Learning a language is not limited to Language itself

If you speak English, you have plenty of people to talk to. People use the English language to communicate in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and other countries. It is spoken in more parts of the world than any other language.

WHY ENGLISH ISN’T REALLY ENGLISH

English is one of the great thieves. It is constantly borrowing. It started out taking words from Latin, Greek, French, and German. Then English went on to borrow words from more than 50 different languages. From Italian, it took cameo, stanza, and violin(小提琴), for example. From Spanish and Portuguese, it borrowed the words alligator(断尾鳄), canyon(大峡谷), and sombrero(大便帽). From Native Americans, it got raccoon(浣熊) and wigwam(棚屋). Peru contributed llama(骆驼) and quinine(奎宁). The Caribbean islands gave English barbecue(烧烤) and cannibal(食人族)(It’s not a Carnival). From Africa came chimpanzee(大猩猩) and zebra(斑马), from India came bandanna(披巾), curry(咖哩), and punch(水果酒), and from Australian aborigines came kangaroo(袋鼠) and boomerang(回旋飞镖).

Science caused an explosion in words. Some words in science combine parts of Greek and Latin words. They include penicillin(青霉素), stethoscope(听诊器), and supersonic(超音速). Others were borrowed from languages spoken today. Robot comes from a Czech word.

The English language has been stealing words for more than 1,500 years. The most complete dictionary of the English language contains a whopping of 600,000 words.

BURPS AND OTHER WAYS ENGLISH EXPANDS

Onomatopoeia (pronounced AHN-uh-MAH-tuh-PEE-uh) is the creation of words that imitate natural sounds, words such as burp and clink. Another way to get new words is adding prefixes and suffixes. Prefixes, such as mis- or ex-, go onto the front of words and create misread, ex-boyfriend, and other words. Suffixes, such as -ness or –ist, attach to the end of words.

Separate words can form compound words, such as bonehead, doghouse and downpour. Words can collapse into each other, such as brunch, from breakfast and lunch. (Wigga = White+Nigger; Sitcom = situation+comedy)

It’s common for new words to grow from previously existing words—for example, to burgle, formed from burglar. The use of words can change. Shower started out meaning “light rain.” It later referred to a bathroom shower, and then became used as a verb, to shower.

WHY SPELLING IS SO TOUGH

English is said to have one of the most difficult spelling systems in the world. Take a look at these four words: anxious, fission, fuchsia, and ocean. They all spell the sh-sound differently. English has 14 different spellings for the sh sound.

Throughout history, the spelling of English words hasn’t changed as much as their sounds have. For example, people once pronounced the k in knife and the gh in right. We no longer say those letters, but we’ve kept the old spelling. English also tends to hold on to the spelling of words it borrows from other languages.

The weirdest examples of differences between spelling and pronunciation in English are the six different pronunciations of ough. Say these words aloud: bough, cough, thorough, thought, through, and rough. Some spellings have lasted from a time when the gh was pronounced in English.

The English language is unusual in the way it borrows and grows. New words are constantly being introduced. The verb to google is a new word that means “to do a fast Internet search.” It comes from the widely used Internet search engine, Google.

HOW DO WE LEARN A LANGUAGE?

The first language you learn to speak is called your native language. As a baby, you listened to your parents or other people speaking and then imitated the sounds you heard. Babies seem to be born with an ability to learn the language they hear.

Native speakers learn as children to use the right words and arrange them in the right order without even thinking about it. If English is your native language, you know automatically that “I going bed” is wrong, but “I am going to bed” is right.

If you learn a second language, you have to memorize its words and learn its rules. That’s why learning a second language can be difficult.

Young children can learn a new language very easily. If they are surrounded by people speaking a different language, they soon learn to speak it as well as their native language.

But as people grow older, it becomes more difficult to learn new languages. People gradually lose the ability to learn the grammar and pronounce the sounds of another language. People who learn a new language as adults usually have a “foreign accent” when they speak it.