Speaking English has increasingly become an important aspect of society, whether for work reasons or simply to connect with other parts of the planet. Except for Mandarin, English is the second most spoken language in the world and is also seen as our “universal language”.
Learning it may not be that simple, but when we unlock this skill in our lives we soon see that several doors are opened. So, if you’re willing to start some English classes, it’s always good to have a few tricks up your sleeve. Check out these six very interesting facts about the English language that you probably didn’t know!
1. Shakespeare’s Inventions
According to a study carried out by the English literature professor Warren King, the playwright William Shakespeare would have invented at least 1,700 words in the English language to compose each of his pieces. The research emphasizes, however, that the terms used were adaptations of terms already known in classical literature.
These were some of the words that Shakespeare left as a contribution to the English language: majestic (majestic), undress (undress ), generous (generous), hurry (hurry ), blush (blushing), torture (torture) and birthplace (birthplace).
two. Variety of sounds
An intriguing curiosity about the English language is that its alphabet is composed of a total of 26 letters capable of generating 44 different sounds. In this way, it is possible to assemble a phonetic alphabet with 12 vowel sounds, 8 diphthong sounds and 24 different consonant sounds.
For this reason, many speakers of Latin languages find it extremely difficult to pronounce some specific words. In general terms, the English alphabet has the greatest variety of sounds in the world.
3. Multiple meanings
According to the English dictionary, the word with the most different meanings is the word “set”. If we put it in all possible contexts, this same time can acquire the following meanings: scenario, stage, mount, pose, impose, game, series, group, team, collection, case, seat, class, repair and so on.
Within the same sentence, it is possible to use it in different places and with valid applications. For this reason, you need to be aware of the meaning you want to achieve and how to use it correctly.
4. Language adaptation
The word “ goodbye“, which is a popular term for saying goodbye to a person, previously had a more complex meaning. According to etymological studies, the “goodbye” came from a contraction of the phrase “God be with you“, which means “may God be with you”.
For this reason, the exact translation of this word into the Latin languages became the word “goodbye”, which would also be a contraction of the farewell phrase used by Catholics “To God be” or ” I trust you to God.”
5. Reign on the internet
The internet has become an essential tool in our lives and not just English is the most predominant language within it. More than 50% of all information present in the virtual world is written in English, which makes knowing this language extremely relevant in a modern world.
Although spontaneous translation tools are improving every day, there are still several language barriers that make it difficult to fully understand information. Therefore, increasing your ability to understand English will also help your understanding of the world.
6. Number of words
Another curious fact about the English language is that it has more than 1 million words, which makes it one of the richest languages in linguistic terms. For comparison methods, the Portuguese language has about 600 thousand words — or even less than that.
However, this does not correspond to a full reality. Studies show that the average English speaker uses less than 400 words 80% of the time.
