1. It is the only major language without an academy to guide it.
英语是唯一没有学术机构加以规正的大语种。
L’Académie française, based in Paris, is in charge of overseeing the French language. For Spanish there is the Real Academia Española. German has the Rat für deutsche Rechtschreibung. There is no equivalent to L’Académie for English. Of the 10 most-widely spoken languages in the world, only English has no academy guiding it.
法兰西文学院位于巴黎,负责审查法语。对于西班牙语,有西班牙皇家学院,德语有标准德语德语正字法协会。而英语则没有相应的文学院。世界十大使用最为广泛的口语中,唯有英语没有学术研究院引领。
2. More than 1 billion people are learning English as you read this.
你读这篇文章的时候,有超过10亿的人正在学英语。
According to the British Council, around 1 billion people around the world were learning English in 2000. This figure is now likely to be significantly higher.
据英国文化委员会的调查数据显示,在2000年,全球有10亿左右的人正在学习英语。如今这个数字很可能有了更为显著的提高。
3. 96 of the 100 most common English words are Germanic.
英语中100个最常用词中96个来自日耳曼语。
Of the hundred most frequently used words in English, 96 have Germanic roots. Together, those 100 words make up more than 50% of the Oxford English Corpus, which currently contains over 2 billion words found in writing around the world.
100个使用频率最高的英语词汇中,96个有日耳曼语词根。总的来说,牛津英语语料库词汇有超过一半由这100个词汇组成——目前涵盖世界各地书面语中超过20亿的词汇。
Surprised? The most frequently used words are the meat and bones of the language, the essentials that make communication work, including I, you, go, eat, and so on.
吃惊吗?使用频率最高的词汇是一门语言的骨架,这些要素让人们成功沟通,比如“我”、“你”、“去”、“吃”等等。
4. But most words that have entered the language since 1066 have Latin origins.
不过自1066年之后的大部分英语词汇都有拉丁词根。
The Renaissance, which started in Italy and reached England via France, was a massive source of new vocabulary. New ideas, or old ideas rediscovered, started flooding out of the southern cities but there were no words to describe them in English. So the language adopted or adapted the Latin words. During the Renaissance, the English lexicon roughly doubled in size.
起源于意大利,席卷法国再蔓延至英国的文艺复习带来了海量新词。新的点子也好,旧的想法也罢,被人们重新发现,不断从南部的意大利城市中奔涌而出,而英语中却没有相应词汇用以描述。于是英语就采用、改写了拉丁词汇。文艺复兴时期,英语的词汇几乎翻了一倍。
5. For more than a century, the English aristocracy couldn’t speak English.
有一个世纪多的时间,英国贵族不会说英语。
William the Conqueror tried to learn English at the age of 43 but gave up. Within 20 years of the Normans taking power in England, almost all of the local religious institutions were French-speaking. There is little to suggest that aristocrats themselves spoke English. It isn’t until the end of the 12th Century that we have evidence of the children of the English aristocracy with English as a first language.
英国国王威廉一世曾在43岁时尝试学习英语,但半途而废。诺曼人控制英国的20年里,大部分的地方宗教机构都说法语。鲜有证据显示英国的贵族自己会说英语。证据显示,直到12世纪末,才有英语贵族子女以英语为第一语言。
6.That is why Latin words sound more prestigious than Germanic ones.
这就是为什么拉丁词汇比日耳曼词汇听上去更高大上。
Think about the difference between a house (Germanic) and a mansion (French), or between starting something and commencing, between calling something kingly or regal. English has a huge number of close synonyms, where the major difference is the level of formality or prestige. The prestigious form is almost always the Latin one.
想想看"house"("房子",日耳曼词汇)与"mansion"("宅邸",法语词汇)的差异,及"starting(开始)"与"commencing(肇始)"的不同、“kingly(皇家气质)"与"regal(君威)"的区别。英语中有大量意思贴近的同义词,其主要差异在于其正式与高级程度。高级形式几乎都是拉丁词汇。
7. The concept of “correct” spelling is fairly recent.
“正确”拼写是相当新近的概念。
Shakespeare, for example, was liberal in his spellings of words, often using multiple variants within a single text; his name itself has been spelt in many different ways over the centuries.
例如莎士比亚,在拼写单词就非常随意,常在同一文本中使用数种变体;数世纪以来,其名字也有多种不同的拼法。
8. One man is largely responsible for the differences between American and British spelling.
美式英语和英式英语拼写上的差异很大程度上因一人而起。
Noah Webster, whose name you still find on the front of many American dictionaries, was a patriotic man. Between 1783 and 1785, he produced three books on the English language for American schoolchildren. During his lifetime, 385 editions of his Speller were published. The modern US spelling of color was initially spelt in the British way, colour, but this changed in later editions.
在美国的许多词典封面上你还能找到一个人的名字,一位富有爱国心的美国人——诺亚·韦伯斯特。在1783至1785年间,韦伯斯特为美国的学龄儿童创作了三本关于英语的书籍。韦伯斯特一生中,其拼写教材出了385版。现代美式英语中“color(颜色)”一词起初是英式的拼写方式,但在后来的版本中,这些词的拼写方式发生了变化。
9. -ize is not an American suffix-ize.
并不是美式英语中的后缀。
There is a popular belief that words such as popularise/ize, maximise/ize and digitise/ize have different spellings in British and American English.
人们普遍认为,popularise/ize(普及)、maximise/ize(最大化)、digitise/ize(数字化)等词在英式英语和美式英语中拼写方式不同。
Look at that z – isn’t it snazzy? It’s got to be American, hasn’t it?
看看这个Z——不是很时髦吗?它一定是美式英语,不是吗?
上一篇: 想要平步青云?从发一封邮件开始
下一篇: 找工作与找对象的5大惊人相似之处
国际英语资讯:Young versus old, new divide in Brexit Britain
The dark ages?
体坛英语资讯:Real Madrid wins UEFA Super Cup in Macedonia
体坛英语资讯:Frenchman Bosse crowned mens 800m world champion (updated)
Delay、postpone 和 put off 的区别
体坛英语资讯:Polands Wlodarczkyk completes hat trick of womens hammer throw world titles
国内英语资讯:China, Russia to maintain close communications on Korean Peninsula issue
体坛英语资讯:Bayern in danger of losing Champions League for next 10 years, says Effenberg
体坛英语资讯:Thiam claims womens heptathlon world title after Olympic victory
Echo chamber 回声室效应
体坛英语资讯:Ronaldinho sets condition for return to football
国际英语资讯:Venezuelas constituent assembly names interim prosecutor general
体坛英语资讯:Dutch soccer women honored in Utrecht for winning Euro title
体坛英语资讯:Olympic champion Kipruto claims 3000m steeplechase title at worlds
国际英语资讯:Syria urges UN to dissolve U.S.-led coalition over crimes against civilians
国际英语资讯:UN chief urges Venezuelans to ease tensions, engage in negotiations
国际英语资讯:Britain denies agreeing to multi-billion under Brexit divorce bill
国际英语资讯:Italy asks UN to help curb Central Med migration route through Libya
国际英语资讯:Spotlight: Chinese Americans divided on Trumps new immigration bill
国际英语资讯:UNSC adopts resolution in response to DPRKs two ICBM tests in July
国内英语资讯:China calls for mutual respect in strengthening relations with U.S.
体坛英语资讯:Olympic champion Kipyegon wins womens 1500m title at athletics worlds (updated)
国际英语资讯:China continues to see slowdown in luxury goods spending: report
体坛英语资讯:Venezuelas Rojas wins womens triple jump title at athletics worlds
体坛英语资讯:Real Madrid and Manchester United land in Macedonias capital for UEFA Super Cup
国内英语资讯:China Focus: From a single tree to a forest -- Saihanbas story
体坛英语资讯:Bowie adds 100m title to Olympic silver, Chinas Lyu sets javelin throw Asian record
国际英语资讯:Syrian army captures last IS stronghold in Homs province
体坛英语资讯:Gong wins Chinas first gold medal, surprise victories for Warholm and Francis
国内英语资讯:China, ASEAN agree to build higher level of strategic partnership