Monday, March 18, 2019

Varieties of English in different countries 

Overview

Today the English language is the worlds common language. Due to the British Empire being the world's superpower some years ago the world has been affected in different ways. One of them is the language people speak today. After the Britains colonized over large parts of the world, most of the world suddenly began speaking English. The Americans also had an important role of influence when it comes to the English becoming the worlds common language. Therefore, because of these factors, English is today the worlds lingua franca, which means the worlds common language. 

English is also used as a second language in many places, some of them in India and Africa, especially in the south. Because English as a language was spread over such large parts of the world there are many different varieties of English. Here are some examples of the varieties of English:

Australian English

Australia has English or more specific "Australian English" as their first language. It's their mother tongue and they learn it from when they grow up. A long time ago there were only indigenous people living there. But after people from Europe started exploring the outer world, some people came across this new land. They colonized Australia and started bringing their culture there along with the language. Today all people in Australia have English as their mother tongue. 

Nevertheless, there are some words that are different from the original British English. Some examples are:
Roo (means Kangaroo), Slab (24 pack of beer) and Mozzie (Mozquito). Source: his list.
Bilderesultat for kangaroo

Bilderesultat for indian trainIndian English

This type of English is probably the kind of English most people think of when they hear the word scammer. It's because most scammers have a bad English accent and come from India. Anyway, most Indians use English on a daily basis, and it's very much like the original English language, except for the accent. 

They started speaking English after the British colonization started (1830). India became independent in 1947. There are many people around the world that thinks the Indian accent is funny, which I myself have to admit that I agree on. Anyway, it's a great country with many nice people although their English accent is special.

Malawian English

Malawi is a nice and warm country in South East Africa, which is one of the less developed and poor countries in the world. There has been a lot of corrupt leaders in the country which can't govern the country properly. It often results in hunger and protests. In 2001-2002 there were many people that died to hunger in Malawi. There are also many droughts there.


Anyway, back to the English language part, they do speak English. Fairly good actually especially since it is their second language. They speak well and doesn't use too much slang words. The only significant factor to why it is different from British English is their accent. They have been speaking English since the African colonies began.



1 comment:

  1. Interesting article about the different varieties of the English language. I especially appraised to read about Malawian English

    ReplyDelete

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