English is a Germanic language
of the Indo-European
family. The word English is derived from Englisc, the
language of the Angles, one of the three Germanic tribes that invaded the
British Isles during the 5th century AD. The spread of English beyond the British Isles began with the growth of the British Empire and by the late 19th century it had a
great increase.
"Today there are about 6,000 languages in the
world and half of the world's population speaks only 10 of them. English is the
single most dominant of these 10. British colonialism initiated the spread of
English across the globe; it has been spoken nearly everywhere and has become
even more prevalent since World War II, with the global reach of American power."
(Christine
Kenneally, The First Word. Viking, 2007)
More than two billion people all over the world
use the English language to communicate: over 400 million people are native
speakers and many more speak it as a second or foreign language, and these
numbers increase all the time. It is spoken in more than 75 countries as a
primary language (in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United
Kingdom and the United States, among others) and as a second language (in
India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Singapore, the Philippines and others). The five
countries with the highest populations of native English speakers are, in
descending order: the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and
Ireland.
English is the second largest language by number
of native speakers, after Mandarin Chinese. But Mandarin Chinese is only really spoken in China,
whereas English speakers are found all over the world. This is one of the main
reasons for learning English as a second language.
The knowledge of English is very important
because:
- it´s the official language in a large number
of countries
- it´s the language of
science
- most internet content,
music, films and books are released in English
- it´s a requirement in various fields and
professions like medicine and computing
- it´s the dominant
language of business and it has become a necessity. People in several countries have the opportunity to
get great jobs depending on their capacity to speak English
- it´s the most used language among foreign language speakers. Throughout
the world, when people from different countries come together they usually use
English to communicate.
1. De acordo com o texto “The English language”, é correto afirmar
que:
a) Há aproximadamente 6.000 línguas no mundo e metade da população
mundial fala 10% delas.
b) Uma grande expansão mundial da língua inglesa ocorreu no início
do século XIX.
c) Quase meio bilhão de pessoas falam o inglês como língua
materna.
d) Dos cinco países com o maior número de falantes nativos do
inglês, três são do continente europeu.
e) Tanto o inglês quanto o chinês são falados em dezenas de
países.
2. Marque a alternativa incorreta: A língua inglesa
________________________ .
a) é falada em um grande número de países.
b) tornou-se uma língua mais predominante desde a
Segunda Guerra Mundial.
c) é a língua mais falada no mundo em número de nativos.
d) é geralmente usada quando pessoas de diferentes
países se reúnem.
e) é falada em mais de 70 países como primeira ou
segunda língua.
3. The number of people who
speak English:
a) has been the same for
many years. d) is always on
the rise.
b) is getting smaller and
smaller. e) was bigger
a few years ago.
c) is often unchangeable.
4. According to the text:
a) The growth of the
British Empire did not contribute to the spread of English.
b) Mandarin Chinese has a
large number of native speakers and it´s spoken in all the countries in Asia.
c) In India people speak
only the English language.
d) It´s necessary to speak
English in order to get good jobs.
e) The American power was
essential for the spread of English in the 5th century.
5. “English is spoken
nearly everywhere”. In this sentence the word nearly is the same as:
a) far d)
whereas
b) next to e)
almost
c) nearby
6. The pronoun it (line 4)
refers to:
a) British Isles. d)
spread of English.
b) nineteenth century. e) British Empire.
c) Germanic tribes.
7. Which pair of words from
the text are NOT synonyms?
a) over – more than d) all
over – throughout
b) various – several e)
beyond – about
c) began – initiated
8. The word foreign means:
a) from our own country. d) spoken by
everybody in the world.
b) very easy to learn. e) from
another part of the world.
c) too difficult to learn.
By Milton França/2014
