Unit 9. English in the World

1. Phonetic drills.

1) Say after the teacher

language

Chinese

Portuguese

Japanese

figure

technical

Christianity

chemistry

monarchy

Australian

dialect

/d'aɪəlekt/

/l'æŋɡwɪdʒ/

/t'eknɪkəl/

/m'ɒnəʳki/

/ɒstr'eɪliən/

/p'ɔːʳtʃʊɡ'i:z/

/kr'ɪsti'ænɪti/

/f'ɪɡəʳ/

/k'emɪstri/

/dʒ'æpən'i:z/

/tʃ'aɪn'i:z/

2) Read and translate the proverbs:

So many languages you know, so many times you are a person.

2. Learn the new words:

1. language /l'æŋɡwɪdʒ/ язык; мова

2. vocabulary /vəʋ’kæbjə‚lerɪ/ словарный состав; словниковий склад

3. success /sək’ses/ успех; успіх

4. to acquire /ə’kwaɪər/ приобретать, получать; набувати

5. estimate /’estə‚meɪt/ оценивать, подсчитывать приблизительно; оцінювати

6. astonishing /ə’stɒnɪʃɪŋ/ удивительный, изумительный; дивовижний

7. medium /’mi:dɪəm/ средство, носитель данных; засіб

8. business deal /biznis di:l/ торговая сделка

9. to conduct /kən’dʌkt/ проводить, зд. заключать; проводити

10) pronunciation /prə‚nʌnsɪ’eɪʃən/ произношение; вимова

11) rural /’rʋrəl/ сельский, деревенский; сільський

12) urban /’ɜ:rbən/ городской; міський

13) to exist /ɪg’zɪst/ существовать; існувати

14) to belong /bɪ’lɔ:ŋ/ пренадлежать ; належати

Notes: Cockney /’kɒknɪ/

Scouse /skaʊs/

Geordie /’dʒɔːdi/

Brummie /br'ʌmi/

3. Read the text. English in the World

There are about 3,000 languages in the world. Some of them are spoken by several thousand persons. Other languages are widely used by great numbers of people.

There are only 22 languages spoken by more than 50,000,000 people each. They are: Chinese (825,000,000), English (431,000,000), Spanish (320,000,000) Russian, Arabian, Portuguese, Malay, Japanese, German, French.

As for the vocabulary, the English language has the richest one. It’s over 200,000 words (without technical terms). Chinese is a bit poorer (up to 200,000 words). The vocabulary of the German language consists of 185,000 words; French has just over 100,000 words.

The rise of English is a remarkable success story. The language belongs to the Germanic languages. By the time of the Norman Conquest (1066) Anglo-Saxon (which is referred to as Old English) had only 30,000 words. Middle English, which developed into Modern English, is the result of mixing Anglo-Saxon with Norman. In XVI century the language acquired Latin and Greek borrowings.

Today English is used by at least 750,000,000 people. Some estimates have put that figure closer to 1,000,000,000. Now English is more widely spoken and written than any other language has ever been. It has become the language of the planet, the truly global language.

The statistics of English are astonishing. 3/4 of the world’s mail are in English. So are more than half the world’s technical and scientific periodicals.

English is medium for 80% of the information stored in the world’s computers.

Nearly half of all business deals in Europe are conducted in English. It is the official language of the Olympics. It is the voice of the air, the sea and of Christianity.

Modern English has several varieties: British English, American English, Australian English etc.

There are many modified forms of Received (Standard) Pronunciation. In British English (BE) rural dialects are dying out; urban dialects are spoken by increasing numbers of people.

The urban dialects of British English are: Cockney (East London), Scouse (Liverpool), Geordie (Tyneside – North – East of England), Brummie (Birmingham). Rural dialects still exist in West Country (Devon, Cornwall).

There are some dialects in American English:

New England dialect, South dialect and General (Midwestern) American dialect.

Exercise 1. Give English equivalents of the word-combinations:

немного беднее; отмирают; несколько вариантов; язык авиации и мореплавания; более половины; заимствованные слова из греческого языка; который считается; по крайней мере; технические термины; результат смешения.

трохи біднішими; відмирають; кілька варіантів, язик авіації та мореплавства; більше половини; запозичені слова з грецької мови; який вважається, принаймні; технічні терміни; результат змішання.

Exercise 2. Point out true and false statements. Correct the false ones.

1) The vocabulary of the English language is a bit richer than that of the Chinese. 2) The total number of languages in the world is between 2,500 and 5,000. 3) English belongs to the Slavonic languages. 4) The most widespread languages are Chinese, English and Spanish. 5) Modern English has no varieties at all. 6) The Normans conquered Anglo-Saxon Kingdom in XVI century. 7) In Ukraine English is studied as a foreign language in schools. 8) Modern English is the result of mixing Anglo-Saxon language with Greek borrowings.

Exercise 3. Answer the questions

1) What is this text about? 2) How many languages are there in the world? 3) What language has the richest vocabulary? 4) What are the courses of Modern English? 5) How many people use English for communication in everyday life? 6) What figures can prove that English is the language of the planet? 7) What varieties and dialects of Modern English do you know? 8) What is the main idea of the text? 9) What do you consider to be the most interesting and important in the text? 10) What new items have you learned from the text?

Exercise 4. Match the following

A: rich; each; reach; global; remarkable; widely; figure; middle

B: число; достигать; мировой; замечательный; каждый; средний; широко; богатый / число; досягати; світової; чудовий; кожен; середній; широко; багатий.

Exercise 5. Prove the statements

English is the voice of the air, the sea and sport.

Languages can be alive or dead.

English is the language of information technologies (IT).

English is a constantly developing language.

You must know English to become a singer.

Exercise 6. Write down a plan of the text and give a title to each part.

Exercise 7. Write down 4-5 key-words to each part of the text.

Exercise 8. Retell the text using your plan and key-words.

Exercise 9. Discuss the following using key-patterns.