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English is a worldwide language. Between 1.5 billion and 2 billion people across the planet speak English. Between 375,000,000 and 400,000,000 people are native English speakers. In view of these statistics, many consider the English language to be a world language. Since the English language has become so widespread, it is no surprise that different varieties of English have arisen.<br>
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Varieties of English English is a worldwide language. Between 1.5 billion and 2 billion people across the planet speak English. Between 375,000,000 and 400,000,000 people are native English speakers. In view of these statistics, many consider the English language to be a world language. Since the English language has become so widespread, it is no surprise that different varieties of English have arisen.
Varieties of English are the different kinds of English used around the world. Often these are geographically based. The varieties are more or less similar and while most English speakers can understand each other, there are occasional problems. The four people in the picture (Whoopi Goldberg, Kylie Minogue, the Queen and Usain Bolt) all speak English as their mother tongue but very differently. Different Englishes for Different People
There are many varieties of English spoken in the world. The oldest variety of English is British English, spoken in the United Kingdom. Approximately 60 million people are native British English speakers. The variety of English with the largest number of native speakers is American English, with 225 million native speakers. The other major varieties of English are Canadian English, Australian English, New Zealand English, South African English and Indian English. Some linguists also recognize another classification of a variety of English known as World English.
All varieties of English share the same basic tenets of the language, but certain words, phrases or linguistic constructs may differ. For instance, in British English, one says I’m going to hospital. In American English one says I’m going to the hospital. In British English one may say he is going to the cinema, in American English one says he is going to the movies, and in South African English, the phrase is going to the bioscope.
Varieties of English may be further divided into dialects such as Anglo-Cornish or Welsh English in Great Britain, Gallah or Gulf Southern in the United States and Bengali English and Southern Indian English in India. Whatever the variety or dialect, English speakers the world over may communicate with each other, with only occasional gaps in understanding.
Background English has been the native language of England for over 1,000 years. Due to various cultural, economic, migratory and other reasons the language spread across the world to what became the USA, Canada, Australia and many other countries. It was also used as the lingua franca in many other places (often countries which formed part of the British Empire). However, language is never static. In relative isolation from each other (this spread of language took place before the advent of modern communications) the language used in these different countries began to develop independently from the original language, often influenced by local languages as well. (In Australia, for example, there were a number of new animals never encountered by Europeans before and these needed to be named; often the names came from local Aboriginal languages. These words, of course, never existed in the English of England.) The result was that the varieties of English language we hear today are linguistic cousins, all descended from the English spoken in England several hundred years ago.
Varieties of English Dealing with main varieties of English, we can talk of: British English (BrE) Australian English (AuE) American English (AmE) However, there are many other varieties and virtually all countries where English is spoken has their own variety. Sometimes these are very closely related but other times they can be very different. In addition, each main variety of English has sub-varieties or regional variations. For example, within the British English variety we have: Cockney, Essex English, Geordie and so on, not to mention Scottish English, Welsh English and Irish English. There are also socio-economic varieties of English. The Queen speaks Received Pronunciation which is very different from the Black English spoken in America, for example.
Differences Although the core of each variety of English is roughly the same, there are often differences in vocabulary. AmE talks about a liquor store while BrE talks about an off licence and AuE talks about a bottle shop. There can also be differences in spelling such as color and colour, See the main article, Varieties of English Vocabulary. There may also be differences in grammar such as the AmE use of gotten against the BrE use of got. There is also the AmE preferred use of the past simple where BrE tends to use the present perfect simple. See the main article, Varieties of English Grammar.
What to Teach Generally speaking, different countries prefer their teachers to teach different varieties of English. Often the reason for this is historical and political. As a rough guide: British English is taught in: Europe, Russia, Africa and the Middle East. American English is taught in South America, Japan and South Korea. Both are taught in China. However, this is a very rough guide and you will find schools often have no preference for the variety of English taught.
