Its history started more than 1,400 years ago when the Anglo-Saxons from what is now northwest Germany , southern Denmark and the Netherlands settled in the British Isles.

Their language, now called Old English, displaced the Celtic languages that had previously been dominant.

4. Middle English began in the late 11^th century with the Norman Conquest followed by the heavy influence of Old Norman French on Old English.

5. Early Modern English – the language used by William Shakespeare – began in the late 15^th century with the introduction of the printing press to London, the printing of the King James Bible and the start of the Great Vowel Shift that had a significant impact on the qualities of most long vowels.

That period was also marked by Renaissance-era loans from Latin and Ancient Greek as well as borrowings from French, German and Dutch.

7. Modern English, similar to that spoken today, was in place in the late 17^th century.

Since that time it has been spreading around the world due to the influence of the British Empire and later – of the United States of America.

Now it is the majority native language in the UK, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland.

It is also widely spoken in some areas of the Caribbean, Africa and South Asia.

Approximately 60 countries use it as the official language or one of the official languages.

As a result, today English has become the world’s most widespread language by number of speakers: over 2 billion people speak it, including native speakers and those who learn it as a second or foreign language.

English has a few regional varieties known as British English, North American English, Australian English and New Zealand English.

They have some differences in pronunciation, spelling, vocabulary and grammar.

In non-English-speaking countries, British English and North American English are usually used as standards for education.

As a global language, English has a strong influence on other languages, enriching them with terminology in different fields of human activities such as technology, medicine, economics, business, art, literature, music, cinema and sport.

At the same time, English has borrowed many words from Greek, Latin and French during all stages of its development; words from languages other than the ancestral Anglo-Saxon language make up about 60 per cent of its vocabulary.

It is considered to be the richest language in the world with over 1 million words.

English is a co-official language of the United Nations, the European Union and many other international organizations.

Thus, it can be regarded as the leading language of international cooperation and the lingua franca in many regions and professional contexts, for example, diplomacy, science, navigation, air transportation and law.

Перевод

Английский язык принадлежит к германским языкам и является родственным немецкому, нидерландскому, датскому, норвежскому, шведскому и исландскому.

Его история началась более 1400 лет назад, когда англосаксы с территории нынешней северо-западной Германии, южной Дании и Нидерландов поселились на Британских островах.

Их язык, теперь называемый древнеанглийским, вытеснил кельтские языки, которые преобладали до этого.

Среднеанглийский появился в конце 11-го века вместе с Нормандским завоеванием, за которым последовало сильное влияние старонормандского языка на древнеанглийский.

5. Ранний вариант новоанглийского (современного английского) языка – языка, которым пользовался Уильям Шекспир, – появился в конце 15-го века вместе с появлением в Лондоне печатного пресса, изданием Библии короля Якова и началом Великого сдвига гласных, который оказал значительное влияние на качество большинства долгих гласных.

Тот же период был отмечен заимствованиями из латыни и древнегреческого языка, связанными с эпохой Возрождения, а также заимствованиями из французского, немецкого и нидерландского языков.