АНГЛИЙСКИЙ ЯЗЫК — ЯЗЫК МЕЖДУНАРОДНОГО ОБЩЕНИЯ

Interesting facts About 5,000 languages and dialects are still spoken in the world today. About 845 come from India. After English and Chinese, the next commonly spoken language is Spanish. Sixty-five different alphabets are used in the world today. The language with most letters is Cambodian. It has 72 letters! The language with the most vowels is Sedang, a Vietnamese language, with 55 vowel sounds. The language with the least vowels is Abkhazian. It has only 2 vowel sounds! Chippewa, the North American Indian language of Minnesota, has 6,000 verb forms! No language is known without the vowel a. In Shakespeare's time only a few million people spoke English. All of them lived in what is now Great Britain. Through the centuries, as a result of various historical events, English spread throughout the world. Five hundred years ago they didn't speak English in North America: the American Indians had their own languages. So did the Eskimos in Canada, the aborigines in Australia, and the Maoris in New Zealand. The English arrived and set up their colonies... Today, English is represented in every continent and in the three main oceans — the Atlantic, the Indian and the Pacific. Insatiable borrower English is mixing with and marrying other languages around the world. It is probably the most insatiable borrower. Words newly coined or in vogue in one language are very often added to English as well. There are words from 120 languages in its vocabulary, including Arabic, French, German, Greek, Italian, Russian, and Spanish. French influence Have you ever wondered why the English language has different words for animals and meats? When William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066, French became the official language of the court. The English would look after the animals and cook the meat, still calling the animals pig, sheep and cow. The Normans, when they saw the cooked meat arrive at their table, would use French words — pork mutton and beef. An amazing 10,000 loan words entered English during this period, including such words as table, chair, carpet, country, state, nation, law, army, battle, peace, design, beauty, romance — and, of course, many words for food. Other “Englishes” Other languages absorb English words too, often giving them new forms and new meanings. So many Japanese, French, Spanish and Germans mix English words with their mother tongues that the resulting hybrids are called Japlish, Franglais, Spangiish and Denglish. In Japanese, for example, there is a verb Makudonaru, to eat at McDonald's. The most overworked word in English is the word set. It has 126 verbal uses and 58 noun uses.• The newest letters added to the English alphabet are *j* and 'v', which are of post-Shakespearean use. The largest English-language dictionary is the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary, with 21,728 pages. The commonest English name is Smith. There are about 800,000 people called Smith in England and Wales, and about 1,700,000 in the USA. Some facts about English There were only 30,000 words in Old English. Modem English has the largest vocabulary in the world — more than 600,000 words. There are about 60,000 words in common use. About 450-500 words are added to the English vocabulary every year. 70 per cent of the English vocabulary are loan words and only 30 per cent of the words are native. The most frequently used words in writ­ten English are: the, of, and, to, a, w, that, is, I, it, for and as. The most frequently used word in conversation is I. The longest word in the English language is pneumonoultamicroscopicsiiicovolcanoconiosis (a lung disease), with 45 letters. The longest words in common use are disproportionableness and incomprehensibilities (21 letters). The commonest letter is *e\ More words begin with the letter's' than any other. Different languages? A century ago, some linguists predicted that one day England, America, Australia and Canada would be speaking different languages. Noah Webster, for example, said that American English would be 'as different from the future language of England, as Dutch and Swedish are from German, or from one another*. But with the advent of records, cinema, radio, and television, the two brands of English have begun to draw back together again. Britons and Americans probably speak more alike today than they did 50 or 60 years ago. (In the 1930s and 1940s, for example, American films were dubbed in England. It's no longer the practice today.) Canadian English, Australian English, South African English, and many other 'Englishes' scattered around the world are coming increasingly to resemble one another. A global language People have long been interested in having one language that could be spoken throughout the world. Such a language would help to increase cultural and economic ties and simplify communication between people. Through the years, at least 600 universal languages have been proposed, including Esperanto. About 10 million people have learned Esperanto since its creation in 1887, but English, according to specialists, has better chances to become a global language. So why not learn it? Did you know? • 80% of all information in the world's computers is in English. • 75% of the world's letters and faxes are in English. • 60% of all international telephone calls are made in English. • More than 60% of all scientific journals are written in English. 1. How many words did Shakespeare use? a) 300 b) 3,000 c) 30,000 2. How many native words are there in the English language? a) 70% b) 50% c) 30% 3.Which English word has the most definitions? a) set b)get c) have 4. What language did William the Conqueror speak? a) French b) English c) German 5. Which is the most common letter in English?a) ‘e’b) ‘a’c) ‘i’ 6. Which is the least common letter in English?a) 'x'b) ‘q’c) ‘z’ 7. What is the capital of Canada? a) Montreal b) Ottawa c) Adelaide 8. The British ask for the bill in a restaurant at the end of the meal. What do Americans ask for? a) the check b) the receipt c) the script 9. In British English, it's called a 'mobile', what's it called in the US? a) a handy b) a cell phone c) a portable phone 10.Which word is used more in American English than British English? a) mom b) mum c) mummy GLOBAL ENGLISH QUIZ 11. What is the capital of Australia? a) Sydney b) Canberra c) Melbourne 12. What is the capital city of New Zealand? a) Sydney b) Oakland c) Wellington 13. In Cockney, 'I don't Adam and Eve you' means a) I don't love you b) I don't understand you c) I don't believe you 14. Which of these 'drink' words was borrowed from Arabic? a) wine b) juice c) alcohol 15. What language is the word 'sauna' from? a) Swedish b) Dutch c) Finnish 16. Which famous fast food comes from Germany? a) pizza b) hamburger c) sandwich 17.What language is 'robot' from? a) Czech b) Polish c) Hungarian 18.What country are 'harakiri', 'kimono' and 'karate* from? a) China b) Japan c) Spain 19. Which of the following English words are not French borrowings? a) table, wardrobe, chair b) army, battle, peace c) father, king, pig 20. What country are ‘opera’ 'soprano’, 'concerto' and 'piano’ from?a) Italyb) Spainc) Portugal 21. How many new words are added to the English vocabulary each year? a) about 50 b) about 300 c) about 500 22. Where do the majority of computer terms come from? a) the UK b) the USA c) Australia 23. Which word is most frequently used in conversation? a) Yes b)No c)I 24. Which words are most frequently used in written English? a) boy, girl, love b) money, business, bank c) a, the. and 25. What do the British say before a meal? a)Bon appetite! b) Bless you' c) nothing 26. What's the correct question tag in this polite request? Open the window, ___ you? a) will b)do c) please 27. If someone says 'Cheerio', what do they mean? a) Goodbye. b) Hello. c) Thank you. 28. What should you say in English if someone sneezes? a) How's it going? b) Bless you! c) Can I help you? 29. What would you say if you wanted to sit down in a busy place? a) Excuse me, is this seat busy? b) Let me take this seat, please. c) Excuse me, is this seat taken? 30. What is a polite response to 'Thank you very much? a) Of course! b) The same to you! c) You're welcome! 31. What do you say in a shop if you only want to look and not buy? a) I'm just browsing. b) I'm just viewing. c) I'm just shoplifting. 32. To tell someone who you are on the phone, which of the following is the most natural? a) Ifs Tom. b) I'm Tom. c) Tom speaking. 33. The sentence 'Madam, I'm Adam' is spelled the same from left to right and from right to left. It is... a) an anagram b) a palindrome c) a puzzle TOO MANY COOKS SPOIL THE BROTH There are proverbs and sayings in every language.They are handed down from generation to generation and are supposed to have a universal value, People use them to give a word of advice or of warning, or a wise general comment on a situation. In fact, our daily conversation would seem rather dull without them. Some English and Russian proverbs are common and can be translated word by word from one language into another. For example, 'There's no smoke without fire' has the Russian equivalent «нет дыма без огня». With others, the meaning of the proverb can be expressed in different ways. For example, 'Once bitten, twice shy' can be expressed in Russian by «обжегшись на молоке, будешь дуть и на воду» or «пуганная ворона куста боится». Below are some English proverbs. See if you can match them with their Russian equivalents. 1. Still waters run deep. 2. Birds of a feather flock together. 3. The leopard cannot change his spots, 4. Every cloud has a silver lining. 5. Rome was not built in a day. 6. Blood is thicker than water. 7. Necessity is the mother of invention. 8. Don't carry coals to Newcastle. 9. Haste makes waste. 10. Too many cooks spoil the broth. 11. Like father, like son. 12. Every family has a black sheep. 13. Make hay while the sun shines. 14. There is no place like home. 15. You can take a horse to the water, but you cannot make him drink, а. Москва не сразу строилась. b. Своя рубашка ближе к телу. с. Поспешишь — людей насмешишь. d. В тихом омуте черти водятся. е. У семи нянек дитя без глазу. f. В семье не без урода. g. Горбатого могила исправит. h. Рыбак рыбака видит издалека. i. В гостях хорошо, а дома лучше. j. Яблоко от яблони недалеко падает. k. В Тулу со своим самоваром не ездят. l. Насильно мил не будешь. m. Нет худа без добра. n. Куй железо, пока горячо. о. Голь на выдумки хитра. Can you complete the following proverbs? 1. When the cat is away 2. Where there's a will 3. Better late 4. Look 5. What's done 6. An apple a day 7. One man's meat 8. Honesty 9. A new broom 10. All's well 11. A friend in need 12. A bird in the hand 13. No news 14. So many men, 15. All that glitters a) that ends well. b) is not gold. c) is another man's poison. d) sweeps clean. e) is a friend indeed. f)is worth two in the bush. g) is good news. h) keeps the doctor away. i) so many minds. j) the mice will play. k) can't be undone. l) is the best policy. m) than never. n) before you leap. o) there's a way. EMOTICONS Another way of expressing yourself is to send an Emoticon with your message — a little sideways face which shows how you're feeling. Made from punctuation marks on your keypad, they take up very little space. The basic smiling face is just a colon, a dash and a close bracket :-) and yet when you rotate it. it becomes a smile. :> devilish grin :-* kiss :-| not talking %-}- silly :/)- not funny :-*- oops! The examples below are the basic emoticons in use: :-|| angry:-( sad:-) happy:-)) vary happy%-) confused:’-( crying:-D laughing:-0 shocked END THE