ENGLISH OVERSEAS

         Geographically, English is the most widespread language on the Earth, second only to Mandarin Chinese in the number of people who speak it. It is the language of business, techno­logy, sport and aviation. Outside the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, English is an important language in many countries, and the major language of four — the United States of America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Despite the great distances separating these five English-speaking com­munities from each other and from the British Isles and great social and cultural differences between them, the forms of English which they use remain mutually intelligible.

          However, there are a number of points of difference in spelling between the English of the United States and that of Great Britain. The other communities follow the British mode, except that many US spellings are usual, or acceptable, in Can­ada. The major differences are in pronunciation, and, to a les­ser degree, in vocabulary and grammar.

          Canadian English is subject to the conflicting influences of British and American English. On the whole British English has literary influences, while American has a spoken one. There are no important differences in written form between the Eng­lish of Great Britain and that of Australia, New Zealand, or indeed South Africa. The literary language of the four com­munities is virtually identical. Grammatically, too, the English of all four is relatively uniform, except that each has deve­loped its own colloquial idioms. Thus it is in the everyday spo­ken language that main differences lie.

QUESTIONS:

1.  Why is English so important?

2.  What are the five English-speaking communities?

3.  What are the major differences between different vari­ants of English?

4.  What is common for English of the five communities?

VOCABULARY:

widespread — широко распространенный

despite — несмотря на

to separate — разделять, отделять

to remain — оставаться

mutually — взаимно, обоюдно

intelligible — понятный, четкий, ясный

difference — различие

acceptable — приемлемый

pronunciation — произношение

influence — влияние

colloquial — разговорный