THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

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 5^th century AD. The spread of English beyond the British Isles began with the growth of the British Empire and by the late 19^th 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 5^th 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