The document provides an overview of the United Kingdom and the English language. It discusses the history and formation of the UK, comprised of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. A short history is also given of the English language. The document then covers cultural, social, and economic aspects of the UK, including its status as a lingua franca, immigration trends, and landmarks. It examines how English became a global language through the British Empire and rise of American power and culture after World War 2. The future of English as the world's dominant language is considered, though it is likely to remain influential.

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By Maria João Mocho
25th November 2015

2. The Language of the Empire:
“the Sun never sets on the English language”…

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 Short history of the United Kingdom
 Short history of the English language
 Introduction
 Cultural, social and economic aspects of the country
 Lingua franca
 The future…

5. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is
formed by four countries:
 England
 Scotland
 Wales
 Northern Ireland
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6. The Four Countries of
THE UNITED KINGDOM
SCOTLAND
ENGLAND
WALES
NORTHERN IRELAND
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7. The Capitals of
THE UNITED KINGDOM
EDINBURGH
CARDIFF
LONDON
BELFAST
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 England has existed as a unified entity since the 10th century.
 The union between England and Wales began in 1284 and was formalized in 1536
with an Act of Union.
 With another Act of Union, in 1707, England and Scotland agreed to join as Great
Britain.
 The legislative union of Great Britain and Ireland was implemented in 1801, with
the adoption of the name of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
 The Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921 formalized a partition of Ireland – six northern Irish
counties remained part of the UK as Northern Ireland and the current name of the
country (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) was adopted in 1927.
History of the UK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tC0vu2JInhM

10. UK symbols:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9eK9fWUb3s&list=RDG9eK9fWUb3s
The national anthem / hymn

11. The National Flag

12. The Union Flag or “Union Jack”
Do you know where it comes from?
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13. It is made up of the individual flags
of 3 of the kingdom’s countries, all
united under one sovereign –
England, Scotland and Northern
Ireland. As Wales was not a
kingdom, but a principality, it
could not be included on the flag.
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14. The Union Jack dates from 1801. It consists of the Red Cross
of Saint George, patron Saint of England, edged in white ...
“This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England”
William Shakespeare, “King Richard III”
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15. superimposed on the Saltire
of Saint Andrew, patron Saint
of Scotland
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which are superimposed on
the Cross of Saint Patrick,
patron Saint of Ireland

16. However, Wales is not represented on the Union Flag by its
patron Saint (Saint David) or the dragon.
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Slides created by Margarita Cartujo Losada

17.  The UK is a constitucional
monarchy and a parliamentary
democracy, with a queen and a
parliament that has two houses: the
House of Lords and the House of
Commons.
Queen Elizabeth II

18. Languages of the United Kingdom
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 The de facto official language of UK is English, which is
spoken by 98% of the population .
 The 2nd most -spoken language in UK is Scots.
 The 4th most-spoken language is Welsh (the only de jure official
language in any part of the UK).
 There are 3 other living languages indigenous in the country: Scottish Gaelic, Irish and
Cornish, besides several regional dialects.
 Main immigrant languages: Polish (the 3rd most-spoken language in UK), Punjabi,
Hindustani…
 Main foreign languages: French, German, Spanish.

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20.  William Shakespeare was a poet and a playwright
considered as the most important writer of English language
and most influent playwright of the world.
 He is often called the national poet of England and “The
Bard of Avon” or simply “The Bard”.
William Shakespeare
Stratford-upon-Avon, 1564 - 1616
“To be or not to be: that’s the question”
Hamlet
 As far as we know, he has writen 38 plays, 154 sonets and
other poems.
 His plays were translated to the main languages of the world and are still staged more than
those of other authors. Many of his writings, specialy dramas, remain alive and are often revisited
by theater, TV, cinema and literature.
 Most well-known dramas and comedies: Hamlet, Macbeth, Otelo, Antony and Cleopatra,
King Lear, Henry IV, Henry VIII, Richard III, The Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet.
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLEtGRUrtJo

23.  Big Ben
LONDON:
 Tower Bridge
 Tower of London
 Buckingham Palace
 Westminster Abbey
 St. Paul’s Cathedral
 Houses of Parliament
 Natural History Museum
 Museum of London
OTHER:
 Edinburgh Castle (Scotland)
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/uks-top-50-landmarks-how-2204163
 The London Eye
 Stonehenge (Wiltshire, England)
 Windsor Castle (Berkshire, England)
 Roman Baths (Bath, England)
 Loch Ness (Inverness, Scotland)
 Avebury Stone Circle (Wilts, England)
 Lake Windermere (Cumbria, England)
 Snowdonia (Wales)

24.  Trinity College Dublin Library
 Oxford University Bodleian Libraries
 Library of Birmingham
http://www.slideshare.net/thewikiman/what-is-the-most-popular-activity-in-the-uk-the-answer-may-surprise-you?from_action=save
What is the most popular activity in the UK??...
 Liverpool Central Library
 Signet Library (Edinburgh)
 British Library
 John Rylands Library (Manchester) Peckham Library (London)

26. MOOC’s: Massive Open Online Courses
https://www.coursera.org/

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Short History of Immigration in UK
 At the end of the Second World War there were work shortages in Europe and labour
shortages in Britain. Then, the government began looking for immigrants.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/uk/2002/race/short_history_of_immigration.stm
 During the two world wars, hundreds of thousands of men from
across the Empire fought for Britain.
 Some 157.000 Poles were the first groups to be allowed to settle in the UK, partly
because of ties made during the war years. They were joined by Italians, but it was not
enough to meet the need.
 Despite some reluctance to allow immigration from the fast-disappearing empire, the
government could not recruit enough people from Europe and turned to these men.
 On 22 June 1948, hundreds of men arrived London from the West Indies. That day
would become a massive change to British society – the start of mass immigration to the
UK and the arrival of different cultures.

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 Almost 70 years after the start of mass immigration to the UK,
questions are still being asked about whether, or not, the UK can
become a multi-ethnic society at ease with itself – or whether there is
still a l o n g r o a d t o b e t r a v e l l e d…

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POPULATION

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MIGRATION – STATISTICS/GRAPHICS

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https://www.visitbritain.org/2014-snapshot
2014

33. How did English become the world’s most widely spoken language?
33http://blog.esl-languages.com/blog/learn-languages/english/english-language-global-number-one/
 500 hundred years ago, between 5 – 6 million people spoke English, almost all of them
living in the British Isles. Now, up to 1,8 bilion people around the world speak English.
 The growth of English has nothing to do with the structure of the language, and
everything to do with politics.
 After developing for almost a millennium on the British Isles, English was taken around
the world by the sailors, soldiers, pilgrims, traders and missionaires of the British Empire.
This way, English reached all corners of the globe.
 The British Empire expanded across almost a quarter of the world’s surface (besides USA,
where English was the dominant language).

34. 34https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e0wvPPQkFE

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The British Empire was the largest empire in
History .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire
It included the dominions, colonies,
protectorates, mandates and other territories
ruled or administered by the UK.
It originated with the overseas possessions and
trading posts established by England between
the late 16th and early 18th centuries. For over
a century, it was the foremost GLOBAL POWER.
By 1922 the British Empire had about 458
million people, 1/5 of the world’s population at
that time, almost a quarter of the Earth's total
land area.
As a result, its political, legal, linguistic and
cultural legacy is widespread.

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British Empire in dates 1497-1583: Origins
1583-1783: “First” British Empire
1783-1815: “Second” British Empire
1815-1914: Britain’s imperial century
1914-1945: World wars
1945-1997: Decolonisation and decline

37. “Gone but not forgotten”…
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 In most of the British Empire, the main goal was trade, so, it was the language of
business, administration and education, but not the language of the people.
 Post-independence, many countries became officially multilingual for the first time, but
the various groups needed to communicate with each other and with other nations, then,
again, that was English.
 For a long time, access to English meant access to education. This created an English-
speaking elite in some populous countries (like India), and elites are good at self-
preservation.
 Nowadays, English remains an important language in all former colonies.
 English is the dominant or official language in 75 territories - a direct legacy of the British
Empire.

38. “Gone but not forgotten”…
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 In countries where large settler colonies were formed, such as Australia, Canada and the
USA, native languages and cultures have been almost extinguished by English.
 The rise of the USA in the 20th century gave English its international status.
 However, it was not the first language of European colonialism (like Portuguese and
Dutch), and, in the 19th century, it was not the world’s lingua franca (French was the first
language of international communication).
 While Europe was rebuilding after the World War II, the USA boomed…

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 The influence of American business, combined with the tradition of English left around
the world by the British Empire, have made English the number one language of
international trade in the 21st century.
 But the cultural legacy of the post-war decades (in music, rock and roll, jazz, disco, hip
hop, Hollywood movies, American television series) is also very important to the growth of
English as a world language. American culture was everywhere, radiating success.
 In music, also British bands were world known – the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Queen,
Pink Floyd, the Police, Led Zepelin…
 The hippy movement came from San Francisco and London.

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The language of
Marketing, Science and Technology…
 The global power of the USA coincided with the birth of popular
computing and English is the language of the technological
revolution and the Internet.
 The USA remains the most innovative technological nation.

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 Some people suggest English will remain number one because it’s “easy to learn” or
specially flexible, but a glance in the past shows that this is irrelevant – in spite its
complexity, Latin was Europe’s most influential language for over a thousand years, and its
descendents are still strong. People learned Latin then for the same reasons they learn
English now: to be successful and have access to knowledge. However, nowadays Latin is
only spoken by priests and scholars.
 Languages and borders change over time, but, at least during the next decades, English
problably will remain the world’s number one language…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azxoVRTwlNg
“Whatever will be, will be”…

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