English: The Most Important Language

Between the foreign affairs of Britain and the United States, over a short period of time English has spread to all corners of the globe and an argument can be made that English is the most important language in the world. Not by any means is it the most spoken language, that title belongs to Mandarin, however it is the most common official language and one would be hard pressed to find someone who does not know at least a few words in English. English is considered a lingua franca which means it is a global language and can serve as a “bridge” language between two people that do not share a common native language. As a result, English serves as the most used language in international business, films, books, music, and the internet. One cannot downplay the significance of English and its impact on the world, given

Throughout the history of English, it has undergone many transformations and adaptations isolated from each other forming a diversity of dialects and linguistic differences all around the globe.
English as we know it today originally started as a by-product of Germanic Anglo-Saxon invaders in Great Britain sometime between the 500-600’s (Durkin). They invaded the Celts, who spoke Goidelic a language that would eventually become Irish, Scottish, and Manx, and eventually pushed them off the island to the neighboring isles. The Anglo-Saxon dialect which became known as Old English would displace the Celtic language in Britain and is completely unrecognizable to a modern English speaker. For example, Old English texts such as Beowulf need experts to transcribe it into current day English. During the 7th Century the introduction of Christianity to the region brought an influence of Latin words to Old English. Beginning around the 9th Century the invasion of the Norse from Scandinavia, who also spoke a language with a Germanic base led to an adoption of several thousand words. Even after the blending of the Norse and Anglo-Saxon dialects, English