Перевод текста The World of English с английского на русский

THE WORLD OF ENGLISH

1. English is one of over 2,700 languages in the world today. For 400 million English is their mother tongue, 1.4 billion speak English as a second language and about 750 million as a foreign language. Although it is numerically second to Chinese is not an international language. The reason is that Chinese is too difficult and its speakers occupy one relatively small area, whereas English speakers, thanks to the British Empire, live in every comer of the globe. English is spoken in over 45 countries.

2. English has become the principal means of communication of the modem world. It is the international language of air traffic, sea navigation and space technology. 80 percent of all information in the world’s computers is in English. English is the international language of sport, and words like penalty, goal, football, rugby, golf, tennis, boxing and even ping pong are familiar in every language. To this language Americans added volleyball, basketball and baseball. English is also the language of pop music and jazz all over the world.

3. English has never been pure. The words like mother, father, brother, sister, son, daughter and wife are Saxon and go back to the very beginnings of the language, 1,200 years ago. But 80 percent of all English vocabulary comes from other languages, mainly from Latin, French and Scandinavian. Latin had a considerable influence on English. When the Romans invaded England in 55 BC, they brought with them many military words. In fact, all English towns that end in –chester (Manchester, for example) were originally Roman military bases. In Latin castra means military camp. About 40 percent of the words in modem English come from French (rendezvous and chef, for instance). Breakfast is English, but dinner and supper are French. Words like vendetta and caricature come from Italian; tornado and mosquito from Spanish; kindergarten and hamburger from German; boss from Dutch; shampoo and jungle from Hindu; tundra, duma, pogrom from Russian; and even from Chinese the words tea and typhoon.

4. What is English today? It is the language that is constantly changing, but never really changes. When it becomes necessary, new words are invented or borrowed. The space age gave us count down and splashdown’. American slang like OK and VIP is common all over the world. But with all the innovation, with all dialects and accents English remains English the world over.