For English language people.

[wishbone]

Oui c'est vrai

[slobodan]

No Cheltenham not Serbia..........you got roads out there?

Under the snow I think there's one.

[slobodan]

BTW 80% of the English language is French

I work in France sometimes, I wish they understood 5% of what I say.

But yeah, they say an estimated 75-80% of English words either come from French or share a Latin root with their French equivalent.

[wishbone]

Yep it's the pronunciation that's different - if they said it like us we'd understand !

[JUDWAK]

Hi,

I don't have a qualifcation in English language, or grammar (sp)
I just say it as it is, (Yorks tork). And I'm allways understood.
ASK GEORGE.

Gman.

tiz true very true

[TOYOTATONY]

I'm really sorry but I don't agree with the above at all. (btw I hate football so don't care either way..)

People support 'Arsenal Football Club aka Arsenal FC aka The Arsenal' etc... That is one entity - unless you know of multiple Arsenal FC's ?

Fans will shout 'up the Arsenal!' (singular) versus 'up the Arsenals!'(plural) etc etc

I know this as I work in a factory full of soccer fans

Rob.(not a teacher but has gcse english )

...and you believe football fans know better than the Oxford Society for the English Language?
(I hate football as well btw)

[TOYOTATONY]

A History Lesson

I wasn't going to bite on this anymore but, in light of recent comments, I felt I should.

I daresay, most of this will bore the pants off you all.
The nitty gritty regarding the French influence of our language is in a different colour font further down.

So...here we go.

Prior to the Roman invasion, there were some 12 regions each ruled by a King in this country at the time, each with their own form of language & culture.

AD 43: Romans invaded and in time Latin became the official language and named the country which we know today as Britain. The enslaved people became Britons.

AD 150: Germanic settlers came here bringing with them their language which we know today as German.

AD 436: End of Roman rule but Latin was retained for certain uses as it is to this very day. Scots invaded the North of England with their linguistic influence. Mix that with the Angles & Saxons helping Britons to take back lost territory and you have the beginnings of a common language known as Old English by around 450 AD.

Over the next 100 years, 6 regions were established in England.

AD700: First records in Old English.

AD 792: Vikings invaded the North, e.g. Lindisfarne.

AD 865: The Danes occupy Northumbria with York as their base.

C 1000 AD: Date of surviving manuscript of Old English poem BEOWULF.
(Completely irrelevent but thought it an interesting fact.)

All the above had some degree of influence over the evolvement of the Old English language.

Now to the French bit:

1066: Norman invasion. England comes under French rule and French becomes the official language of the country.
Latin was still retained for things like Schools etc.
Majority of the population defied using French whenever they could but inevitably, many words were adopted into the English language over the next 200 + years.

1348-62: English replaces Latin in Schools except Oxford & Cambridge.
English officially replaces French as the language of the law.
English is used for the first time in Parliament!

So you see people, English is very much a mongrel language, evolved over many hundreds of years, influenced by many other nations. Despite this, English has become the most prolific language across the globe. Not bad for a bunch of barbarians as we were once thought to be!

Official figures state that todays basic English language consists of some 60,000 words, some 10,000 of which are adopted French words and certainly not anything like 80% as some appear to believe.

[slobodan]

I wasn't going to bite on this anymore but, in light of recent comments, I felt I should.

S'not biting Tony, it's conversation,


(how many languages to you speak Tony?)

[TOYOTATONY]

S'not biting Tony, it's conversation,


(how many languages to you speak Tony?)

Three: English obviously, German, very well apparently. French, enough to be understood mostly. Oh & a smattering of Greek & Turkish.

Nothing outstanding really.

[zerohero]

bob are playing golf wrong
bob is playing golf correct

bob and peter are playing golf correct
bob and peter is playing golf wrong

[TonyN]

[I][B]So you see people, English is very much a mongrel language, evolved over many hundreds of years, influenced by many other nations. Despite this, English has become the most prolific language across the globe.

I think this is the point Sancho was trying to make, English evolved, who decided when it stopped and became fixed?

I don't think it will, or can't, every generation tries to stamp its mark, and corrupting the language you use is one way of doing this.

'English' is still growing and evolving, the first step to a united world is one language everyone can understand, 'American' English, a simplified version, is idealily placed to do this.

[BUSHWHACKER]

I no speeka de ingrish!

[slobodan]

THIS is me when I first learned English, I learned through music.

[Sancho]

I think this is the point Sancho was trying to make, English evolved, who decided when it stopped and became fixed?

I don't think it will, or can't, every generation tries to stamp its mark, and corrupting the language you use is one way of doing this.

'English' is still growing and evolving, the first step to a united world is one language everyone can understand, 'American' English, a simplified version, is idealily placed to do this.

Who invited you and yer big stirring spoon?

[Calos]

I think this is the point Sancho was trying to make, English evolved, who decided when it stopped and became fixed?

I don't think it will, or can't, every generation tries to stamp its mark, and corrupting the language you use is one way of doing this.

'English' is still growing and evolving, the first step to a united world is one language everyone can understand, 'American' English, a simplified version, is idealily placed to do this.

They make more 'sense' with spelling, I half-speak Welsh not fluently and tend to nervously dry up fast talking to a real Welsh speaker, though I remember nain would slap us if we spoke english in her house oO.
Still U.K English is way more complicated when it comes to spelling than American English, so yes I agree with TonyN.

And yes it evolves everyday because it's a _living_ language.
There are a certain number of new words and deffinitions added to the dictionary every year.

peace
cal