Раздел 2. Социально-культурная сфера общения

Тема 1. Language as a Means of Cross-Cultural

Communication

Text 1. EASY ENGLISH?

1. English is an important language – but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to learn. Many experts have tried to make English easier for students to learn … but they weren’t always successful.

2. In 1930, Professor C.K. Ogden of Cambridge University invented Basic English … it had only 850 words (and just eighteen verbs!) and Ogden said most people could learn it in just thirty hours … The problem was that those people who learned Basic English could write and say simple messages … but they couldn’t understand the answers in “real” English! It was also Basic English word list; so if you wanted a water melon, you asked for “a large green fruit with the form of an egg, which has a sweet red inside and a good taste.”

3. R.E. Zachrisson, a university professor in Sweden, decided that the biggest problem for learners of English was spelling … so he invented a language called Anglic. Anglic was similar to English but with much simpler spelling. “Father” became “faadher,” “new” became “nue” … and “years” became “yeerz.” Sadly, Anglic never became popular.

4. Ever easier is the language which ships’ captains use: it’s called “Seaspeak.” Seaspeak uses a few simple phrases for ever possible situation. In “Seaspeak”, for example, you don’t say “I’m sorry, what did you say?” or “I didn’t understand, can you repeat that?” … it’s just “Say again.” No more grammar!

5. In the age of computers and international communication through the Internet, who knows? … a new form of English might appear. A large number of the world’s e-mail messages are in English and include examples of NetLingo like O.I.C. (Oh, I see!) and T.T.Y.L. (Talk to you later). In another fifty years English as we know it might not exist … we will probably all speak fluent Internetish!!

Прочитайте текст и укажите, в каком абзаце говорится:

• about a man who invented a new English with a smaller vocabulary? ¨

• about a man who tried to change the spelling of English? ¨

• whether English is easy? ¨

• about how e-mail is changing English? ¨

• about a form of English which people use at sea? ¨

Text 2. THE FIVE AGES OF ENGLISH

1. Old English.

From about the ninth century, the Vikings – who lived in (1)_______________ and Norway, began to arrive in the north of England. The language people spoke began to change. In the south of England, people began to translate books from Latin into English.

2. Middle English.

In 1066, (2)_________________ and French became the official language. Most educated people had to speak three languages: (3)________________! At this time, English literature began to develop. One of the most famous writers was the poet Geoffrey Chaucer (4) _______________. His language is a little like the English of today.

3. Early Modern English

(1450-1750)

This period includes the time of (5) _____________ - England’s greatest writer. By the end of the seventeenth century, great scientists, like Isaac Newton, wrote in English, not in Latin. The British Empire began, and the English language traveled across the Atlantic (6) ___________, and across Asia _______.

4. Modern English

(1750-1950)

English was now a national language. The first dictionary – (7) ____________ - appeared in 1755, and the first grammar books appeared soon after.

As the British Empire grew in the nineteenth century, English became a more international language. People began to learn English around the world. The (8)____________ textbooks appeared in the 1930s.

5. Late Modern English

(from 1950)

Now, English language teaching is an important international industry. After World War II, the United States became (9) ______________ economic and cultural power in the world, and a world market in audio-visual communication began. CNN International began in 1990s. English became a global language, (10) _____________.

Прочитайте текст и вставьте в пропуски (1-10) буквы (a-j), соответствующие данным ниже фразам:

a) with about two billion speakers

b) first English language

c) to North America … to India

d) what is now Sweden

e) the Normans invaded England

f) in the fourteenth century

g) Johnson’s Dictionary

h) William Shakespeare

i) the most important

j) French, Latin and English.

Text 3. THE FUTURE OF ENGLISH

Have you ever wondered how many people there are who speak English? It’s quite a number! The exact figure is impossible to tell, but it is around 400 million people.

Geographically, English is the most widespread language on earth, and it is second only to Chinese in the number of people who speak it. It is spoken in the British Isles, the USA, Australia, New Zealand and much of Canada and South Africa.

English is also a second language of another 300 million people living in more than 60 countries.

If you add to this the enormous number of the people who learn to understand and speak English (like yourself), you will realize that English is indeed a “world language”.

Did you know?

• 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 most vowels is Sedang, a Vietnamese language, with 55 vowel sounds.

• The language with the least vowel 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.

Прочитайте текст и ответьте на вопросы:

1. Is 400 million people speaking English the exact figure?

2. What language is the first in the number of people who speak it?

3. Is English spoken in Asia?

4. Can English be called a “world language”?

5. How many languages and dialects are spoken in India?

6. What language is the third most wide-spread?

7. What is the largest number of letters in a language? What language is it?

8. What languages have the most and the least vowels?

9. What letter is there in all languages?

Text 4. INSATIABLE BORROWER