English around the world - UK

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English around the world

By Maria João Mocho

25th November 2015

United Kingdom

The Language of the Empire: “the Sun never sets on the English

language”…

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SUMMARY

Short history of the United Kingdom

Short history of the English language

Introduction

Cultural, social and economic aspects of the country

Lingua franca

The future…

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is formed by four countries:

England Scotland Wales Northern Ireland

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The Four Countries of

THE UNITED KINGDOMSCOTLAND

ENGLAND

WALES

NORTHERN IRELAND

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The Capitals of

THE UNITED KINGDOM

EDINBURGH

CARDIFFLONDON

BELFAST

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England has existed as a unified entity since the 10th century.

The union between England and Wales began in 1284 and was formalized in 1536

with an Act of Union.

With another Act of Union, in 1707, England and Scotland agreed to join as Great

Britain.

The legislative union of Great Britain and Ireland was implemented in 1801, with the

adoption of the name of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

The Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921 formalized a partition of Ireland – six northern Irish

counties remained part of the UK as Northern Ireland and the current name of the

country (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) was adopted in 1927.

UK history in dates

History of the UK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tC0vu2JInhM

UK symbols:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9eK9fWUb3s&list=RDG9eK9fWUb3s

The national anthem / hymn

The National Flag

The Union Flag or “Union Jack”

Do you know where it comes from? 12

It is made up of the individual flags of 3 of the kingdom’s countries, all united under one sovereign – England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. As Wales was not a kingdom, but a principality, it could not be included on the flag.

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The Union Jack dates from 1801. It consists of the Red Cross of Saint George, patron Saint of England, edged in white ...

“This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England”

William Shakespeare, “King Richard III”

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superimposed on the Saltire of Saint Andrew, patron Saint of Scotland

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which are superimposed on the Cross of Saint Patrick, patron Saint of Ireland

However, Wales is not represented on the Union Flag by its patron Saint (Saint David) or the dragon.

16Slides created by Margarita Cartujo Losada

Political system

The UK is a constitucional

monarchy and a parliamentary

democracy, with a queen and a

parliament that has two houses: the

House of Lords and the House of

Commons.

Queen Elizabeth II

Languages of the United Kingdom

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The de facto official language of UK is English, which is spoken

by 98% of the population .

The 2nd most -spoken language in UK is Scots.

The 4th most-spoken language is Welsh (the only de jure official

language in any part of the UK).

There are 3 other living languages indigenous in the country: Scottish Gaelic, Irish and

Cornish, besides several regional dialects.

Main immigrant languages: Polish (the 3rd most-spoken language in UK), Punjabi, Hindustani…

Main foreign languages: French, German, Spanish.

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Big English stars!!

William Shakespeare was a poet and a playwright considered as the most important writer of English language and most influent playwright of the world. He is often called the national poet of England and “The Bard of Avon” or simply “The Bard”.

William ShakespeareStratford-upon-Avon,

1564 - 1616

“To be or not to be: that’s the question”

Hamlet

As far as we know, he has writen 38 plays, 154 sonets and other poems. His plays were translated to the main languages of the world and are still staged more than those of other authors. Many of his writings, specialy dramas, remain alive and are often revisited by theater, TV, cinema and literature. Most well-known dramas and comedies: Hamlet, Macbeth, Otelo, Antony and Cleopatra, King Lear, Henry IV, Henry VIII, Richard III, The Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet.

https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLEtGRUrtJo

All you need is Love...

Tourism – best beauties spots:

Big Ben

LONDON:

Tower Bridge

Tower of London

Buckingham Palace

Westminster Abbey

St. Paul’s Cathedral

Houses of Parliament

Natural History Museum

Museum of London

OTHER:

Edinburgh Castle (Scotland)

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/uks-top-50-landmarks-how-2204163

The London Eye

Stonehenge (Wiltshire, England)

Windsor Castle (Berkshire, England)

Roman Baths (Bath, England)

Loch Ness (Inverness, Scotland)

Avebury Stone Circle (Wilts, England)

Lake Windermere (Cumbria, England)

Snowdonia (Wales)

TEMPLES OF KNOWLEDGE…

Trinity College Dublin Library

Oxford University Bodleian Libraries

Library of Birmingham

http://www.slideshare.net/thewikiman/what-is-the-most-popular-activity-in-the-uk-the-answer-may-surprise-you?from_action=save

What is the most popular activity in the UK??...

Liverpool Central Library

Signet Library (Edinburgh)

British Library

John Rylands Library (Manchester) Peckham Library (London)

Some of the best universities in the world…

MOOC’s: Massive Open Online Courses

https://www.coursera.org/

Also in the Web…

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Short History of Immigration in UK

At the end of the Second World War there were work shortages in Europe and labour

shortages in Britain. Then, the government began looking for immigrants.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/uk/2002/race/short_history_of_immigration.stm

During the two world wars, hundreds of thousands of men from

across the Empire fought for Britain.

Some 157.000 Poles were the first groups to be allowed to settle in the UK, partly

because of ties made during the war years. They were joined by Italians, but it was not

enough to meet the need.

Despite some reluctance to allow immigration from the fast-disappearing empire, the

government could not recruit enough people from Europe and turned to these men.

On 22 June 1948, hundreds of men arrived London from the West Indies. That day would

become a massive change to British society – the start of mass immigration to the UK and

the arrival of different cultures.

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Almost 70 years after the start of mass immigration to the UK,

questions are still being asked about whether, or not, the UK can

become a multi-ethnic society at ease with itself – or whether there is

still a l o n g r o a d t o b e t r a v e l l e d…

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POPULATION

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MIGRATION – STATISTICS/GRAPHICS

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https://www.visitbritain.org/2014-snapshot

2014

How did English become the world’s most widely spoken language?

33http://blog.esl-languages.com/blog/learn-languages/english/english-language-global-number-one/

500 hundred years ago, between 5 – 6 million people spoke English, almost all of them

living in the British Isles. Now, up to 1,8 bilion people around the world speak English.

The growth of English has nothing to do with the structure of the language, and everything

to do with politics.

After developing for almost a millennium on the British Isles, English was taken around the

world by the sailors, soldiers, pilgrims, traders and missionaires of the British Empire. This

way, English reached all corners of the globe.

The British Empire expanded across almost a quarter of the world’s surface (besides USA,

where English was the dominant language).

34https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e0wvPPQkFE

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The British Empire was the largest empire in History .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire

It included the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the UK.

It originated with the overseas possessions and trading posts established by England between the late 16th and early 18th centuries. For over a century, it was the foremost GLOBAL POWER.

By 1922 the British Empire had about 458 million people, 1/5 of the world’s population at that time, almost a quarter of the Earth's total land area.

As a result, its political, legal, linguistic and cultural legacy is widespread.

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British Empire in dates 1497-1583: Origins

1583-1783: “First” British Empire

1783-1815: “Second” British Empire

1815-1914: Britain’s imperial century

1914-1945: World wars

1945-1997: Decolonisation and decline

“Gone but not forgotten”…

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In most of the British Empire, the main goal was trade, so, it was the language of business,

administration and education, but not the language of the people.

Post-independence, many countries became officially multilingual for the first time, but

the various groups needed to communicate with each other and with other nations, then,

again, that was English.

For a long time, access to English meant access to education. This created an English-

speaking elite in some populous countries (like India), and elites are good at self-

preservation.

Nowadays, English remains an important language in all former colonies.

English is the dominant or official language in 75 territories - a direct legacy of the British

Empire.

“Gone but not forgotten”…

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In countries where large settler colonies were formed, such as Australia, Canada and the

USA, native languages and cultures have been almost extinguished by English.

The rise of the USA in the 20th century gave English its international status.

However, it was not the first language of European colonialism (like Portuguese and Dutch),

and, in the 19th century, it was not the world’s lingua franca (French was the first language

of international communication).

While Europe was rebuilding after the World War II, the USA boomed…

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The soft power… The influence of American business, combined with the tradition of English left around the

world by the British Empire, have made English the number one language of international

trade in the 21st century.

But the cultural legacy of the post-war decades (in music, rock and roll, jazz, disco, hip

hop, Hollywood movies, American television series) is also very important to the growth of

English as a world language. American culture was everywhere, radiating success.

In music, also British bands were world known – the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Queen,

Pink Floyd, the Police, Led Zepelin…

The hippy movement came from San Francisco and London.

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The language of Marketing, Science and Technology…

The global power of the USA coincided with the birth of popular

computing and English is the language of the technological

revolution and the Internet.

The USA remains the most innovative technological nation.

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The future??... Some people suggest English will remain number one because it’s “easy to learn” or

specially flexible, but a glance in the past shows that this is irrelevant – in spite its complexity,

Latin was Europe’s most influential language for over a thousand years, and its descendents

are still strong. People learned Latin then for the same reasons they learn English now: to be

successful and have access to knowledge. However, nowadays Latin is only spoken by priests

and scholars.

Languages and borders change over time, but, at least during the next decades, English

problably will remain the world’s number one language…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azxoVRTwlNg

“Whatever will be, will be”…

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Be happy!!

Thank’s a lot!