Ænglisċ
English is my native language. Several years ago, I worked in a very diverse urban school where about 75 percent of the students spoke a first language other than English. A couple of seventh-grade students asked one day, "What's your language?"
"English."
"No," they said, "Like what language do you speak at home?"
"English."
"No, no! What's your parents' language?"
"English."
At that point they just huffed and gave up. Maybe if I went far enough back in time, I might get to some Gaelic, but as far as I am aware the majority of my ancestry hails from the British Isles. So, it's been English all the way down for some time.
| Native To | England |
| Native Speakers | 380 million (Ethnologue, 2021) |
| Language Family | Indo European / Germanic |
| Dialects | British, American, many others. |
| Writing System | Latin |
| Spoken In | Majority native language in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Jamaica, Barbados. |
| Regulated By | Oxford English Dictionary (Unofficial) |
| Observations | UN English Language Day (April 23) |
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
Article 1, Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Tongue Is The Strongest Muscle
There are countries out there where people speak English. But not like us – we have our own languages hidden in our carry-on luggage, in our cosmetics bags, only ever using English when we travel, and then only in foreign countries, to foreign people. It’s hard to imagine, but English is their real language! Oftentimes their only language. They don’t have anything to fall back on or to turn to in moments of doubt.
How lost they must feel in the world, where all instructions, all the lyrics of all the stupidest possible songs, all the menus, all the excruciating pamphlets and brochures – even the buttons in the lift! – are in their private language. They may be understood by anyone at any moment, whenever they open their mouths. They must have to write things down in special codes. Wherever they are, people have unlimited access to them – they are accessible to everyone and everything! I heard there are plans in the works to get them some little language of their own, one of those dead ones no one else is using anyway, just so that for once they can have something just for themselves.
Flights by Olga Tokarczuk
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