Hints
Dan Brown
Hindi
Chinglish
Singlish
The history of English in ten minutes. Chapter ten, global English or whose language is it anyway? In the 1,500 years since the Romans left Britain, English has shown a unique ability to absorb, evolve, invade and if we're honest, steal. After foreign settlers got it started, it grew into a fully fledged language all of its own before leaving home and traveling the world, first via the high seas, then via the high-speed broadband connection, pilfering words from over 350 languages and establishing itself as a global institution. All this despite a written alphabet that bears no correlation to how it sounds and a system of spelling that even Dan Brown couldn't decipher. Right now, around 1.5 billion people speak English. Of these, about a quarter are native speakers, a quarter speak it as their second language and half are able to ask for directions to a swimming pool. There's Hinglish, which is Hindi English, Chinglish, which is Chinese English and Singlish, which is Singaporean English, and not that bit where they speak in musicals. So in conclusion, the language has got so little to do with England these days. It may well be time to stop calling it English. If someone does think up a new name for it, it should probably be in Chinese.
英语历史10分钟，第十章，属于全世界的英语。 罗马人离开不列颠之后的1500间，英语表现出了无以伦比的吸收，进化，侵略及剽窃能力。 自从有了外来移民，英语还没走出国门前就在不断发展壮大。后来，先从海上，然后通过高速英特网，英语从超过350个语种里剽窃了大量词汇，并奠定了自己全球性语言的地位。 而这些只是基于一张发音全无关联的字母表，及一个连Dan Brown都无法破译的拼写系统。 现在有15亿人说英语。其中，1/4是母语，1/4是第二语言，有一半能用英语询问怎么去游泳池（程度不高）。 现在有北印度英语，中式英语，新加坡英语，还不包括音乐方面的。 总而言之，目前，英语跟英国的关系微乎其微。也许到了不该称之为英语的时候了。 如果真有人能为它起个新名字，那也应该是个中文名字。