English belongs to the Germanic languages of the Indo-European language family. Around 350 million people worldwide are native English speakers. Around 250 million of them live in the United States. 61 million native English speakers can be found in the UK. 18 million Canadians and 15 million Australians also use English as their mother tongue. But that's not all, because in Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand, 4 and 3 million people respectively consider English to be their mother tongue. And if English has a true brother among the European languages, then it is probably Frisian.

Below you will find some interesting and curious facts about the English language:

• The coat of arms of Great Britain is decorated with a French motto. The original is written there: "Dieu et mon droit", which translates into German as "God and my right".
• It is not at all uncommon for English words, especially those used in the upper classes or on formal occasions, to have their origins in French. This can be explained historically by the fact that the Normans conquered England in 1066. This led to a significant increase in the popularity of the French language among the English aristocracy. Today's English is partly the result of mixing French with Old English. Old English was mainly used by the common people at the time.
• When it comes to the number of words, almost no other language can compete with English. English has about 1 million words. Interestingly enough, even native speakers rarely use more than twenty to thirty thousand words.
• It was the famous poet and theatre actor William Shakespeare who ennobled the English language with numerous word creations and idioms. These include: "It's all Greek to me" (in Germany we know this as: "That seems Spanish to me"), fair play, addiction or the famous "to break the ice" (in German this is directly translated as "das Eis brechen"). What Goethe or the Brothers Grimm are to the German language, William Shakespeare is to English.
• The first Roman settlement on the British Isles was established around 2,000 years ago in what is now the City of London.
• The early form of English is known as "Anglo-Saxon". This is because from the early Middle Ages, the Angles (a Germanic tribe) immigrated to the British Isles together with the Saxons.
• It's hard to believe, but in the USA, there is no official language at federal level! Of course, English is the most commonly used language in the United States, but many other languages such as Spanish and Chinese are also used. In the US state of Illinois, "American" was the original official language, but this was changed to "English" in 1969.
• The English language also once had a grammatical gender. English thus had something in common with German, Italian and Spanish. Over time, however, the so-called "genera" (as well as the corresponding articles and pronouns) were abolished. This makes learning English easier, especially for people who do not have an affinity for languages.
• The German language is sometimes ridiculed for its oddly long words, but the English sometimes give us a run for our money, because the medical term for quartz dust lung (caused by excessive inhalation of sand, dust or ash) consists of an incredible 45 letters in English. The word is a tongue twister par excellence: pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. Originally conceived only for the sake of its length and as an artificial word, it later actually found its way into medical terminology.

English as a world language

English is not only one of the most widely spoken native languages in the world, but has long since acquired the status of THE world language par excellence. It is important to differentiate between native speakers and the countless people who speak English as a second or third language. According to current sources, English has between 370 million and 2 billion non-native speakers. It was mainly Britain's colonial policy at the time that ensured that English became a world language. At the height of its power, around a third of the world's population was in the British Empire's zone of influence. Before that, French was the lingua franca, especially in Europe, and was therefore very widespread. Later, the USA's leading political and economic position was the main reason why English became even more popular after the Second World War. In the 21st century in particular, films, video games, television and music also ensure that the English language is widely used.

If you take a closer look at languages and their history, you will quickly realise that there is a fundamental trend towards simplification. In today's fast-moving world, we need quick and easy-to-understand formulations that almost everyone can relate to. There are also repeated calls to simplify the English language. The former Vice President of IBM USA (Jean-Paul Nerriere) had developed a variant of English based on only 1500 words. This is known as Globish.

English in science

Through various media, music, science and the internet, English has an immense influence on society. It is estimated that around 80% of all electronic information available worldwide and over 50% of the 10 million most used websites are in English. Other widely spoken languages such as Russian, German, Spanish and French account for less than 10% of the total.

Modern science is increasingly dominated by the global language of English. It is therefore not surprising that new scientific (including medical) findings are usually published in English. Many universities already offer complete degree programmes in English. Both international and local students can benefit from this. English language skills are essential in many areas of science and business. Accordingly, the education ministries of many countries have included English lessons in their education programmes.

There are also technical terms in the field of pharmacy that have been adopted from English without translation. For example, orphan drugs is a term used in German as well. These are medicinal products for rare diseases.  Since only a few people have such diseases, this poses a real challenge for medicine, both scientifically and financially. Our experienced pharmaceutical interpreters and GMP translators will be happy to assist you if you need to translate pharmaceutical documents into another language. This includes German, English and Russian.

History of the English language - researched by the Nuremberg translators and interpreters of GMP-inspection.com

The original inhabitants of the British Isles were the Celts and their language was therefore Celtic. From the 5th century onwards, the Celts were joined by the Germanic tribes, Angles, Saxons and Jutes, who naturally brought their own languages and dialects with them. Today, native Celtic speakers only live in the peripheral areas of Great Britain: Scotland, Wales and Cornwall.

Old English, also known as Anglo-Saxon, was spoken in the period between the 5th and 11th Century. Anglo-Saxon is a fascinating language. Have you ever heard of the heroic figure Beowulf? This heroic tale was once written (as a poem) in Anglo-Saxon and allows a modern reader an impressive insight into the thoughts of the people of old. The text is considered an important source for the transmission of the Anglo-Saxon language.

Later, the warlike Vikings also came along and left Scandinavian influences in the Anglo-Saxon language. Since the languages of the Germanic and Scandinavian tribes merely belonged to different branches of the common Germanic language family, there were no major difficulties in the lexical mixing of the two languages. All in all, however, Scandinavian changed little about English. Only the morphology and grammar have been simplified a little.

Until the 14th century, Norman kings and the nobility mainly spoke Anglo-Norman, a variant of French. The common people, on the other hand, stuck with Old English. In the 14th century, literary works were mainly written in Anglo-Norman, while religious (and medical) writings were - unsurprisingly - written in Latin. Due to various influences, Old English continued to develop and underwent a process of change. However, it is very important to point out that this is a perfectly normal linguistic process. There is no final language. Languages are alive and change almost constantly. They adapt to the cultural, moral and political views of the speakers. That is why it is essential for an interpreter (and translator) to always be up to date. Old forms of a language are usually quite difficult to understand. Today, Anglo-Saxon is probably only familiar to a few people who are not involved in linguistics. Middle English, on the other hand (period: 1150 - 1500) can still be understood after a little familiarisation. Incidentally, the period from 1500 to 1700 is referred to as Early New English and everything spoken from 1700 onwards counts as New English.

Grammar of the English language and difficulties in translating

Just like in German, English also uses the Latin alphabet, which consists of 26 letters. The pronunciation of English is sometimes very different from the spelling, which is often historically based. Over the centuries, the pronunciation of the words has often changed, while the spelling has simply remained the same.

In particular, the sentence structure of English differs noticeably from that of German. This in itself represents a hurdle to successful translation from or into English. In English, place is usually always mentioned before time in a sentence. Incidentally, English tenses have a progressive form. There is not really an equivalent for this in German. In general, the English are much more detailed with the times than the Germans. The inflection of verbs, on the other hand, is not as complex, as it has been almost completely abandoned in English over the centuries. Furthermore, only a few words in English have a grammatical gender. German, on the other hand, even distinguishes between three genera: the masculine, the feminine and the neuter. Incidentally, this is also the case in Russian.

The function of articles does not differ significantly in German and English, but in English, due to the lack of declension, you can get by with a definite article the and an indefinite article a (or an).

The vocabulary of English & the added value of professional translation and interpreting services

According to ethonologue.com, there were 7139 living languages in 2022. A large part of these is spoken in Asia and Africa. However, English still has the largest vocabulary. The trend towards creating modern word creations in English certainly also plays a major role. A very current example is the word "influencer". Such fashionable terms are often not translated into German, as a translation might sound unintentionally comical. "Influencer" could be translated as "Einflussnehmer", which is not exactly music to the ears.

One should also not forget that there are many language varieties in English. Depending on the country or region, words can have very different meanings. It is therefore essential for a good interpreter to know which variant of English is to be interpreted in the first place. American English? The British English spoken in England or perhaps even the English spoken in India? An interpreter must therefore not only be linguistically gifted, but also have a keen interest in the countries in which the required languages are used. Particularly in the medical field, the interpreter or translator also has a high level of responsibility, as even a small misinterpretation can, in the worst case, cause damage to a patient's health. For us at GMP-inspection.com in Nuremberg, it is therefore a matter close to our hearts and at the same time our highest moral obligation and responsibility to employ only competent and experienced language experts. Knowledge of the different language variants is a must for our GMP translators and pharmaceutical interpreters!

We are convinced that flawless quality and accuracy in a certified translation can only be achieved by using experienced publicly appointed and sworn translators. It doesn't matter whether it's English, German or Russian. All languages are equally important and we treat them as such. Your interpreting project is in good hands with us. We interpret during your GMP inspection on site at the company or remotely. In all cases, we are well prepared to fulfil your wishes and even exceed your expectations. This is what we stand for with our name: GMP-inspection.com.

Simply order pharmaceutical translations for English, Russian & German

We can also provide you with (certified) pharmaceutical translations of your documents in the above-mentioned languages for urgent matters. You can reach us by telephone at +49 (0)911 - 92 333 233. Of course you can also contact us by e-mail: info@gmp-inspection.com Our friendly team at GMP-inspection.com will be happy to provide you with personalised advice and take care of your request. Simply contact us from Monday to Friday between 08:00 and 18:00.

 

Image: vwalakte, en.freepik.com