충북대학교신문방송사

Every Korean student has been told time and time again that they must study English because it is the language of the modern world. There is some truth to this: English has become lingua franca, the language of international commerce and diplomacy, and more people are learning or using English as a fi rst or second language than any other languages. What is often forgotten, however, is that English also comes from the world. It owes its rich past and current fl exibility to the countries from which it has evolved. English has indeed had a long, strange and very
international history.

The story of English begins centuries ago when German tribes invaded England and, over time, mixed into their German dialects elements of Latin, which was the lingua franca of Europe. Our alphabet comes from this early Latin infl uence, and many of our most common words (house, for instance) as very similar to their German counterparts. Viking invaders from the North also left an indelible mark on this “Old English”.

Much later, in the 11th century, the Normans of France's conquered England and left a huge
impact on the language. In fact, the English language was in danger of disappearing altogether. Instead, the Norman French's infl uence remained in English vocabulary, spelling and many of our grammar structures. This period in the development of the language (now called “Middle English”) also saw enormous shifts in English pronunciation.

America is probably responsible for the next major set of changes in the language. Settlers and adventurers in the new world plundered the Native American languages, revived older English expressions, and came up with their own new words and expressions that are now used around the word. The Americans also developed simpler rules for grammar and spelling, as well as new and distinct accents.

This is not the nearly the whole story. Through all its stages of development, English, like a giant octopus, has reached across the world to feed its voracious appetite for vocabulary. The Vikings left us with some of the days of our week (Thursday, or “Thor’s day”). The Irish gave “Halloween”. The word “pajamas” comes from India. “Tomato” and “chocolate” come to us from the Aztecs in Mexico. Ketchup? Probably Malaysia or China, believe it or not.

Korea’s one addition to English is “taekwando”. Surely, as Korea continues to exert itself on the world stage, we will see more Korean contributions to English, the fi rst truly global language.