How English Developed In the 16th century the people who lived in Europe didn't know Eng-
lish. They couldn't understand English words. Only those who lived on
the British Isles spoke English. In those years Latin, French, German
and Italian were popular on the continent.
Four hundred years later the speakers of English travelled to different
places on the planet and carried their language and culture with them.
Today English is more important than any other language has ever been.
It has become the language of the planet, the first truly global language.
Of all the world's languages it is probably the richest in its vocabulary.
It has borrowed a lot of words from French and Latin, from Greek,
Spanish, Italian, and even Russian. Now English is the language of sci-
ence, business, and sport. People use English as the first language or
mother tongue in the English-speaking countries. It has become the sec-
ond language in countries like India, Nigeria [nai'drəriə], and Singapore
[, siŋə'pɔ:). Then there is English as a foreign language. People teach and
learn English as a foreign language in Europe and Asia, in Africa and
South America, in other words, all over the world.
