Many English words used today come from these ancient Vikings. These temporary bases sometimes became permanent. In some areas, the Vikings became so powerful they built temporary bases. They were looking to capture trade goods and slaves and take away anything of value. The Vikings came from Denmark, Norway and other northern countries. Fierce people called Vikings raided the coast areas of Britain. The next great invasion of Britain came from the far north beginning about one thousand one hundred years ago. Listen as Warren Scheer reads the beginning of this ancient story. A new book by Seamus Heaney tells this ancient story in modern English. He was a good king, well liked by his people. The name of the person who wrote it is not known.īeowulf is the story of a great king who fought against monsters. Experts say it was written in Britain more than one thousand years ago. Perhaps the most famous is called Beowulf. Several written works have survived from the Old English period. Only a few experts can read this earliest form of English. Old English is extremely difficult to understand. The result is what is called Anglo-Saxon or Old English. Through the years, the Saxons, Angles and Jutes mixed their different languages. Some escaped to live in the area that became Wales. The Celts and the invaders fought.Īfter a while, most of the Celts were killed, or made slaves. These groups found a people called the Celts, who had lived in Britain for many thousands of years. Later two more groups crossed to Britain. The Angles were a German tribe who crossed the English Channel. The first invasions were by a people called Angles about one thousand five hundred years ago. The invaders lived along the northern coast of Europe.
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The English language is a result of the invasions of the island of Britain over many hundreds of years. Ancient German became Dutch, Danish, German, Norwegian, Swedish and one of the languages that developed into English. Yet it left behind three great languages that became modern Spanish, French and Italian. These include the languages that became ancient Greek, ancient German and the ancient Latin. Yet, Proto-Indo-European is believed to be the ancestor of most European languages. Researchers do not really know what it sounded like.
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Where did the English language come from? Why has it become so popular? To answer these questions we must travel back in time about five thousand years to an area north of the Black Sea in southeastern Europe.Įxperts say the people in that area spoke a language called Proto-Indo-European. English is the common language in this country where at least twenty-four languages are spoken by more than one million people. In countries where many different languages are spoken, English is often used as an official language to help people communicate. English is the official language of more than seventy-five countries including Britain, Canada, the United States, Australia, and South Africa.
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School children in the Philippines and Japan begin learning English at an early age. International treaties say passenger airplane pilots must speak English.Įnglish is the major foreign language taught in most schools in South America and Europe. It has become the international language of science and medicine. English is the language of political negotiations and international business. More people are trying to learn English than any other language in the world. Today we present the first of two programs about the history of the English Language. And this is Shirley Griffith with the VOA Special English program EXPLORATIONS.