·
Population
Although Britain is quite small in
terms of land area /242,000 sq km/, it has a large population of
nearly 58 million, which ranks 17th in the world. With
an average of 239 people per sq km, Britain has the highest
population density in Europe. Most people in Britain live in towns
or cities. England has 370 people per sq km. Scotland has 66.Wales
139 and Northern Ireland 118.London is the 17th most
heavily populated city / 6,9 million/ in the world, but still much
smaller than Mexico City / 18,7 million/ and New York / 18,5
million /.
Population growth in Western
Europe is generally low. There were 781,000 live births in Britain
in 1992,or 13,5 live births per 1,000 populations. The death rate
is slightly lower at 11 per 1,000.The population is therefore
fairly stable. The proportion of elderly people has been
increasing as a result of better standards of living and death
care. The percentage or young people in the population have been
falling. At present only 20% of people in Britain are under the
age of 16.
·
Languages
English is the official language,
but many people know more than one language .Around 20% of the
people in Wales speak Welsh and children learn Welsh at schools
.About 80,000 people in Scotland speak Gaelic .For centuries
people from overseas have settled in Britain to escape persecution
or in search of a better standard of living. They have brought
with them their languages, cultures and religions .The most widely
spoken minority languages today are from the Asian sub-continent
but other languages include Italian ,Spanish ,Greek, Turkish
,Chinese .Ethnic minority communities make up about 5% of the
total population.
·
Varieties of English
English is the
second most widely spoken language in the world. It is the
official language of The United Kingdom, Ireland, The United
States, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand
and it is widely spoken in India. It is the language of
international business and science, of aviation and shipping.
As so many
people speak English in so many countries, there are many
different “Englishes”. The best form of English is called
Standard English and is the language of educated English speakers.
The government, The BBC, The Universities, uses it and it is often
called Queen’s English.
American English
is the variety of the English spoken in the United States. It is
different from English in pronunciation, intonation, spelling,
vocabulary and sometimes-even grammar! An Englishmen goes to the
town center to see a film while an American goes downtown to see a
movie. If an Englishmen needs a pen he would ask you: ”Have you
got a pen, please?» but the American would say:” Do you have a
pen?».
Australian and
New Zealand English, also called Australian English, are very
similar. Especially in pronunciation they are also similar to
British English, but there are differences in vocabulary and
slang. Many terms, such as kangaroo, dingo, wombat and boomerang,
come from the Aboriginal language and many others from the Cockney
dialect spoken by the first settlers, The Londoners.
Canadian English
is different both from American and from British English.
