Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
Here are some interesting facts about English that will surprise and help you when translating into and from English:
1. The language most closely related to English is Frisian, a West Germanic language spoken in parts of the Netherlands and Germany.
2. The first English dictionary was written in 1755.
3. Every two hours, a new word is added to the dictionary.
4. Shakespeare added over 1,000 words in English.
5. Some of the oldest words in English are still very common today, such as I, love, black, mother, fire, hand, and hear.
6. The United States does not have an official language.
7. Over 80% of the information stored on computers worldwide is in English.
8. English is the official language in 67 countries.
9. 1/4 of the world’s population speaks English.
10. There are 24 different dialects of English in the United States.
11. Most words in English come from French or Old English.
12. English used to have grammatical gender.
13. English uses the Latin alphabet.
14. The British Empire and the iPhone are some of the biggest reasons why English is so widespread today.
15. English used to have 29 letters instead of 26.
16. English has more words than most languages.
17. A normal English speaker only knows between 20,000 and 30,000 words.
18. English is the official language for maritime and aeronautical communications.
19. English is the third most spoken mother tongue in the world. Chinese and Spanish are in the first two places.
20. China has more English speakers than the United States.
21. Many English words start with the letter ″S″.
22. The most used letter in English is ″E″.
23. The most common adjective used in English is ″good″.
24. The most common noun used in English is ″time″.
25. The word ″set″ has the largest number of definitions.
26. The longest word in English is ″pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis″.
27. The shortest sentence in English is ″I am″.
28. The original name for ″butterfly″ was ″flutterby″.
29. The two most common words in English are I and You.
30. The word ″lol″ was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2011.
31. The word ″Goodbye″ comes from an Old English expression meaning ″God be with you″.
32. The oldest English word currently in use is ″town″.
If you want to find out more about the English language, check out our article on this topic: 11 interesting facts about English language.
[Photo from Pixabay]