English has developed for more than 1400 years.The earliest form of English wasanglo-saxonImmigration was brought tobritainA group ofWest Germanic Branch（Ingvaeonic）Dialects, collectively referred to asold English。Middle EnglishSince the end of the 11th century, the Norman ConquestEngland；In 1476, William CaxtonPrinting machineIntroduced tobritain, and start onLondonThe publication of the first printed book expanded the influence of English.Since the 17th century,Modern EnglishstaybritainandU.S.AUnder the widespread influence of the world.Through various print and electronic media in these countries, English has become one of the leading languages in the world, and the language in many regions and professional environments is also dominant, such asscience、Navigationandlaw。
The earliest form of English was called Old English or Anglo Saxon (AD 550-1066).Old English was developed from a group of North Sea Germanic dialects, which were originally spoken by Germanic tribes (called Angles, Saxons and Jutes) in Fricia,Lower Saxony , Jutland andSwedenThe southern coastal areas.From CE in the 5th century AD, the Anglo Saxons settled in England to the Roman economy, and the administration collapsed.In the 7th century, the Anglo Saxon Germanic language dominated Britain, replacing the Roman British language (43-409 CE): ancient Britonic, aCelticandLatin, was taken to the British Romans.EnglandandEnglish(OriginallyÆnglalandandÆnglisc）It is named after Angles.
Old English is divided into four dialects: Anglo (Mercian and Northumbrian) and Saxon, Kentish and West Saxon.Through the 9th centuryAlfredUnder the influence of the king's educational reform and the Wessex Kingdom, Western Saxony dialect became the standard written language.In the epicBeowulfWestern Saxon and the earliest English poetry,Caldermon's Song, written in Northumberland.Modern English comes mainly from Mercian, but Scottish comes from Northumberland.Some short inscriptions in the early days of ancient English were written in runes.By the 6th century,latin alphabetBe adopted and written in semi informal letters.It includes runeswynn ⟨ƿHehethorn⟨þ⟩, and the revised Latin alphabetETH⟨d⟩, andash⟨æ⟩。
Old English is very different from modern English, and it is difficult for English speakers in the 21st century to understand.Its close relative is Old Frisian.Nouns, adjectives, pronouns and verbs have more inflected endings and forms, and the word order is higher than that in modern EnglishfreeMuch more.Pronouns in modern English have case forms, and some verbs are deformed, but Old English also has noun endings, and verbs have more person and number endings.[2]
Middle English
Main articles:Middle EnglishAnd French influence on English
From the 8th century to the 12th century,old EnglishThrough language contact, it gradually changed into medieval English.Middle English is often loosely defined as the beginning of England's conquest by the French Duke of NormanWilliam the Conqueror In 1067, it developed further from 1210-1550.
First, in the eighth and ninth centuries, the wave of Nordic colonization in the northern part of the British Isles brought Old English into sharp contact with Old Scandinavian, a northern Germanic language.Among the Northeast Old English spoken in Danilo, York, Northern Europe has the greatest influence.Today, these functions are still particularly prominent in Scottish and Northern English.However, it seems that the center of standardized English is in the central region near Lindsey, and after Lindsey was reintegrated into the Anglo Saxon regime in 920 AD, the functions of Nordic languages were spread from there to the English version, but these languages did not have direct contact with Nordic speakers.Today, among all English variants, the factor that Norwegian has always had an influence isth-（They, they, their）A group of pronouns that begin withh-(i.eHe, he, hera）Instead of Anglo Saxon pronouns.
With the Norman conquest of England in 1066, the Old English language was in close contact with the French Norman language.Norman in England eventually developed intoAnglo Norman。Because the Norman language from France is mainly spoken by British elites and nobles, while the lower class continues to speak Anglo Saxon, the main influence of Norman language is the introduction of many borrowings related to politics, legislation and prestigious social fields.Middle English also greatly simplified the inflection system, probably to reconcile Old Norwegian and Old English, which are different in variety but similar in morphology.Except for personal pronouns, the difference between nominal case and objective case disappeared, and the object case was abandoned, and the use of the case and the case was limited to the expression of possession.The inflection system standardizes many irregular inflection forms and gradually simplifies the protocol system, reducing the flexibility of word order.[2]
Early Modern English
Main article: Early Modern English
The next period in the history of English is early modern English (1500-1700).Early modern English is characterized by "big vowel shift" (1350-1700), inflectional simplification and language standardization.
The great change of vowels influenced the stress in Middle English.This is a chain shift, which means that each shift triggers a subsequent shift in the vowel system.Mid-Autumn FestivalAnd open vowels are proposed, andClosed vowelBroken intovowel。For example“Bite "The word was originally used today“BeetThis word, and“about”The second vowel in the word is“boot”The pronunciation of this word.Since English retains many spellings of Middle English, the large vowel shift explains many spelling violations, and also explains why the pronunciation of English vowels differs greatly from that of the same letters in other languages.
stayHenry VDuring the rule, the prestige of English began to rise relative to Norman French.Around 1430Court of ChancerystayWestminsterBegan to use English in its official documents, and a new standard form of Middle English, known as the Equitable Standard, was developed from London and the dialecteast midlands 。In 1476,William Caxton (William Caxton)Printing machineIntroduced to the UK, and began to publish the first printed book in London, expanding the influence of this form of English.In early modern times, literary works includeWilliam ShakespeareIn the Bible commissioned by William Shakespear and King James I, the language pronunciation of vowel shift is still different from modern English: for example,consonant/KN/nSWknight，GnatsandIn the swordStill obvious.Modern readers of Shakespeare may find many simple or unsophisticated grammatical features, which represent the distinctive features of early modern English.[2]
spread
By the late 18th century,britainHas passed itscolonyandGeopoliticsDominance spread English.Business, science and technology, art and formal education have all made English the first truly global language.[11]English also promotes international exchanges around the world.England continued to form new colonies, which later developed their own language and writing norms.English is spoken in parts of North America, parts of Africa, Oceania and many other regions.When they gain political independence, some have a variety ofindigenous languageIn order to avoid the political and other difficulties inherent in promoting any indigenous language as another indigenous language.
In the 20th century, the growing economic and cultural influence of the United States and its influence onthe Second World WarAsSuperpowerThe status of, andbbcThe English broadcasting companies, which are carried out worldwide, have led to the faster spread of the language on the earth.In the 21st century, English is more widely spoken and written than any other language.
With the development of modern English, clear norms of standard usage have been released and disseminated through official media such as public education and state funded publications.In 1755,Samuel Johnson(Samuel Johnson) publishedEnglish Dictionary,It introduces the standard spelling and usage of words.In 1828,Noah Webster(Noah Webster) published《American English Dictionary, trying to establish American English norms for speaking and writing independent of British standards.In Britain, the characteristics of non-standard or low-grade dialects are increasingly discriminated against, leading to the rapid spread of prestige varieties among the middle class.
In modern English, the loss of grammar is almost complete, while the word order of SVO is mostly fixed.Some changes, such as the use of do support, have become common.stay-IngThe use of progressive forms seems to be spreading to new buildings, andBuiltThe form has become more and more common.Regularization of irregular forms also continues slowly, and alternative analytical methods of deformed forms become more and more common.British English is also changing under the influence of American English because of its strong influence in the media and its reputation as a world power.[2]
geographical distribution
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Because Britain used to have many colonies around the world, English is a common language or one of the official languages in many countries and regions in modern times:
English phonology refers to the study of English phonology (sound system).As with all languages, the pronunciation of spoken English varies from dialect to dialect, regardless of history.
This variation is particularly obvious in English, because it is widely used in Australia, Canada, the United States, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the Caribbean English speaking countries and other countries. People in every state in the world use it as their mother tongue or second language.
English has no decisive and internationally recognized standard, so English in different countries may sometimes hinder communication.Nevertheless, English accents from different regions can still understand each other.
Almost all Germanic etymologies (including all basic vocabulary, such as pronouns, conjunctions, etc.) are relatively shorter and more informal.French or Latin etymological words usually represent more elegant or more professional attainments, and appear more knowledgeable.However, excessive use of ancient Latin etymology will be considered as pretentious or deliberately ostentatious, while excessive use of Germanic etymology will give people the impression of vulgarity, lack of culture and low status.George Orwell's article《Politics and English》This is described thoroughly.
When English users choose words, they can usually choose from the synonyms of Germanic, French and ancient Latin etymologies, such as "sight" (Danish sigte) and "vision" (French vision), "freedom" (Frisian freedom) and "liberty" (French liberty).There are subtle differences between these synonyms, and users can freely choose combinations to express different views.
In daily life, some of the words used are Germanic etymologies.Most French and Old Latin etymologies are often used in more formal speeches and articles, such as court speeches or encyclopedias.Many terms in medicine, chemistry, etc. are also French or Latin in origin.
English is famous for its huge vocabulary. It is easy to introduce technical terms and input new words into daily use.In addition, slang has given new meanings to old words.This kind of flexibility is very obvious, which usually requires a correct distinction between formal usage and daily general usage;Primary education teachers in Britain and America generally remind students of words that are widely used in daily life but are not correct in formal occasions.See:sociolinguistics。
Throughout the Middle Ages, French loanwords from France gave people a sense of formality and dignity (most Europeans in this period believed so), which had a great impact on English.This influence can be found in modern English.Therefore, people generally feel very formal about words derived from French for a long time.For example, most modern English speakers believe that "a corrective reception" is more formal than "a heart welcome" (the former comes from French).Another example is that words representing animals and words representing their meat are rarely created separately.For example, beef and pork (from French b œ uf and porc) representing beef and pig meat.
The vocabulary of English is very large (about 990000), but if you want to estimate the specific number, you must first judge which words can be counted as their words.However, unlike other languages, there is no authoritative academic institution to define what formal vocabulary is.New words are constantly emerging in the fields of medicine and science and technology. Some of them have entered the daily language of the public, while others are only used within a small number of people.Foreign language words brought by immigrant groups are often integrated into English society.It is also impossible to determine whether some archaic and dialect words can be counted as English.
The Oxford English Dictionary (second edition) contains more than 500000 entries, and the standard is relatively loose: "including the standard vocabulary in literature and daily conversation, whether contemporary, obsolete or archaic, as well as the main scientific vocabulary and a large number of dialects and slang."[3]
sinceelectronic computerSince its popularization, many words related to this category have entered the public's life;In addition, many new words related to telecommunications technology are formed through the combination of affixes.
for instance:"Wiki" itself ishawaiian, but becauseWikipediaAnd created "wikify" (wiki+- fy, meaning wikiization);Then he created "wikification" (the process or action of wikilization) from wikify.
In addition,A newly coined word "serializability" used in the database, which means "the feasibility of streaming the data to be written into the database", is also derived from another newly coined word "serialize" (streaming the data to be written into the database, derived from "serial", that is, streaming).[3]
English loanwords have a wide etymology.Influenced by ancient French, English vocabulary can be roughly divided intoGermanicEtymology (mostly fromold English）And Latin etymology (mostly fromFrenchAnd Latin).
In 1973, Thomas Finkenstadt and Dieter Wolff published Ordered Profusion, in which they published a report and conducted a computerized survey of about 80000 words in the old Concise Oxford Dictionary (the third edition).The report results show that the sources of English words are as follows:
According to the research results of Athabasca University in Canada in September 2014, 45% of the 110000 English words commonly used in the United States and Britain, that is, at least 50000 English words are derived from French. Mastering French will improve English grammar and vocabulary skills.
It is worth noting that there are still 25000 in modern Englishold EnglishAlthough its proportion in English is not very large, it covers almost all the most basic spoken anddaily lifeWords (as long as there are 2000 words, you can understand 79% of articles and most English song lyrics).
ExaminationLevel IV4000 words,Level 66000，GREOnly 7500 words are needed. A secondary educated British can actually master about 10000 words (quoted from the first episode of BBC English Growth)SATThe exam requires a vocabulary of 12000（SATwebsite）。
《Language instinct》The publishing agency of the book has conducted a sample survey in many native English speaking countries, and found that the average vocabulary of high school graduates is about 50000, and 10000 words are not enough to live a normal life in these countries.[4]
Latin has not completely replaced the words of Old English. Many words of Old English and Latin coexist,old EnglishWords are more common in oral English,LatinWords are written, such asold EnglishHard correspondenceLatinThe word difficut,old EnglishFree correspondenceLatinliberty。[5]
A child whose mother tongue is English has 3000 words when he is 5 years old;The vocabulary of illiterate adults is no more than that of children aged 5.A person who can read newspapers smoothly has a vocabulary of more than 20000;People with college education have a vocabulary of about 50000;Most writers have a vocabulary of more than 100000 words, and Shakespeare has a vocabulary of 20000 to 30000 words.[4]
Written use of Englishlatin alphabet, also known as“Roman alphabet”The spelling system or correct spelling of words is inherited from the historical tradition, not strictly in accordance with the pronunciation rules.Therefore, there are often great differences between the pronunciation and spelling of English words, and word spelling is also one of the most difficult spellings in all alphabetic languages.Latin alphabetCyrillic alphabetandArabic alphabetIt is called the world's three letter system.[5]
There are some words in English that need to be marked with various phonetic symbols to prompt pronunciation. Most of these words are imported from French.For example: à la carte, caf é, co ö perate, é lite, fa ç ade, na ï ve, r é sum é, etc.
English phonetic symbols
Àà
Ææ
Çç
Éé
Èè
Ëë
Êê
Ïï
Ññ
Öö
Ôô
Œœ
Phonetic symbols are sometimes used in poetry or scripts, which can mark the syllables that are not normally pronounced as sounds to achieve dramatic effects or maintain the rhythm of poetry.It is very common in ancient or antique works, such as the suffix "- ed" is often markedOpen note, make it sound, e.g. curs è d.
English
In some ancient texts (especially British English), hyphenation is very common, such asarchæology,œsophagusandencyclopædiaEtc.These words are Latin or Greek etymologies.
Over time andASCIIWith the prevalence of, fewer and fewer English users choose marks, or have forgotten that these words are French etymologies, even in very formal writing, they do not add marks, and even sometimes marks are considered to be posturing;However, some people oppose this view and believe that symbols should be retained for correct spelling, especially when there will be great differences in pronunciation after the lack of symbols.There are some words that obviously do not follow the morphological phoneme of English, and phonetic symbols are generally reserved in such words.such ascaféThis word, if you put theClosed noteRemove, according to the English pronunciation rules, e will not be pronounced.Another examplerésuméIt means abstract, with three syllables,resumeIt means to continue. It has two syllables, which are always arranged in two separate lines in the English dictionary.
Sometimes it is necessary to use diacritical marks, but these marks are often omitted or replaced by ligatures, such ascoöperate(orco-operate）、daïs、naïve、noël、reëlect(orre-elect）Etc.
There are some words such asrôleandhôtelWhen they first came to English, they were marked with phonetic symbols. At the beginning, these words were very French, and some people even criticized that foreign words were used instead of English equivalents.There are also some words such aséliteThe phonetic symbols of (elite) have disappeared in daily life, but《Time Weekly》Newspapers and magazines are still in use.[4]
English grammar is based on Germanic origins. Although some scholars in the 18th and 19th centuries tried to apply French and ancient Latin grammar to English, they were unsuccessful.English and all othersIndo EuropeanCompared with language, there is no such complicated inflectional changes, and almost all the changes of yin and yang have been lost. Basically, except for personal pronouns, English has lost the distinction between sex and case, and it emphasizes the relatively fixed order between words, that is, English positive orientationanalytical languageFor example, cat tail can write cat tail instead of cat's tail, and cat cat here directly uses the root form instead of the genitive affix cat's).
The basic word order of English is SVO, and the word order can not be changed at will, except for a few poems;In addition, sometimes English will be usedOSVThe word order of.As follows:
There are birds flying in the sky
There, is, bird, fly, (preposition), (definite article), sky
Jennifer saw Brittany
Jennifer, yes, Brittany.
There are still some inflectional changes in English:
Past tense: Fred worked-ed ，But there are also irregular changes.
Now?participle/Proceedtense：Fred is working. -Ing (if the end of the verbsyllablebyconsonantFor closed syllables at the end, double the final consonant, such as running)
Past participle: The car was stonen-en；Fred has talked to the police. -ed，But there are also irregular changes.
Gerund: Working is good for the soul-ing
Plural: Fred has two blue eyes-S (If the suffix of the noun is s, x or sh, add - es, such as boxes, dishes)
Comparative: Fred is smart than Rick. Add - er at the end of the adjective, and add more before polysyllabic (3+) words, such as "more difficulty"
The superlative: Fred has the fastest car. Add - est at the end of adjectives, and add most before polysyllabic (3+) words, such as "the most difficulty"
Compared with other Indo European languages, although the number of twists and turns in English has decreased significantly, nounsverbThere are still quite a number of irregular changes and strong changes.
All words in English can be divided into ten categories, each of which has its specific position and role in the sentence.
These ten parts of speech are:
noun(n.): A word indicating the name of a person or thing.
adjective(adj.): a word indicating the characteristics of a person or thing.
adverb(adv.): A word that modifies verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
pronoun(pron.): A word that replaces nouns, adjectives, and numerals.
numeral(num.): Words indicating quantity and order.
article(art.): used with nouns to describe people or things.
Preposition(prep.): usually placed before nouns and pronouns, indicating the relationship between nouns and pronouns and other words.
Connectives(conj.): words connecting words, phrases and phrases, sentences and sentences.
Interjection(int.): a word indicating the speaker's feelings or tone.
tense
There are 16 kinds.
In grammar, tenses or tenses indicate the relationship between the time when an action takes place and the time of speaking.Generally divided intopast tenseThe present tense, the future tense, are usually used together with the progressive and perfective forms that indicate the progress or termination of the action.
Tense, together with mood, voice, body and form of person verb, may show at least five grammatical features.
Some languages do not use tenses, such asanalytical languageChinese, but there is still time when necessaryadverbThe assistance of.Some languages, such as Japanese, have adjectiveInflectionIt can express the information of time and has the tense nature similar to verbs.In some languages, such as Russian, a word can express tense and appearance.
English is a kind ofPolycentric language。Due to the extensive use of English, there are inevitably various regional variations.Linguists no longer regard the English of London or the British upper class as the only standard English.exceptBritish EnglishBesides, the most important ones are North American English and Australian New Zealand English.Since the 17th and 18th centuries,American English、Canadian English、Australian English、New Zealand EnglishBegan to become a unique dialect.They also have their own regional words, grammar and pronunciation.Other likeIndian EnglishEnglish in Southeast Asia, English in the Caribbean and English in some emerging African countries are all influenced by local languages and have phonetic and lexical characteristics.
The main dialects of English have quite obvious differences in pronunciation, while the differences in spelling are relatively small.Generally people use dictionaries of some academic institutions as standard English, such as《Oxford English Dictionary》Etc.In academic and scientific articles, authors from all countries use a common style.the Second World WarIn the past, the term "American English" was usually understood as a word and grammar peculiar to Americans. In the eyes of some "purist" British scholars at that time, it was not pure English. However, before and after World War II, the concept of "American English" gradually changed, referring only to English used in the United States, regardless of its similarities and differences with British English.After the Second World War, due to the rapid development of mass media in the United States, American English has in turn had an impact on other dialects, and is increasingly expanding this impact.
The following are common English based dialects and Creole:
In the future, there will be new changes in English itself, and its development trend is becoming easier and easierZhou HaizhongThe professor made a bold prediction in the article "English Features in the 21st Century": by the end of this century, English spelling and pronunciation will gradually be unified;Irregular changes in vocabulary and grammar are transformed by analogy;MultipurposeAbbreviations、Ellipsis sentenceAnd short sentences, word making economy;Part of speech conversion is very flexible, and the expression is more concise and concise;The repetition rate of commonly used words is quite high;The boundaries between countable nouns and uncountable nouns, transitive verbs and intransitive verbs almost disappear.All these will greatly facilitate people to learn and use English as a communicative tool.[6]
Relationship with other languages
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becauseanglo-saxonFrom southern DenmarkShile SuyigeANGEL,old English(Old English or English Saxon refers to English from 450 to 1150). It was greatly influenced by the ancient lowland Germanic language, and its pronunciation, grammar and spelling are very similar.
After the 9th century, Vikings from Denmark and other Nordic countries successively invaded Britain and lived next to the British, greatly simplifying English grammar.
The Nordic languages led by Danish have a great influence on Old English. There are many similar words in English and Danish.For example, the following Danish words are easy to recognize for English speakers: haveover、under、for、kat，Because they are identical or similar to the corresponding vocabulary structure in English.In addition, when by is used as a suffix, it means "town", which remains in some ancient English place names, such as Whitby and Selby, and can be seen as the traces of the Danish occupation and domination of England in the Viking period.
1066, FrenchDuchy of Normandy Ofduke of Normandy conquerKingdom of EnglandAccording to French, English has been greatly transformed, bringing tens of thousands of words from French and ancient Latin.Thus, Middle English came into being.Since the Middle Ages, French and Latin have been used by the royal families and the upper class in Western European countries, such as Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Italy and Britain,It is easy to find many cognates in these languages.
After 1800, with the expansion of British colonies, the colonial language also greatly affected the development of English, thus forming modern English.
Due to the strength of English speaking countries, especially the United States since the 20th century, new English words have a great impact on the world, especially scientific and technological words.
By understanding the source of English words, we can learn the differences of English synonyms, such as travel, journal, tour, safari, which all mean travel, but what are the specific differences?
The first is tour, which we call tourism.While tour comes from the French tour (turn), so tour means "cruising, touring", which refers to the kind of travel that takes a turn for sightseeing in a certain place;
Journey comes from the French journal é e, which is related to a journey (day, day), so it originally means "journey of a day", and the extended meaning is "journey" and "life journey", mainly referring to the abstract thing "journey", so it says "How's your journey?";
Travel comes from French travel, which means work, so it generally refers to work, and is extended as the general name of travel, a series of trips;
Safari comes from Arabic and originally means "journey". In English, it is used as "hunting expedition" and "journey across grassland or desert". Safari also means wildlife park.[7]
Another example: both ask and demand have requirements. Their differences are:
The word "ask" originates from Old English, which is neutral and generally refers to.
Demand originates from French and is the aristocratic language used by the British royal family and nobility and other upper class societies. Therefore, it is more formal, usually from top to bottom, with a strong tone that cannot be rejected.
Another example is the difference between pig and pork, sheep and mutton, cow and beef:
The former derives from Old English, and the latter from French.1066Norman ConquestAfter England, the English became the lower class.French has become the language of the upper class, and Old English has also been ignored, even scorned.People who raise pigs, sheep and cattle in the lower society often call those animals by their names. Pig comes to sheep, which seems vulgar. But when it comes to the dining table of the royal family, the nobility, the city and other upper middle class people, it becomes a delicacy, which needs to be called "noble".In French, pig is porc, cow is boeuf, and sheep is mouton;So gradually, the English pig, beef and mutton became pork, beef and mutton under the influence of French.
Because they both belong to the Indo European language family and have frequent exchanges, the royal families and nobles in many European countries have used Latin and French for thousands of years, so most languages have mutual influence relations, most of them use Latin letters. Let's compareDaily verbs, personal pronouns, interrogative pronouns, prepositionsSpelling (Note: since French is a branch of Latin, the source in the note refers to the most direct source of English):
Modern English inPronunciation, colloquial vocabulary, compound words, verbs, pronounsIt is more similar to the Dutch Frish language of the Germanic family.staygrammarIt is greatly influenced by the northern branch of the Germanic language family,Spelling of nouns, especially high-end nouns, written languageMany (50000 words) come from French, similar or even the same as French.But generally speaking, English is more than the same as Danish, German, and French. English is more like an analytical language, simpler than Danish, German, and French. It has a unified word order, regardless of gender.
In addition to French and West Germanic words, English also attracts many words from other countries, such as look from Greek, kick from Irish, solo from Italian, Kung Fu and Tofu from Chinese, and sky, skill, score, ill, egg, law, they, them, their, etc. from ancient Nordic languages, to name a few.
English is a necessary language in many international organizations or conferences. One of the conditions for the election of the Secretary General of the United Nations is to master both English and French.
English
Because the two major English speaking countries, the United Kingdom and the United States, have successively become world powers, and have great influence in business and academic fields, as well as outstanding contributions and leading positions in science and technology, many people use English as a foreign language or a second language. About 300 million to 500 million people use English as a foreign language.English is the most common language to learn as a foreign language in Europe and Japan (94%), followed by French and Spanish. In China and other countries, English is a compulsory foreign language course in schools.
The two different ways of using English as a second language and as a foreign language indicate that English is increasingly being regarded as a tool for international communication. It is no longer exclusive to a country or a nation, but a neutral information medium.
Basic EnglishIt is simplified English for international communication.It is usually used by some aircraft manufacturers and other international enterprises to write manuals and communicate.far eastSome schools teach it as basic English.
Mainland China
From primary school to high school, especially middle school, almost all schools choose English as their main or only foreign languagerequired course。From the late 1980s to the early 1990s, China began to implement the policy in full-time ordinary universitiesCollege English Test Band 4-6, as a requirement for selecting English as a required course of the first foreign language and obtaining a college diploma.In 2001, the English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education was promulgated. The starting grade of learning English was advanced from grade one of junior high school to grade three of primary school, and English teaching in the basic education stage was gradually strengthened.
From 1949 to the 1950s, ChinaSoviet UnionSince the 1960s, English has been chosen as the first foreign language. Especially since 1983, English has been treated equally with Chinese, mathematics and other subjects in the college entrance examination.Guided by this,Mainland ChinaOfhigh schoolCourses, basically taking English as a foreign language teaching courserequired course。In full-time ordinary universities, except for non English majors, English is generally used asrequired course, other foreign languages asElective Courses；For language majors other than English majors, English is generally required to be one of the necessary courses at the same time.
On January 15, 2019, the Examination Center of the Ministry of Education of China and the British Council of Culture and Education jointly released the IELTS, Putsi andChina English Proficiency ScaleThe docking of research results marks that China's English language proficiency standards are in line with international examinations, and China UK cooperation in the field of education has entered a new stage[8]。
Taiwan
In Taiwan, China, English is a compulsory foreign language course for all primary and secondary school students, and universities often require students to reach a certain level of English. At the same time, many professional courses in Taiwan's universities often use English textbooks (often referred to as "original books"). Because English is a compulsory course for all primary and secondary school students in Taiwan,It is also because of the important language of international communication and one of the exam oriented subjects in middle schools and universities. Therefore, there are many English reference books for the purpose of exam and conversationcram schoolTeach and reinforce students' English.
