Task 1. Look at the subtitles of the text and predict what information about the English language and its history you will find. Task 2. Read and translate the text:

THE DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLISH

The English language is the most widely spoken language in the world. It is used as either a primary or secondary language in many countries.

During the 1500's, fewer than 2 million people spoke English. All of them lived in what is now Great Britain. Through the centuries, as the result of various historical events, English spread throughout the world. Today, about 400 million people speak English as their native language. Most of them live in Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United States.

Another 100 million people chiefly live in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and in many African countries.

Origins. The earliest source of the English language was a prehistoric language that modern scholars call Proto-Indo-European (PIE). PIE was probably spoken about 5,000 years ago by people who lived in the area north of the Black Sea, in southeastern Europe. These people migrated through the centuries and gradually developed new languages. One group migrated west and divided into groups who spoke languages that were the ancestors of the Germanic, Greek, and Latin tongues. The Germanic languages developed into English, Danish, Dutch, German, Norwegian, and Swedish. The ancient Greek language developed into modern Greek, and early Latin into French, Italian, and Spanish.

The earliest known language in Britain was spoken by a people called the Celts. The Romans started to conquer the Celts in A.D. 43 and ruled much of Britain until the early 400's, when they returned to Rome. During the mid-400's, Germanic people who lived along the North Sea invaded Britain. The invaders belonged to three main tribes - the Angles, the Jutes, and the Saxons. All three tribes spoke their own Germanic dialect, but they probably understood one another. The Angles settled in central Britain. This area became known as Angle-Land and, eventually, as England. The language of the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes became known as English.

The history of the English language can be divided into three main periods. The language of the first period, which began about 500 and ended about 1100, is called Old English. During the next period, from about 1100 to 1485, the people spoke Middle English. The language of the period from about 1485 to the present is known as Modern English.

Old English was mainly a mixture of the Germanic languages of the Angles, Jutes, and Saxons. Old English resembles modern German more than modern English. Old English had as many inflections as modern German, and its word order and pronunciation resembled those of modern German.

The vocabulary of Old English was chiefly Germanic, though some words came from the language of the Celts. The Germanic people had learned some Latin words while they lived on the European continent. These people brought some of those words to the British Isles and added them to Old English. More Latin words were added during the 500's and the 600's, when Christianity spread in England.

During the late 800's, Viking invaders from Denmark and Norway settled in northeast England. As a result, many words from Scandinavian languages became part of Old English. Gradually, many inflections of Old English were dropped. People also began to put words into a more regular order and it used more prepositions to indicate relationships between words.

Middle English. In 1066, England was conquered by the Normans, a people from the area in France that is now called Normandy. Their leader, William the Conqueror, became king of England. The Normans took control of all English institutions, including the government and the church.

Most of the English people continued to speak English. However, many of the members of the upper class in England learned Norman French because they wanted influence and power. The use of French words eventually became fashionable in England.

The Normans intermarried with the English and, through the years, became increasingly distant – socially, economically, and culturally – from France. The Normans began to speak English in daily life. By the end of the 1300's, the French influence had declined sharply in England. English was used again in the courts and in business affairs, where French had replaced it.

Modern English. By about 1485, English had lost most of its Old English inflections, and its pronunciation and word order closely resembled those of today. During this period, the vocabulary of English expanded by borrowing words from many other languages. Beginning in the 1600's, the language spread throughout the world as the English explored and colonized Africa, Australia, India, and North America. Different dialects of the English language developed in these areas. Today, English is the international language of science and technology. English is also used throughout the world in business and diplomacy.

Supplementary vocabulary:

The Celts – кельти;

The Angles – англи;

The Saxons – сакси;

The Jutes – юти;

The Vikings – вікінги;

Normandy – Нормандія (у Франції);

preposition – прийменник;

inflection – флексія;

singular – однина;

plural – множина;

to intermarry - змішуватися; породнятися.