English is a West Germanic language that was first spoken in early medieval England and eventually became a global lingua franca.
英语是一种西日耳曼语言，最早在中世纪早期的英国使用，最终成为全球通用语言。
It is named after the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes that migrated to the area of Great Britain that later took their name, as England. Both names derive from Anglia, a peninsula in the Baltic Sea.
它是以盎格鲁人命名的，盎格鲁人是迁移到大不列颠地区的日耳曼部落之一，后来以他们的名字命名为英格兰。这两个名字都来源于波罗的海半岛安格利亚。
The language is closely related to Frisian and Low Saxon, and its vocabulary has been significantly influenced by other Germanic languages, particularly Norse (a North Germanic language), and to a greater extent by Latin and French.
该语言与弗里西亚语和下萨克森语密切相关，其词汇受到其他日耳曼语言，特别是挪威语（北日耳曼语言）的显著影响，并且在很大程度上受到拉丁语和法语的影响。
English has developed over the course of more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a group of West Germanic (Ingvaeonic) dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the 5th century, are collectively called Old English.
英语已经发展了1400多年。英语的最早形式是5世纪盎格鲁撒克逊殖民者带到英国的一组西日耳曼方言，统称为古英语。
Middle English began in the late 11th century with the Norman conquest of England; this was a period in which the language was influenced by French.
中世纪英语始于11世纪末，诺曼征服了英格兰，这是一个受法语影响的时期。
Early Modern English began in the late 15th century with the introduction of the printing press to London, the printing of the King James Bible and the start of the Great Vowel Shift.
早期的现代英语始于15世纪末，随着印刷机的引入伦敦，詹姆斯国王的圣经印刷和大元音移位的开始。
Through the worldwide influence of the British Empire, and later the United States, Modern English has been spreading around the world since the 17th century.
通过大英帝国以及后来的美国的全球影响，现代英语自17世纪以来一直在世界各地传播。
Through all types of printed and electronic media, and spurred by the emergence of the United States as a global superpower, English has become the leading language of international discourse and the lingua franca in many regions and professional contexts such as science, navigation and law.
通过各种印刷媒体和电子媒体，在美国成为全球超级大国的推动下，英语已成为国际话语的主导语言，成为科学、航海和法律等许多领域和专业背景下的通用语。
扩展资料
地理分布
由于英国过去在世界各地有许多殖民地的缘故，因此在现代，英语在许多国家与地区，都是通用语言或官方语言之一：
1、英语在下列国家和地区是第一语言：英国、美国、澳大利亚、巴哈马、爱尔兰、巴巴多斯、百慕大、圭亚那、牙买加、新西兰、圣基茨和尼维斯和特立尼达和多巴哥。21世纪世界上把英语作为第一语言（本族语）的人口约有5亿。
2、英语在下列国家和地区中是通用语言，这些国家和地区包括加拿大、多米尼克、圣路西亚和圣文森特和格林纳丁斯、密克罗尼西亚联邦、爱尔兰（连同爱尔兰语）、利比里亚（连同非洲语言）和南非（连同南非荷兰语和其他非洲语言）。
作为第二语言（即不是母语，但为所在国通用语）使用的人口约有10亿。
3、英语是下列国家和地区的官方语言（之一），但不是本地语言和通用语言：斐济、加纳、冈比亚、印度、基里巴斯、莱索托、肯尼亚、纳米比亚、尼日利亚；
马耳他、马绍尔群岛、巴基斯坦、巴布亚新几内亚、菲律宾、所罗门群岛、萨摩亚群岛、塞拉利昂、斯威士兰、博茨瓦纳、坦桑尼亚、赞比亚和津巴布韦。
参考资料来源：百度翻译
参考资料来源：百度百科-英语