ЯЗЫК ОБЩЕНИЯ. Американский и Британский вариант английского языка.

Text 1

Languages of Communication.

The total number of languages in the world is from 2,500 to 5,000. The most widespread language is Chinese, English, Spanish, Russian and many others. These languages are alive, i.e. they are in use. In addition to these, there are "dead" languages, which are no more means of communication. These are, for example, Latin, old Slavonic and some others. All these languages are called natural, because there are a number of artificial or universal or world languages. The world-known non-specialized language is Esperanto. There are also programming languages, which are used in computers. These are specialized languages.

Here we are going to deal with the living language, which is spoken practically all over the world. It is spoken as a mother tongue in Great Britain, the United States of America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. A lot of people speak English in China, Japan, India, African and many other countries. English is one of the 6 official and working languages of the UN. It is studied as a foreign language in our secondary and higher schools.

* Задания:

1. Выписать список иностранных языков. Выучить.

2. Выписать список географических названий. Выучить.

3. Прочитать и перевести текст.

4. Поставить не менее 5 вопросов к тексту.

5. Перевести выражения:

- язык общения - ………………………………………………

- численность языков - ………………………………………

- распространённый язык - ……………………………………

- искусственный язык - ……………………………………..…

- международный язык - …………………………………..…

- природный язык- ……………………………………………

- иностранный язык - …………………………………………

- заимствованные слова - …………………………………..…

- неспециализированный -……………………………………

- хорошо известный - …………………………………………

6. Выучить пословицы. *

Memory Work.

Proverbs and Sayings.

1. Live and learn. – Век живи, век учись.

2. It is never too late to learn. – Учиться никогда не поздно.

3. Knowledge is power. – Знание- сила.

4. To know everything is to know nothing. – Знать всё – значит нечего не знать.

5. Money spent on the brain is never spent in vain. - Деньги, потраченные на

образование, никогда не потрачены зря.

Text 2

American English.

Are there any differences between the English of the United States and that of Great Britain?

Yes, there are: in vocabulary, pronunciation and in the meaning of some words; but the English and the Americans understand each other without great difficulty. Perhaps they are helped by the fact that there are no differences in suffixes, prefixes, morphology and syntax. To give you an idea of some of the differences in vocabulary, take of example the word underground meaning in English the underground electric railway. The Americans call it the subway. An American goes to the movies: an Englishman to the pictures, or to the cinema.

Differences in vocabulary can be explained by turning to American history. The American borrowed words from those languages with which the English - speaking Colonists came into contact on the American continent: American Indian, French, Spanish. Another thing is that some words which had the same meaning on both sides of the Atlantic during the 17^th and 18^th centuries were given a new meaning either in England or in America. And what about differences in spelling?

There are a number of differences. For example, in America, programmed is written like colors, labors; theatre and kilometer; traveler and traveling and other words like them have only one letter.

Such differences in spelling are nothing compared with those in pronunciation. Even an Englishman when fist landing in the States has difficulty in understanding the talk of people standing around him.

Дополнительный материал

Лингвострановедческий комментарий.

Основные различия между английским и американским вариантами английского языка.

Различия в произношении:

- в американском варианте буква г читается во всех позициях, в т.ч. и в случае, когда она находится между предшествующей гласной и последующей согласной, а также после предшествующей гласной в конце слова: car, undertake, transfer, far и т.п.

- в словах типа ask, half, last, answer, dance,past и др.. там, где в английском варианте гласная а произносится как долгий звук [а:], в американском варианте эта гласная произносится как широкий звук [ж];

- в односложных и двусложных словах типа stop, not, shop, doctor, modern и т.п. с ударением на букве о, последняя произносится как звук [о] в английском варианте и как звук [ju:] в американском варианте английского языка:

- в словах типа tune, new, suit, due и др. ударная и произносится как звук [ju:] в английском варианте и как долгий звук [u:] в американском варианте языка;

- произношение ряда слов в английском и американском вариантах английского языка различное:

Следует отметить, что практически во всех словарях (в т.ч. и американских) дается английский вариант произношения слов, с некоторыми примечаниями, касающимися американского произношения. 4%. Различия в написании слов:

- в словах с окончаниями на -our (honour, labour,colour co и др.) в американском варианте выпадает буква и (honor, labor, color и т.д.);

- в словах с окончанием на -re (centire, litre, fibreи др.) окончание -re в американском варианта заменяется на -ег (center, liter, fiber и т.д.);

- в ряде слов, оканчивающихся на –ce (defence, licence, practice, offence) в американском варианте английского языка буква с заменяется на букву s (defense, license, practis, offense);

- в некоторых словах в американском варианте английского языка пишется буква z (organization, analyze), а в английском варианте пишется буква s (organization, analuse):

- некоторые слова в американском варианте английского языка теряют свои окончания: programme(анг.) - program (амер.}. catalogue (англ.) - catalog(амер.), dialogue (англ.) - dialog (амер.) и др.;

- в словах, производных от глагола travel, cancel и т.п.. в американском варианте буква I не удваивается (traveling, canceling и т.д.).

*Задания:

1. Прочитать и перевести текст.

2. Ответить на вопросы.

1. Are there any differences between British English and American? What differences?

2. What are the indifferences in pronunciation? Give some example.

3. What are the differences in spelling? Give some example.

4. What are the differences in vocabulary? Give some examples.

5. What are the differences in the meaning of the words? Give some examples.

6. Are there any differences in grammar? Give some examples.

3. Выучить слова, которые находятся в таблице.

4. Выпишите из текста слова, имеющие одинаковые значения в русском

языке, но разные в иностранном языке.

5. Выпишите последнее предложение, и поставить все типы вопросов.

6. Прочитать и перевести тексты.

The popularity of the English language

There are over 300 million people in the world speaking English. English is used as an official language (along with a few others) in many international organisations, such as UN and IOC. This language is recognized as the state language in a lot of countries all over the world.

Great Britain

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland consists of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. There are 64 million people in Great Britain whose first language is English (97% of population). London, the capital of Great Britain, is one of the leading global cities. It is the political, economic and cultural centre of the country. Great Britain has always been a Great Power and contributed a lot to the development of new territories.

The USA

The history of the USA started with 13 British colonies set along the Atlantic coast. On July, 4, 1776 they proclaimed their independence from Great Britain. Today the country consists of 50 states and the federal District of Columbia, where Washington, the capital of the USA, is located. It is one of the most developed countries in the world, with English being the first language for about 80% of its population.

Canada

The first European colonists came to this country from France. But after that for many years Canada was under British rule until the country gained its independence in the XX century. There are two official languages in Canada. English is the first language for nearly 70% of Canadians. Canada is the second largest country in the world with rich oil, coal and natural gas fields.

Australia

Australia is the only country in the world which occupies the whole continent. The exploration of the continent began in the late XVIII century when the first British colonies were formed. Australia was a place where prisoners were serving their sentences in exile. Today the country is among the most developed countries in the world, with 80% of the population speaking Australian English.

New Zealand

New Zealand occupies two large islands and many small ones in the south-western part of the Pacific Ocean. First Europeans started visiting New Zealand in the late XVIII century with the territory being announced as a British colony in 1788. The country gained its independence in the middle of the XX century. New Zealand is one of the most beautiful countries in the world with unique flora and fauna. English is spoken by more than 96% of the population.

МК 1

Languages of Communication.

American English.

1. Answer the questions.

1. What kind of languages do you know?

2. What English speaking countries do you know?

3. Are there any differences between British and American English?

What are they? Give examples.

1. What are the differences in the meaning of the words? Give some examples.

2. What are the differences in spelling? Give some example.

2. Find out the American and British variant of words to Russian translation.

zip code / pub /apartment /American/ /luggage /accumulator /battery /bar /alcohol /flat /naught / officer/ cooker/ sweet/ pants / rent / autumn/ tin/ post/ film / cross way/ ass/ lift /

baggage/ spirit/ Yankee/ post code/ zero /mail/ fall /sick / petrol station/ / holiday/ cab/

sweet shop/ can/ movie/ hire / ring/ vacation/ ill/ trousers/ elevator / call / stove /

check / constable /donkey / car / store/ candy /taxi / four way /gas station /wagon/