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BREVE HISTORIA DEL IDIOMA INGLES. Interesante artículo que analiza el desarrollo del idioma inglés, convertido ya en el lenguaje común que millones de personas utilizan para poder comunicarse.
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BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE |
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This is Steve Ember. And this is Shirley Griffith with the
VOA Special English program, "Explorations". Today we
present about the history
of the English Language. |
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The English language was strongly
influenced by an event that took place one
thousand four hundred years ago. In the year 597, the
Roman Catholic Church began its attempt to make
Christianity the religion of Britain.
The language of the Catholic Church was Latin. Latin was
not spoken as a language in any country at that time.
But it was still used by some people. |
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strongly: fuertemente; event: hecho, acontecimiento; took place: ocurrió, tuvo lugar; attempt: intento; spoken: hablado; as a language: como idioma; at that time: en esa época; still used: usado todavía; |
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Latin made it possible for a church member from Rome to
speak to a church member from Britain. Educated people
from different countries could communicate using Latin. |
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made it possible: facilitó; church member: feligrés; could: podían; |
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Latin had a great effect on the English language. Here
are a few examples. The Latin word “discus” became
several words in English including “disk,” “dish,” and “desk.”
The Latin word “quietus” became the English word “quiet.”
Some English names of plants such as ginger and trees
such as cedar come from Latin. So do some medical words
such as cancer. |
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had a great effect on: influyó mucho en; a few: algunos; became: se transformó en; several: varios; ginger: jengibre; cedar: cedro; so do: lo mismo ocurre con; |
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English is a little like a living thing
that continues to grow. English began to grow more
quickly when William Caxton returned to Britain in the
year 1476. He had been in Holland and other areas of
Europe where he had learned printing. He returned to
Britain with the first printing press.
The printing press made it possible for almost anyone to
buy a book. It helped spread education and the English
language. |
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a little like: algo así como; continues to grow: continua creciendo; printing: imprenta; printing press: prensa, máquina para imprimir; it helped spread: ayudó, contribuyó a difundir; |
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Slowly, during the 1500s, English
became the modern language we would recognize. English
speakers today would be able to communicate with English
speakers in the last part of the sixteenth century. |
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slowly: de a poco, lentamente; we would recognize: que habríamos de reconocer; would be able to: podrían; in the last part of: en los finales de; |
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It
was during this time period that the greatest writer in
English produced his work. His name was William
Shakespeare. His plays continue to be printed, acted in
theaters, and seen in motion pictures almost four
hundred years after his death. |
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the greatest: el más grande; continue to be printed: se siguen imprimiendo; acted: (se siguen) actuando; seen: (se siguen) viendo; motion pictures: películas del cine; almost: casi; after his death: después de su muerte; |
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The development of the English
language took a giant step just nine years before the
death of William Shakespeare. Three small British ships
crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 1607. They landed in an
area that would later become the southern American state
of Virginia. They began the first of several British
colonies. The name of the first small colony was
Jamestown. |
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took a giant step: dio una salto gigantesco; landed: desembarcaron; that would later become: que seria más adelante; |
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In
time, people in these new colonies began to call areas
of their new land by words borrowed from the native
people they found living there. For example, many of the
great rivers in the United States are taken from
American Indian words. The Mississippi, the Tennessee,
the Missouri are examples. Other Native American words
included “moccasin”, the kind of shoe made of animal
skin that Indians wore on their feet. |
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in time: con el transcurrir del tiempo; began to call areas: comenzaron a denominar a las zonas; borrowed from: tomadas de; they found living there: encontraban viviendo allí; moccasin: mocasín, abarca, almadreña, zapato indio; the kind of: el tipo de; animal skin: cuero; wore on their feet: usaban en sus pies; |
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This borrowing or adding of foreign words to English was
a way of expanding the language. The names of three days
of the week are good examples of this. The people from
Northern Europe honored three gods with a special day
each week. The gods were Odin, Thor and Freya. Odin’s-day
became Wednesday in English, Thor’s-day became Thursday
and Freya’s-day became Friday. |
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borrowing: préstamo, que se toma en préstamo; adding: adición, agregado; a way of: una forma de; honored: rendían tributo a; gods: dioses; |
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Experts cannot explain many English words. For hundreds
of years, a dog was called a “hound.” The word is still
used but not as commonly as the word “dog.” Experts do
not know where the word “dog” came from or when. English
speakers just started using it. Other words whose
origins are unknown include “fun,” “bad,” and “big.” |
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hundreds of years: cientos de años; hound: perro de caza, sabueso; fun: diversión; |
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English speakers also continue to
invent new words by linking old words together. A good
example is the words “motor” and “hotel.” Many years ago
some one linked them together into the word “motel.” A
motel is a small hotel near a road where people
travelling in cars can stay for the night. |
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by linking: uniendo; motel = motor + hotel: parador, hotel de carretera; can stay: puedan alojarse; for the night: durante la noche; |
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Other words come from the first letters of names of
groups or devices. A device to find objects that cannot
be seen called Radio Detecting and Ranging became
“Radar.” The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is
usually called NATO. |
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devices: aparatos, dispositivos; radar: radar (acrónimo inglés proveniente de Radio Detection and Ranging >> detección y medición de distancias por radio); |
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Experts say that English has more words that explain the
same thing that any other language. For example, the
words “large,” “huge,” “vast,” “massive,” and “enormous”
all mean something really “big.” |
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that explain: que explican; any other: ningún otro; large: grande; huge: enorme; vast: extenso; massive: inmenso; enormous: enorme; |
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People often ask how many words there are
in the English language. Well, no one really knows. The
Oxford English Dictionary lists about 615,000 words. Yet
the many scientific words not in the dictionary could
increase the number to almost one million. |
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no one really knows: nadie lo sabe con certeza; yet: a pesar de ello; could increase to almost: podrían aumentar a casi; |
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And experts are never really sure how to count English
words. For example, the word “mouse.” A mouse is a small
creature from the rodent family. But “mouse” has another
very different meaning. A “mouse” is also a hand-held
device used to help control a computer. If you are
counting words do you count “mouse” two times? |
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really sure: totalmente seguros; to count: contar; rodent family: familia de los roedores; hand-held device: dispositivo manual; to help control: ayudar a manejar; two times: (twice) dos veces; |
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English is becoming the common language of
millions of people worldwide, helping speakers of many
different languages communicate. |
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is becoming: se está convirtiendo; common: habitual; worldwide: mundialmente; |
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This Special English program was written
and produced by Paul Thompson. This is Steve Ember. And this is Shirley Griffith. Join us
again next week for another "Explorations" program. |
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