English The Mother Tongue English And How It Got That Way

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caryra Wednesday 03rd of August 2005 09:30:09 AM
the Mother Tongue - Hello all of you English native speakers and students of the "Mother Tongue". I only refer to this in jest as I have a great book called "The Mother Tongue" (English and how it got that way) by Bill Bryson. He also wrote "The Lost Continent". This book gives a magnificent history of the beginning of English in an obscure part of Schleswig Holstein in Germany by a people called the Engels...it describes their exodus to the British Isles and their subsequent conquer by the Saxons, the Norse.. basically everyone and anybody contributed to this language. Thank God the Normans were kind to the English in a way that they didn't force us to learn French.. Check this book out.. it is very detailed and gives a great history. To me, Mr. Bryson did his homework.

Amazon link:
It is a great book for students of English to describe how English grew from a very obscure almost forgotten dialect to a language superpower. I am sure there are those of you who delight in arguing this fact, but face it.. More foreigners speak English than native speakers. I heard there are more students of English in China than the population of the US. Which is around 285 to 290 million I would guess. Let's get over the petty territorial bickering of names and old battles and realize we are sharing this planet together.. our love of languages connects us and will propel us into the future. Without English, I feel we will not be unified. I am not claiming English will be the master tongue, but what language do companies from other countries speak in when they don't have a common language? ENGLISH. Try out this book, I think it's pretty cool. I am open to help anyone that wants to learn English. I live in California and IT ROCKS!!

Peace to all.

-CaryRa

caryra Wednesday 03rd of August 2005 09:30:36 AM
Here is the Amazon Link to the book - http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/102-6916824-7645704

joziboy Wednesday 19th of October 2005 04:23:34 PM
- I remember that book! It was very entertaining. That was the one with the sections on names, and on swearwords, along with the language development and etymology etc, eh? Bill Bryson's great. I'm looking to buy A Brief History of Almost Everything or whatever it's called...

And I'm with you on the arguing over who 'owns' the language. Democratically speaking, more Americans speak English than British people, so they can't claim theirs is the only legitimate English. And as you say, more foreigners speak it than mother-tongue speakers. I reckon that's what makes a language useful. Swahili, in East Africa, is in a similar situation - something like ten times as many people speak it as a second language than a first language, and that makes it the language to know in East Africa. English is like that with most of the world :)

CaryRa Thursday 20th of October 2005 06:31:07 AM
English as a "Mother Tongue" - Hey there, I lived in Scotland for a time back in the early 80's while I was in the US Navy in Scotland at Holy Loch. Nice there, but I admit Scottish food is not that great!...Went to the Cowal Games and the Highland Games in Glasgow...

Have fun and check out the chat, its all foreigners speaking what? ENGLISH.. sometimes their own language, but the running language is usually in English.

JNathanG Saturday 22nd of October 2005 09:46:05 PM
- I have read this book. It is rare that I read a book from cover to cover... but I did this one.

The book is informative and entertaining. Just as a topic begins to get a bit longwinded, Bryson throws in some interesting trivia. The book is easy to understand(compared to many other books on similiar topics) and a great read. I'd recommend it to anyone.

CaryRa Saturday 29th of October 2005 10:37:00 AM
Charles Berlitz "Native Tongues" - This is a great book that I've had in my possession for 20 years easily. It's battered and beaten... I clip it together with a binder clip.. lol.. However, Charles Berlitz was the Father of Languages.. He spoke more than 75 I know, probably more.

The mystery behind the reason we speak different languages of course stems from the Babel legend. This is how other cultures have passed and translated the legend that changed the planet forever!

Chapter 39 - a World language?

Legends of an ancestral common language that broke into a variety of tongues occur all over the world. The "confusion of tongues" described in the biblical legend of the Tower of Babel in the Book of Genesis and other ancient records was recognized by the Spanish conquerors of Yucatan when they found the legend among the Maya referring to a land to the east where all men once spoke a common language, since lost

***
In Persian mythology, Ahriman, the Spirit of Evil, caused man's original language to be divided into thirty tongues, from which the others descended.

Chapter 38. the Export of English words
Since the 40's not only has English spread to all parts of the world but separate English words have also infiltrated the vocabulary of most important languages.

Phrasebase Archive
	caryra	Wednesday 03rd of August 2005 09:30:09 AM
	the Mother Tongue - Hello all of you English native speakers and students of the "Mother Tongue". I only refer to this in jest as I have a great book called "The Mother Tongue" (English and how it got that way) by Bill Bryson. He also wrote "The Lost Continent". This book gives a magnificent history of the beginning of English in an obscure part of Schleswig Holstein in Germany by a people called the Engels...it describes their exodus to the British Isles and their subsequent conquer by the Saxons, the Norse.. basically everyone and anybody contributed to this language. Thank God the Normans were kind to the English in a way that they didn't force us to learn French.. Check this book out.. it is very detailed and gives a great history. To me, Mr. Bryson did his homework. Amazon link: It is a great book for students of English to describe how English grew from a very obscure almost forgotten dialect to a language superpower. I am sure there are those of you who delight in arguing this fact, but face it.. More foreigners speak English than native speakers. I heard there are more students of English in China than the population of the US. Which is around 285 to 290 million I would guess. Let's get over the petty territorial bickering of names and old battles and realize we are sharing this planet together.. our love of languages connects us and will propel us into the future. Without English, I feel we will not be unified. I am not claiming English will be the master tongue, but what language do companies from other countries speak in when they don't have a common language? ENGLISH. Try out this book, I think it's pretty cool. I am open to help anyone that wants to learn English. I live in California and IT ROCKS!! Peace to all. -CaryRa
	caryra	Wednesday 03rd of August 2005 09:30:36 AM
	Here is the Amazon Link to the book - http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/102-6916824-7645704
	joziboy	Wednesday 19th of October 2005 04:23:34 PM
	- I remember that book! It was very entertaining. That was the one with the sections on names, and on swearwords, along with the language development and etymology etc, eh? Bill Bryson's great. I'm looking to buy A Brief History of Almost Everything or whatever it's called... And I'm with you on the arguing over who 'owns' the language. Democratically speaking, more Americans speak English than British people, so they can't claim theirs is the only legitimate English. And as you say, more foreigners speak it than mother-tongue speakers. I reckon that's what makes a language useful. Swahili, in East Africa, is in a similar situation - something like ten times as many people speak it as a second language than a first language, and that makes it the language to know in East Africa. English is like that with most of the world :)
	CaryRa	Thursday 20th of October 2005 06:31:07 AM
	English as a "Mother Tongue" - Hey there, I lived in Scotland for a time back in the early 80's while I was in the US Navy in Scotland at Holy Loch. Nice there, but I admit Scottish food is not that great!...Went to the Cowal Games and the Highland Games in Glasgow... Have fun and check out the chat, its all foreigners speaking what? ENGLISH.. sometimes their own language, but the running language is usually in English.
	JNathanG	Saturday 22nd of October 2005 09:46:05 PM
	- I have read this book. It is rare that I read a book from cover to cover... but I did this one. The book is informative and entertaining. Just as a topic begins to get a bit longwinded, Bryson throws in some interesting trivia. The book is easy to understand(compared to many other books on similiar topics) and a great read. I'd recommend it to anyone.
	CaryRa	Saturday 29th of October 2005 10:37:00 AM
	Charles Berlitz "Native Tongues" - This is a great book that I've had in my possession for 20 years easily. It's battered and beaten... I clip it together with a binder clip.. lol.. However, Charles Berlitz was the Father of Languages.. He spoke more than 75 I know, probably more. The mystery behind the reason we speak different languages of course stems from the Babel legend. This is how other cultures have passed and translated the legend that changed the planet forever! Chapter 39 - a World language? Legends of an ancestral common language that broke into a variety of tongues occur all over the world. The "confusion of tongues" described in the biblical legend of the Tower of Babel in the Book of Genesis and other ancient records was recognized by the Spanish conquerors of Yucatan when they found the legend among the Maya referring to a land to the east where all men once spoke a common language, since lost *** In Persian mythology, Ahriman, the Spirit of Evil, caused man's original language to be divided into thirty tongues, from which the others descended. Chapter 38. the Export of English words Since the 40's not only has English spread to all parts of the world but separate English words have also infiltrated the vocabulary of most important languages.