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Year 12 - English Progress - Test 1

Student’s Name: ______________________________ No: _____ Class: ___________
Teacher:___________________________ Evaluation:_______________________

ACTIVITY A
1. Comment on this picture and explain how it portrays the relationship between the English
language and other world languages.

2. Complete this text about the English language with words from the boxes below.

Why The English Language Rules The World – No Really, Why?

English has become a a)______ language. There are many reasons for its b)_____: the heritage of the
British Empire, and the Post-World-War economic hegemony and cultural c) _____ of the United
States.
But the main reason is the d)_____ of the language and the broad-mindedness it e) _____.
If English grammar is rudimentary, the linguistic f) _____ of rock’ n’ roll, the English vocabulary is
huge. There are very few things that can’t be g) _____ in English, and if it can’t be said in English,
then a word is h)_____ from another language – like “kindergarten,” for example. If it doesn’t exist in
English and a word isn’t taken from another language, it’s because what it represents doesn’t make i)
_____ to thinking j) _______ by the English language: a case in point, “Schicksalsgemeinschaft”
(companions in fate).

elasticity lifted dominance equivalent influence

shaped communicates expressed sense universal

3. Rewrite these sentences as suggested below.

a. English has been proclaimed our world’s first true global language.
Some linguists...
b. They have sent us an invitation to attend the conference on endangered languages.
 We...
They expect the committee’s decision soon. This decision should help solve the problem of the official
status of native dialects.
They expect the committee’s decision, ...

ACTIVITY B
Read the text and do the tasks that follow it.

English is coming
The adverse side-effects of the growing dominance of English
European efforts to resist the rise of the English language have now reached a high point. The
latest Anglo-surge comes from the European press, with a dramatic increase in the number of
heavyweight publications launching English-language websites, offering translated news stories
and opinion pieces.
English-language publications aimed at expatriates and tourists have been common for years.
But the new development involves big, established national journals, whose bosses want to be
5
more visible in English. Der Spiegel, a German newsweekly, has founded a pan-European
“network” linking up such websites. A Dutch daily, NRC Handelsblad, joined a few months
ago, followed by Politiken from Denmark. The trio are in talks with newspapers in France and
Spain. They are eager to expand into Eastern Europe, though the credit crunch is likely to slow
progress as an online English edition can cost half a million euros a year in translation fees.
Beyond this network, a non-exhaustive search finds English-language websites of big
10
newspapers in Germany, Italy, Finland, Greece, Spain, Romania, Poland, Bulgaria and Turkey.
Many are recent ventures.
Editors’ motives are a mix of idealism and commercial ambition. Bosses at Spiegel have a
political dream to create a platform where ‘Europeans can read what other Europeans think
15about the world,’ says Daryl Lindsey, who runs the international edition of the magazine. But an
English presence is also a “calling card” when pitching to international advertisers. It has proved
helpful to journalists seeking interviews with world leaders.
The evidence points to the imminent collapse of the European Union’s official language
policy, known as “mother tongue plus two”, in which citizens are encouraged to learn two
20foreign languages as well as their own (i.e., please learn something besides English). Among
Europeans born before the Second World War, English, French and German are almost equally
common. But according to a Eurobarometer survey, 15-to-24-year-olds are five times more
likely to speak English as a foreign language than either German or French. Add native speakers
to those who have learnt it, and some 60% of young Europeans speak English “well or very
25well”.

This is a clear win for English. But paradoxically, it does not amount to a win for Europe’s
native English-speakers. There are several reasons for this. Start with a political one. European
politicians long feared that the use of English in the EU would lead to the dominance of Anglo-
Saxon thinking. They were wrong. The example of newspapers is instructive: thanks to English
(and the Internet), a genuinely pan-European space for political debate is being created. It has
never been easier for other Europeans to know what Poles think about the credit crunch, Germans
about the Middle East or Danes about nuclear power. English is merely an instrument not a
surrender to a dominant culture.

Adapted from: www.economist.com

1. Answer these questions according to the text. Use your own words as far as possible.

a. What has prompted editors to develop English versions of their native language publications?
b. Which aspect could slow down this trend of creating Pan-European linked websites? Why?
c. Explain which benefits arise from having an English version of certain publications.
d. Why is the European policy known as “mother tongue plus two” decaying?
2. Using information from the text explain the meaning of this expression.
English is merely an instrument not a surrender to a dominant culture.

3. Identify the idea each of the following words/expressions refers to.

a. The trio (l. 8)
b. Many (l. 11)
c. which (l. 19)
d. it (l. 23)
4. Find in the text synonyms for these words.
a. influential
b. projects
c. crisis

ACTIVITY C

Now write an opinion article on the relevance of the English language in today’s world for a
magazine writing competition. Write about 120-180 words. Use input from Activities A and B
to help you.

THE END