Where Does English Come From? (Part One with Johan)

source: Oxford Online English    2017年1月17日
See the full version: http://www.oxfordonlineenglish.com/or...
What’s the opposite of 'slow'? You could say 'fast', but you could also say 'quick', hasty', 'rapid', 'speedy', or even 'fleet'.
There are many examples like this, but why? Why does English have so many words with the same meaning?
It’s because many different languages have influenced English over the years.
Latin, Greek, Germanic languages, French and other world languages have all influenced English and contributed vocabulary to modern English.
Learning about the influences of other languages on English can help you to understand where English words come from. This makes it easier to learn and remember English vocabulary.
In this lesson, you can learn about the influences of Greek and Latin on modern English. You'll see how many modern English words have roots in languages which are more than 2,000 years old.
This is part one of a two-part series. Part two coming soon!