English is a West Germanic language related to Dutch, Frisian and German with a significant amount of vocabulary from French, Latin, Greek and many other languages.
Approximately 341 million people speak English as a native language and a further 267 million speak it as a second language in over 104 countries including the UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, American Samoa, Andorra, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Botswana, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Cameroon, Canada, Cayman Islands, Cook Islands and Denmark.
English evolved from the Germanic languages brought to Britain by the Angles, Saxons, Jutes and other Germanic tribes from about the 5th Century AD. These languages are known collectively as Anglo-Saxon or Old English, which began to appear in writing during the early 8th century AD.
English acquired vocabulary from Old Norse after Norsemen starting settling in parts of Britain, particularly in the north and east, from the 9th century. To this day dialects of English spoken in northern England contain more words of Norse origin than other varieties of English.
The Norman invasion of 1066 brought with it a deluge of Norman and Latin vocabulary, and for the next three centuries English became a mainly oral language spoken by ordinary people, while the nobility spoke Norman, which became Anglo-Norman, and the clergy spoke Latin. When English literature began to reappear in the 13th century the language had lost the inflectional system of Old English, and the spelling had changed under Norman influence. For example, the Old English letters þ (thorn) and ð (eth) were replaced by th. This form of English is known as Middle English.
By about the 15th century Middle English had evolved into Early Modern English, and continued to absorb numerous words from other languages, especially from Latin and Greek. Printing was introduced to Britain by William Caxton in around 1469, and as a result English became increasingly standardised. The first English dictionary, Robert Cawdrey's Table Alphabeticall, was published in 1604.
During the medieval and early modern periods English spread from England to Wales, Scotland and other parts of the British Isles, and also to Ireland. From the 17th century English was exported to other parts of the world via trade and colonization, and it developed into new varities wherever it went. English-based pidgins and creoles also developed in many places, such as on island in Caribbean and in parts of Africa.
This chart shows the vowels and diphthongs used in standard varieties of English spoken in the USA, Australia, England, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, Scotland and Wales. There is significant variation in the vowel sounds used within most of these countries, and in other countries where English is spoken.
AmE = American English (General American), AuE = Australian English, BrE = British English (RP), CaE = Canadian English, IrE = Irish English, NZE = New Zealand English, SAE = South African English, ScE = Scottish English, WeE = Welsh English
Source: http://www.soundcomparisons.com
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They
are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another
in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
A recording of this text by Simon Ager (British English, Received Pronounciation)
A recording of this text by Crawford J. Bennett, Jr. (American English)
A recording of this text by Timothy Goldsmith from Adelaide in Australia
Recommended books about the English language
History of the English Language
http://oxforddictionaries.com/page/thehistoryofenglish/the-history-of-english
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_English_language
Online English language courses
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/
http://virtulanguage.com
http://www.zozanga.com
http://www.learn-english.co.il
http://www.beglobalnow.org
http://www.english-language-school.info
http://www.learnenglish-a-z.com
http://www.eslcafe.com/search/Online_English_Courses/
http://www.stellacourses.eu/html/langselfree.aspt
http://www.speakenglish.co.uk
https://www.glovico.org/en/english
Free English Practice Exercises and Typical mistakes
http://www.languageproject.co.uk/free_exercises/introduction.htm
http://www.languageproject.co.uk/learn_english/typical_mistakes/typical_mistakes.htm
English Electronic talking dictionaries
http://www.ectaco.com
Teach English overseas
http://www.onlinetefl.com
English writing software
http://www.englishsoftware.org
Other languages written with the Latin alphabet
Afrikaans, Alsatian, Cimbrian, Danish, Dutch, Elfdalian, English, Faroese, Frisian, German, Gothic, Icelandic, Low German / Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, Norn, Norwegian, Old English, Old Norse, Scots, Swedish, Yiddish
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