First Partial Journal Activity - The History of the English Language by Laura Howard

This article is about how the influence of different countries in Britain has changed the English language. It also says that English is one of the most important languages in the world, after Mandarin Chinese. English is spoken in many powerful countries in the globe. The author explains us that English language doesn’t start in England, but in what is now Germany.  Then she explains Old, Middle, Early Modern English and Today’s English. The Old English was originally spoken by Germanic people who invaded Britain in the 5th Century AD.  At first they didn’t have an extended vocabulary. Then the Vikings invaded Britain around the 8th Century adding other words to the English language. The Middle English period started in 1066 when the Normans invaded Britain, they dramatically changed the language introducing a kind of French.  This period came to an end in 1204. The Early Modern English period started in the Renaissance around 1500 and 1800, in this period Europe brought many Greek and Latin words. English is related with all these languages mentioned above. The Early Modern English period came to an end in the invention of the printing press; this brought the standardization on English language because many people could read and their English was improved. English now-a-days have many technological words because of the industrial revolution. The author makes emphasis on the importance of the origin of English language.

The audience of this article should be the English speakers because they’re interested on their speaking language. Also the English Learners because with this article they can understand better the origin of English language. Another type of audience is the teachers because they would want to understand better this kind of topic so they can teach better.

The main purpose of this article is to inform about the origin of English language, how it was developing through centuries. It was also made to improve education in this topic.

The tone of this article is informal because of her way to write this article, including her opinions and judgments. It doesn’t look like a formal document.

The way she wrote her article is unprofessional because she says things like “our beautiful language” and maybe for some people think that English is not beautiful. Also the comment she wrote at the end of the article “I thought I should list my sources, otherwise I'd be at risk of plagiarism” is not really necessary and is not related to the topic. Anyway, she gave good facts about English history and a good structure in her explanations, like for example she organized the text with an introduction and then she explained Old, Middle, Early Modern and Today’s English with many details and examples, finally she ends the article with a conclusion.

http://anglik.net/englishlanguagehistory.htm

http://www.englishclub.com/english-what.htm

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Helium, Inc., 200 Brickstone Square Andover, MA 01810 USA

http://www.helium.com/items/262926-the-history-of-the-english-language

First Partial Journal Activity - The History of the English Language by Sammy Stein

This article talks about how English evolved from many years ago. The author starts with a brief description about how the English language has been changing in vocabulary overtime. This happened because England was desired by many civilizations and invaded by others. The first major change was when Vikings arrived and they brought some words from their language. After that the Romans invaded Britain and brought many Latin words. Then other rulers from Spain came to Britain and brought Spanish words to their vocabulary. The author mentions that English Language is unique because of the several changes in their vocabulary. She also says that English is the second most common language in the world, but even though it is the second, there are many other countries in which they communicate in English. She believes that language will still evolve in the next centuries.

The audiences of this article are the English students because they want to have a wider idea about the origin of the language they’re studying. Teachers are another audience because they try to understand better this language so they can have a better idea of what they’re teaching. Native speakers of English would be another type of audience because they would be interested in the history of their own speaking language.

The purpose of this article is to inform about the history of English, how the words were added or changed in English vocabulary.  The author also expresses different opinions about this language.

It is written in an informal tone because she gives opinions and not just facts about English language. She caught my attention with her first question “Do you speak English?” because she starts telling interesting information that makes you want to read the rest of the article. 

I really liked the way she wrote this article, like if she was talking to a friend. I understood all the text without any complication because she included many examples to make it clear.

She shows an organized list of events that gives us a better understanding in how English language was evolving and changing throughout centuries. Even though she didn’t include too many details, it was a good article because she explained all with examples to make it easier to understand.

I agree that English is the second most common language in the world, because I did some research and found out that Chinese was the first common language.

Copyright © 2002-2008 Helium, Inc. All rights reserved.

Helium, Inc., 200 Brickstone Square Andover, MA 01810 USA

http://www.helium.com/items/880886-the-history-of-the-english-language

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First Partial Journal Activity - The History of the English Language by Lucy Rucker

This article talks about the history of English, how it was formed throughout time and how English language was originated mainly from Britain, but also from other countries. It also mentions the evolutions of English language in: Old, Middle and Modern English. The Old English is situated after the year of eleven hundred, it would be rather difficult to read and understand it now-a-days. The Middle English is located between the twelfth and the fifteenth centuries, there are actual words which have disappeared because they had no meaning, the order of words was reorganized and show new and different meanings. The Modern English is the one we’re using now-a-days, phonics and spellings were improved. The author wrote some common difficulties in English language, like words with different meanings, the modifications of English in some countries, etc.

She thinks that English is the most complex language in the entire world because it’s a combination of some other languages like Anglo-Norman-French and Latin. What she expects from English language is constantly developing in vocabulary, grammar, etc.

The audiences of this article are the English Learners because they want to find out how English became the most important language in the world, and mainly to know the origin of it. Also the English Teachers would be another type of audience because for teaching English they want to be more informed about this language.

Its main purpose is to inform people about the history of the English Language, how it was formed and its origin. Another purpose is to express the author’s (Lucy Rucker) ideas about this language.

It is written in an informal tone because she says things like “in my opinion” or  “we now have the language we love the most” in these phrases we can see that she wanted to express her ideas and not just facts about English language.

I think her research was complete because she explained the most basic things about English Language, even though she also could include more aspects about it, I think the message is clear and easy to understand.

I don’t agree that English is the most difficult language to learn because almost every language has its complications, like for example the combinations of other languages or different meanings with their words, etc. I really don’t think English is that difficult because if it was that complicated, then people wouldn’t choose it as a lingua franca.

Copyright © 2002-2008 Helium, Inc. All rights reserved.

Helium, Inc., 200 Brickstone Square Andover, MA 01810 USA

http://www.helium.com/items/878494-the-history-of-the-english-language

What should learn English as a lingua franca or “formal” English?

In my opinion, I prefer learning English as a lingua franca because in that way you can communicate with people around the world and not specifically leave your culture behind. A clearly example would be when Spaniards arrived to Mexico; Mexican people were forced to learn Spanish and leave behind their language and some of their cultures. What some people try to prevent is to lose their cultures because those are aspects that defines who we’re becoming.

Learning English as a lingua franca may be more difficult than learning the language just after you were born, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. If you learn English as your second or third language doesn’t mean you will never be able to talk as a native speaker; in fact not all native speakers are competent users of English, some of them have a limited vocabulary or a low grammatical competence. 

Anyway, if your first language is English you’ll not be forced to learn another language because it is not really necessary, but on the other hand, people who doesn’t have English as a native language will have the necessity of learning another language and that will help them to increase their knowledge.