From medieval manuscripts to text messages, many things helped make English the global language it is today and it just keeps on changing, says author Michael Rosen.
The need for an international language has always existed. In the past it was about religion and intellectual debate. With the technologies of today, its about communicating with others anywhere in the world in a matter of moments.
Two events, separated by nearly 400 years, show how this need has always been present.
Firstly, sitting in front of me I have a copy of the celebrated book Utopia, by Sir Thomas More. This particular edition is published in 1629 in Amsterdam, not in English, not in Dutch, but in Latin.
The second event was a talk I recently had with a German scientist. He said that he knew of scientific conferences taking place in Germany, where all the people attending were German and yet the conference was conducted in English.
Pride
The Latin of this edition of Utopia was a written code, though its most accomplished users could adopt it to conduct intellectual and religious debate.
During the previous 1,300 years it had been the main language of the Western Christian tradition – the language of prayer, hymn, sacred texts and religious debate. It was also the language with which Renaissance scientists spoke to each other.
However, this hold on religious and intellectual minds was broken by the rise of national cultures. The peoples of the countries where Latin was being used, spoke their own languages and dialects.
Once these came to be written down, more and more people started to ask their churches and religious authorities to speak, write and deliver some, most, or all religion in those local languages.
Two of the most famous texts to come out of this was the King James Bible soon to celebrate its 400th birthday and Martin Luther’s German Bible, from a little less than 100 years earlier than the King James.
Part of this process to establish the power and influence of these local languages was the effort to produce standardised forms for them, so that teachers, merchants, lawyers, ministers of religion and politicians could write to and for each other in ways that were instantly comprehensible.
This seemed then, and now, to require consistent ways of presenting the language on the page – spelling and punctuation – and consistent ways of delivering the grammar of the words and sentences.
As a result, standardised English writing became a powerful tool in the hands of government, church and school in asking the peoples of the British Isles to see themselves as one.
Esperanto
But nation went on speaking to nation in peace, war, trade, migration, religion and the world of ideas. A lot of effort went into the production of foreign language dictionaries, grammars and translations of important, or the most interesting books.
Throughout this time one of the most significant events in the history of world languages was happening: English-speaking soldiers, sailors and colonisers were travelling to, and settling in countries right the way across the globe.
Latin was once used as a global language. Only in the places that either kept their independence or where the Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Dutch had done the same, was English not spoken.
If the 20th Century can be described as a savage flowering of the demands of nationalism – including pride in national languages and literature – it also saw the rise of utopian dreams about international co-operation as seen first by the League of Nations and then the United Nations.
However, in these places it wasnt so much that nation spoke unto nation, as interpreter spoke unto interpreter. In response, inventors of international languages tried to bring about world peace with their inventions, the most famous of which is Esperanto. It didn’t catch on sufficiently for the worlds politicians to need or want to learn it.
Slowly, another international language emerged, spoken by diplomats, scientists, artists, business people and many more. Benefiting from the legacy of the British Empire, and the rise in influence of the most powerful member of that Empire – the USA – English or kinds of English is being spoken all over the globe.
Oggi l’inglese si impara giocando con le mani. I bambini di due scuole medie ai Parioli e al Fleming lo fanno già.
