🗣English Language Day🗣
English Language Day is a United Nations observance that was first celebrated in 2010. It coincides with William Shakespeare’s birthday.
The story of the English language began in the fifth century when Germanic tribes invaded Celtic-speaking Britain and brought their languages with them. Later, Scandinavian Vikings invaded and settled with their languages too. In 1066 William I, from modern-day France, became king, and Norman-French became the language of the courts and official activity. People couldn’t understand each other at first, because the lower classes continued to use English while the upper classes spoke French, but gradually French began to influence English. An estimated 45 per cent of all English words have a French origin.
English is often referred to as a ‘lingua franca’ (world language) as it is a bridge language used by speakers of different languages
More than 1.75 billion people speak English worldwide – that’s around 1 in 4 people around the world, however less than 400 million use it as a first language. That means over 1 billion speak it as a secondary language🗣
TORC has both residents and staff who are native speakers and use English as a second language🗣