In 1066, the Normans - a group from the area now known as France - conquered England and brought with them a form of French. The earliest form of English looks very different from our modern form, but the two share a number of words and roots of words. The languages of these groups influenced each other, forming Old English. Historical linguists date the English language back to the fifth century, when Germanic tribes (speaking Proto-Germanic) invaded Britain.

If you go back even further up the language family tree, English is an Indo-European language, which is one of the largest language families in the world and comprises most of the languages spoken that originated in Europe.

That means it’s descended from Proto-Germanic, along with German, Dutch and Swedish, along with 43 other living Germanic languages. A Brief History of EnglishĮnglish is a member of the Germanic language family. Exactly how many people speak English, though, and where are all those speakers? We look at the world of English and dive into the demographic data that’s available.

This is because of a number of historical factors, most notably the patterns of colonialism by English speakers. While there’s no official lingua franca for the planet, English is often used to communicate across nations. English is the most-spoken language in the world, and it can be found spread far and wide.

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