Links between Estonia and English speaking countries (1)

Private School of Audentes


Links between English speaking countries and Estonia

Author: Kristin Liiv
Supervisor: Mari Martma



Tallinn 2006
Table of contents
Introduction 3
First links 4
20th century 4
Recognition 8
Conclusions 9
References 10

Introduction

English is considered to be one of most important languages in the world. It is one of the official languages of the United Nations.
According to research by the British Council, around 375 million people in the world speak English as their native language and English has official or special status in at least seventy -five countries. The British Council has also noted that English is the main language of newspapers , airports and air- traffic control, international business and academic conferences, science , technology, diplomacy and sport . Perhaps even more important contributor to the dominant role of the English language in the world is that over two-thirds of the world's scientists are able to read in English. Three quarters of the world's mail is written in English and eighty per cent of the world's electronic information is stored in English.
The biggest countries where English is spoken as the first language are: Great Britain , Canada , United States of America and Australia .
Estonian on in comparison to English is a language that is spoken only by approximately 1 million people.
On the other hand English in comparison to Estonian is a very young language. According to Wikipeia online dictionary, English is an Anglo-Frisian language brought to south- eastern Great Britain in the 5th century AD by Germanic settlers from various parts of northwest Germany ( Saxons , Angles). Estonian in comparison is a language that has been spoken in the area of present day Estonia for more than 4000 years , Meri (1976).

First links

Although written evidence of regular links between Estonia and England date back only into the beginning of the 20th century, it is clear that there have been links also earlier. These contacts might be very old. During Hanseatic times the trade on the Baltic Sea was quite active. The links might be even older. Historians have claimed that already during the second Punic war in 218 BC a northern nation called Esths controlled the north