The English language originated in England during the early Middle Ages. It developed from dialects spoken by Germanic tribes—the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes—who migrated to the British Isles from modern-day Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands in the 5th century. The language is named after the Angles.
English is a West Germanic language that originated from Ingvaeonic languages brought to Britain in the mid-5th to 7th centuries AD by Anglo-Saxon migrants from what is now northwest Germany, southern Denmark and the Netherlands.
English is the primary native language spoken in countries, such as the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. English is also spoken by a majority of people as a second language in countries, such as Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Sweden in Europe.
The British introduced the English language to the Americas when they reached the lands by sea in the 16th century. At that time, English spelling hadn't been standardized. In America, Noah Webster published his first dictionary in 1806, meanwhile English scholars were producing early English dictionaries.
Old English (Englisc or Ænglisc, pronounced [ˈeŋɡliʃ] or [ˈæŋɡliʃ]), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages.
The inscription translates to: “He has united the Two Lands for his son, Dual King Peribsen,” and it is considered the earliest-known complete sentence. Historians and linguists generally agree that Sumerian, Akkadian and Egyptian are the oldest languages with a clear written record.
With 22 million native speakers and an additional six million who speak it as a second language, Dutch is the third most widely spoken Germanic language in the world (after English and German).
"Inner-circle" countries have large communities of native English speakers; these include the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand, where the majority speaks English – and South Africa, where a significant minority speaks English.
Perhaps the two most iconic English varieties in the world are British and American accents. Both of them have a form of “general” accent which is perceived as more educated or correct than the other varieties, as if having an accent-free speech was a sign of social status.
Very roughly speaking, Modern English's provenance is predominantly Latin (around 29% of modern English words have a Latin origin), French (around 29%), and Germanic (around 26%), but around 5 to 10% of English words come from beyond those three main roots.
Geordie, an English dialect and the people who speak it, is the oldest English dialect still spoken. If you're not a Geordie, it's also probably the hardest for you to understand. The word Geordie refers both to a native of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and to the speech of the inhabitants of that city.
Although English is part of the Germanic language family, Spanish is typically considered to be easier to learn for English speakers than German, so even though English is closer to German, it doesn't mean much.
As one would expect, the English language came from England. Experts believe the language originated from nomads, people who travel from place to place without a specific home. These nomads are believed to have traveled amongst the European plains about 5,000 years ago.
Conclusion. In summary, the most popular languages in the world—be it by the number of native speakers, geographical reach, or global influence—are Chinese, English, and Spanish. While these languages dominate the global stage, the importance of other languages like Arabic, Hindi, and Russian cannot be overlooked.
The four main types of English are: British English, American English, Australian English, and Canadian English. But there are many more different types of English including Indian English, Irish English and more.
Scots, a "sister language" so similar to English some consider it a dialect. Frisian, a close "cousin" to the English language that's still spoken today. Dutch, the closest major language to English. German, a related language that's distant enough to present language learning challenges.
For the oldest still-spoken languages, Hebrew and Arabic are notable. Their written evidence dates back around 3,000 years, and they belong to the Afroasiatic language family, which traces back 20,000 to 10,000 years.
