The Languages Spoken in Great Britain

English is the official language of Great Britain, but a few other lan­guages, dialects and accents are spoken by the citizens of Britain too. English developed from Anglo-Saxon and is a Germanic language. However, all the invading peoples, particularly the Norman French, influenced the English language and you can find many words in English which are French in origin. For example:

etc. (etcetera) = and so on, restaurant, bourgeoisie, buffet and many others

They have mostly preserved their original spelling but are pro­nounced in a peculiar way. Besides, the English language borrowed some Latin words from the Romans, who came to the British Isles from Italy in A.D. 43. Here are a few examples:

i.e. (id est) = that is, e.g. (exempli gratia) = for example, sanatorium, millennium and many others

The Celts who came to the British Isles from continental Europe, spoke Celtic which survives today in the form of Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic.

Less than a quarter of all Welsh people — 600,000 out of 2,800,000 — speak Welsh. Welsh is a very difficult language to learn. It has very musical intonation, and difficult sounds such as ch and ll. Many Welsh-speakers use English words and add a Welsh ending io. For example:

switchio (for ‘switch’), climbio (for ‘climb’), recommendio (for ‘recommend’)

Some people think that this is lazy and that new words should be properly translated into Welsh before being used.

Welshmen living in England are often called by the nickname ‘Taffy’. This may come from the River Taff, which runs through the capital Cardiff, or it may come from Daffyd, the Welsh form of David.

Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic are still spoken, although they have suffered more than Welsh from the spread of English. All the three languages are now officially encouraged and taught in schools.

When Scottish people speak English they still use some Scottish words.

‘We’, meaning small, is often heard in such expressions as ‘wee laddie’ — a small boy, ‘a bonnie lass’ is a pretty girl, and a ‘bairn’ is a young child. If someone answers your questions with ‘aye’ they are agreeing with you: ‘aye’ means yes.

Years ago, in Northern Ireland people spoke Gaelic, and this lan­guage is still spoken in some parts of it. Evidence of Gaelic is found in place names, for example:

bally = town, slieve = mountain, drum = mountain top, lough = lake, inis = island, glen = valley.

The influence of Irish Gaelic is also found in the names of people. Here are some typical Gaelic first names:

Sean, same as John

Seamus, same as James

Liam, same as William

Seanna, same as Joanna

Catail, same as Charles

Paddy (short for Patric) and Micky (short for Michael) are not Gaelic names but they are found so often in Ireland that these two names are sometimes used jokingly to mean ‘an Irishman’.

Nowadays all Welsh, Scottish and Irish people speak English, even if they speak their own language as well, but all the countries have their own special accents and dialects, and their people are easily recognizable as soon as they speak. Occasionally, people from the four countries in the UK have difficulty in understanding one an­other because of these different accents. A southern English ac­cent is generally accepted to be the most easily understood, and is the accent usually taught to foreigners.

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