History of the English Language (1943)

History of the English Language acts as an excellent layman's introduction to the origins of one of the most common languages on the planet, demonstrating how dialect changes over time, and presenting England as being multicultural right down to its roots.

This is a comprehensive introduction to the English language. Through its depiction of English as a worldwide language, it clearly promotes not only Britain's power in the world, but also its multiculturalism. The foreign language in the titles is apparently Indonesian, so one must assume that this was shown there. This might explain the simple illustrations of each word or people mentioned in the film.

Germany is included in this origins story, although, having been made during wartime, it is not as heavily featured as it would in an unbiased edition. Whilst the war is not openly discussed, one excerpt is especially telling: the narrator states "The German language also produced words associated with war, such as plunder", along with the image of a uniformed man fiddling with coins in a chest. As the image transitions into a cartoon, the insignia on his shoulder goes from a double-V shape to a Nazi swastika.

Also, Shakespeare's King Richard II, Act 2 scene 1 is quoted,which talks of England as a paradise, protected against war by God and nature. Finally, Winston Churchill is featured towards the end, talking about England's tolerance, lack of greed, and hinting at its multiculturalism.

As propaganda goes, it's subtle for its time, yet clearly evident today.

More information on this film: timeimage.wikispaces.com/​History+of+the+English+Language

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• British Council
• documentary
• film
• archive
• history
• propaganda
• England
• Britain
• time image

[simon11136]

@EuthanasiaForPoles wiesz co typku. już mnie zaczynasz wkurzać. żadnej konstruktywnej dyskusji tylko bełkot. nie dość że rasista to jeszcze niedouczony. poczytaj trochę zanim się zaczniesz wymądrzać. Wir sprechen über die Sprache und ihre Geschichte und nicht über die Menschen und für was sie sich halten. Dazu blamierst du dich total wenn du sagst dass Niederländisch nix mit deutsch zu tun hat. Und was bedeutet eigentlich dein Nickname? Hast du was gegen Polen?

[EuthanasiaForPoles]

@simon11136

pure wishful thinking

english people want to be like germans

but english people are 100% different than germans

english people are island celts mixed with romans and minimal with dutch

the english language has nothing to do with german

low german is a mix of dutch and german whose language area is in west and east frisia which is at the dutch german border

dutch has nothing really to do with german

dutch has a different grammar and a different vocabulary than german

[EuthanasiaForPoles]

@simon11136

for english people german sounds like polish or russian

not familiar

[simon11136]

@EuthanasiaForPoles Learn German dialects, so you can see more similarities too.

[simon11136]

@EuthanasiaForPoles German-Low German-Dutch-English-Norwegian beginnen-?????-beginnen-begin-­begynne/ bereit-praat-bereid-ready-bere­dt/ antworten-antwoorden-antwoorde­n-answer-svare/ beißen-bieten-bijten-bite-bite­/ Birke-Bark-berk-birch-bjoerk/ Blut-Bloot-bloed-blood-blod/ Buch-Book-boek-book-bok/ breit-breed-breed-broad-bred brechen-breken-breken-break-br­ekke/ Brand-Brand-brand-brand-brann/ Bräutigam-Brögam-bruidegom-bri­degroom-brudgom/

[simon11136]

@EuthanasiaForPoles German-Low German-Dutch-English-Norwegian Altar-Altar-Altaar-altar-alter­/ allein-alleen-alleen-alone-ale­ne/ alle-all-alle-all-alle/ allgemein-allgemeen-algemeen-g­eneral-allmenn/ Ente-Aant-eend-duck (Anatidae) -and/ Angst-Bang-angst-angst*-angst/ Anklage-Anklaag-aanklacht-char­ge-anklage/ Arbeit-Arbeet/Wark-arbeid/werk­-work-arbeid/ Arm-Arm-arm-arm-arm/ Asche-Asch-as-ash-aske/ Abteilung-Afdelen-afdeling-dep­artment-avdeling/ backen-backen-bakken-bake-bake­/ 

[EuthanasiaForPoles]

@Germericanboi

i am a man

ich bin ein mann

where is the similarity except man?

[frankph5]

German, around 25 per cent. French, around 30 per cent.

[frankph5]

You lose !

[frankph5]

Uncorrect. English is mainly French. 29 per cent. Some say even more.