples of northern Europe.
• Its name comes from the main Germanic people who invaded and colonized Great Britain around the 5th century: the Angles who called their language englisc and their newly acquired lands england (England).
• It has numerous dialects and regional variants the result of its enormous expansion during the British colonial era. Furthermore, due to its historical background, it has an extremely extensive lexicon: the Oxford Dictionary contains more than 250,000 different words to its credit.
• It has 25 letters in its alphabet (some variants can reach 27) and a relatively simple grammar, with many features shared with the Romance languages, and at the same time much simpler aspects, such as the absence of gender and case in the words.
• Its lexicon is composed mainly of Old English, French, Latin and Old Norse words.

English speaking countries

English is considered the official language of numerous nations, including former English colonies and other territories belonging to the Commonwealth British. In addition, it is the language with the most instrumental speakers in the world, spoken in a minority in dozens of different countries.

On the other hand, English is the main language of Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Jersey, Grenada, Guam, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Montserrat, Nauru, Islands Pitcairn, Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Singapore, Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, the Turks and Caicos Islands, among other nations.

Why is it important to speak English nowadays?

Since the mid-20th century, the English language has consolidated its importance as a global language. This means that It is a language spoken practically throughout the world, which is why it is the preferred language when it comes to tourism, business or agreements between people of very different nationalities.

Consequently, it is known as the “language of business” or the “language of the world”, and it has become the most studied language on the planet. All of this highlights the importance of knowing it, even in a rudimentary way.

Continue with: Countries that speak Portuguese

References

• “English language” on Wikipedia.
• “History of the English language” on Wikipedia.
• “The English language and its importance today” in CAISA, Language Center (Colombia).
• “English language” in The Encyclopaedia Britannica.