7 interesting facts about the English language

Knowledge is power. A layfhakeru knowledge is needed twice. In this series of articles we collect for you fascinating and sometimes surprising facts about the world around us. We hope that they will show you not only interesting but also practically useful.

Today difficult to live without the knowledge of the English language. It is the language of international communication, trade and new technologies. With it, you will be able to discover new knowledge, to feel confident in any situation, to achieve greater career success. Learning English can be not only very useful but also really interesting occupation. This will help make sure our selection of facts.

Statistics

Although English is only the third place in the list of the most popular, the total number of people speaking in English, more than a billion. This is about one in seven Earthman. But do not think that most English speakers living in the United States and England. For example, Nigeria is home to more native speakers of English than in England. And in Sweden, 89% of people know this language.

Britain and the US

In the linguistic sphere between the two countries there are rather vague relations. During the struggle for independence and building the young American state attempts to come up with a Own the American language, what is particularly excelled Noah Webster (Noah Webster), who published his "American Dictionary of the English language. " And in Illinois until 1969 there was a law forbidding to speak English. As an official language of the State instructed to use the American language. However, now researchers in the US isolated as many as 24 a dialect of English. Not surprisingly, the publishers had transfer Harry Potter books from English into American.

letters

• Most often used in English letter EAnd least likely - Q.
• Everyone knows that the letters in the English language are pronounced quite differently. Here is a good example: He believed Caesar could see people seizing the seas (It is believed that Caesar had seen people challenging the sea). In this proposal, the sound [i:] passed seven different letter combinations.
• English alphabet once numbered more than one letter. This letter was a symbol &.
• If you remove the last four letters of the word queue (All), it does not change its pronunciation.

The words

In any language, there are unusual words stand out from the total number of interesting writing or sound. Here are some examples of English.

• The longest English word without a vowel - rhythms (Rhythms).
• In the English language there is a word with a vowel, which is repeated six times - indivisibility (unity).
• The most valued word in the English language - set. It has 44 basic values ​​for the verb, noun 17 values, seven values ​​for the adjective and several hundreds of different embodiments. So that the translation of the word insidious need to be especially careful.
• Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis - the longest word that denotes the name of the disease and is translated into Russian like this: "Lung disease caused by inhalation of particles of volcanic origin, or other kind of fine dust." Most interesting is that this disease does not really exist.
• From 1932 to 1940, due to a typographical error the word present in the dictionary of the English language, which had no value. This word dord, Also known as "the word of a ghost."

suggestions

• The most difficult tongue twister in the English language: The sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick.
• Sentence The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog (The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog) is unique in that it contains all the letters of the English alphabet. That is why it is used to demonstrate a variety of fonts.
• Most short English sentences that contain the subject and predicate - is I am and I do.
• The longest sentence in prose fiction in English has 13,955 words ( "Club Rakalj" Jonathan Coe).

Story

• English appeared in the early Middle Ages in the Germanic tribes (!), Who invaded Britain after the departure of the Romans it.
• Word bride (Bride) comes from an old German word for the process of cooking.
• The oldest words are in English I (I), we (we), two (Two) three (three). Linguists believe that they were several thousand years ago.
• Word goodbye (Farewell) once fully sounded like God be with ye (Old English, "Yes Lord be with you").
• Until the XV century in the English language was not punctuation.

Wealth and Poverty

There is a theory that the English language was so widespread because of its simplicity and uniqueness. However, it is not so. In English, most words (about 800 000) and the richest synonymous ranks. For example, for the word drunk (Drunk), there is synonymous with 2241, and this result is even recorded in the Guinness Book of Records. In addition, English is one of the fastest growing languages. Every 98 minutes a new word appears in conversational practice.

And yet 90% of texts written in English, use no more than 1 000 different words. And for ordinary everyday communication is sufficient to know the 1 500-2 000 words.

And what interesting facts you know about the English language?