Top 10 Fun Facts About the English Language

With so many languages bouncing around the globe, you would be forgiven for thinking English is just one of many. The following 10 entries look at how a once small language spoken by an island people is now used as a global lingua franca. If Latin had the Roman Empire, then English has the world.

Entertaining and educational top 10 lists from TopTenzNet!

Other TopTenz Videos:

Top 10 English Words With Shameful Pasts

Top 10 Foreign Words You Thought Were English

Coming up:

10. English is the Most Commonly Used Language in the Sciences
9. English in the Publishing World
8. English on the Internet
7. English is Not the Official Language of the United States
6. The Official Language of the Aviation Industry
5. The Official Working Language of ASEAN
4. The Death of Other Languages
3. English in Politics
2. Japan Considers English an Official Language
1. More Non-Native Speakers than Native Speakers

Source/Further reading:

[nicholasbuttery]

As an native English speaker born and live in Birmingham you get used to foreign tongues and their accents.What amuses me most is when i come into contact with regional accents of the British Isles and their different pronounced authoritative statements.

[WildStar]

"English is a language that lurks in dark alleys, beats up other languages and rifles through their pockets for spare vocabulary." - Paraphrased from a quote by James Nicoll.

[mattiOTX]

English has so many words that have almost the same meaning yet provide different slight connatations. That allows you to say something very specific.

[tomstech]

When someone says "sorry for my wording English is not my native language" and you then read what they've written expecting a mistake, but you don't find one and feel like you've been duped....but also happy for them.

[joeyjamison]

Here in the US, you can speak your own native language, but if you don't speak English to go along with it, you're not going to get far.

[badbiker]

I believe that the best thing about English is that it is very tolerant. A non-native speaker with a low level of skill in English can use it very badly and still be understood by other English-speaking people. I was just at a hotel recently and the entire staff spoke very, very, bad English except for one guy whose skills were merely bad. Yet, I was able to understand and communicate with everyone. It wasn't easy and required several attempts to get the meaning of what was being said, but at the end of the day, we all understood one another. Actually, it was a lot of fun and I think we all enjoyed communicating with each other. At least I did.

[VietCom-yofb]

Did you know that something like 100% of English dictionaries are written in English

[LarryPhischman]

English is reportedly the most efficient language currently in use, meaning that is conveys the greatest amount of information with the highest accuracy using the least syllables.

[john-doemcalias]

anyone who likes this video should read "Mother tongue" by Bill Bryson. it's a brilliant look at how English evolved and sometimes assimilated​ other native languages. it's a brilliant counterpoint to some of the concerns raised in the video

[brylcreemy]

Language is not property. Language changes and evolves over time. It belongs to everyone, and to no one. Many 'native' speakers of a language do not use the commonly prescribed rules of usage, and many 'non-native' speakers do. If one's communication is readily understood then language has served its purpose.

[geophph]

Simon, ever considered wearing a top hat?

[francissreckofabian]

Being able to speak more than 1 language is very cool (and very useful).

[keriezy]

Watched an Armenian speaker communicate with a Korean speaker by using Spanish. It was one of the most interesting exchanges I've seen. Plus, I speak Spanish so as an English speaker I was also able to listen in. Three countries and four languages.

[sweetlikechocolate]

"Bouncing round the world"! Great saying simon!

[MetalVampire]

You know this is quite interesting if you put all this information into perspective. Quite a few people say that English is one of if not the hardest language to learn. Personally I'd like the idea of everyone speaking the same language as it would make communication between nations a whole lot easier. It is never a bad thing when you are to talk to a bigger audience and maybe even make a new friend.

[qwertyuiopgarth]

I anticipate a future in which 'English is the language you speak to strangers in', and in which English has a wide variety of (mostly) mutually (sort of) intelligible dialects. The number of 'non-native' speakers of English are going to make English an even richer and more flexible language than it is right now.

[limboonsiew]

it makes sense for Asean using English since Malaysia and Singapore were under the British control, the Philippines and later Vietnam were under the infuses (protected) of the US. Plus one idea came out sometime ago to use something similar to Singlish or Malayians-ish since the Malay Language is already a hybrid language with a bit of all of the local languages being mix and then add Portuguese and English into the mix as well and that's how you get the current version of the Malaysia Language which the Singaporean also use.

[EricTrang]

One funny thing. There are considerable Chinese programmer and computer science researchers talk to each other on GitHub in English.

[ericBorja]

When I saw the title, I was afraid this video was going to be full of bad linguistics. Fortunately, I was wrong! Very interesting look into the extra-linguistic facts about the English language. Your videos are always entertaining and educational.

[ricksmith]

English was a unifing language in England where the French german Danish and local dialects merged together to form a language that all could use to communicate on that island now that same language is spreading all over the worlld