Before reading the text think whether the following statements are True or False.

1) The Internet was already a global phenomenon in 1980s.

2) A major part of the Internet content is written in the English language.

3) The English language used in the Internet nowadays has a strong tendency to Americanization.

4) The American language has become very popular with people joining the global net because the Internet is in itself an American invention.

5) The visible signs of the American language are better grammar and better vocabulary.

6) In native countries such as Canada and Australia the authors seem to be more accurate when using English on their web pages because English is their native language.

7) The English language used on the web pages of non-native countries leaves much to be desired.

8) No doubt, English will become the only language used in the Internet in the future – all other languages will probably die out.

2. Read the text ‘English in the Internet’.

English in the Internet

As a big-scale social phenomenon, the Internet is no more than two decades old. But within the past years it has suddenly become so wide-spread that calling it global is not in the least an exaggeration. As a means of communication, and a very efficient one, the Internet has taken the world by storm.

As estimated by the Vilaweb research agency, approximately 70% of the Internet content are written in the English language. However, the English language currently used in the world is not uniform. Apart from certain regional differences, there is a strong growing tendency towards gradual Americanization of the internationally used version of English. Since the Internet is in itself an American invention, it is not surprising that for many countries around the world joining the global network resulted in a boost of fresh interest towards the United States as a country, with its own culture, history and language.

Popularity of the American language, in combination with a number of other factors, has paved the road towards Americanization of many national cultures and national mentalities all over the world, and the kind of the English language used in the world for international communication. The visible signs of the American tint are numerous. Sometimes they immediately meet the eye, in other cases they are more subtle. They include, among other things, simplified and more or less generalized grammar and spelling, extensive use of slang, jargonisms, colloquialisms and catch-phrases, abundance of abbreviations.

As for the general impression, in native countries such as Canada and Australia the authors seem to be more accurate when using English on their web pages. And their English is “better orchestrated”, so to say. They use better grammar and better vocabulary. Also, their language is easy to understand. This is quite natural, though. After all, their ancestors came from “Good Old England”.

Non-native countries, however, present a much more patchy picture. On the one hand, the web is full of West-European and Scandinavian sites with their nice, still pleasantly British English. A certain national coloration is present sometimes. But the texts are readable, the ideas are always clear, the general impression is favorable.

On the other hand, quite many countries of the former Eastern bloc, now have easy access to the Internet. In combination with their rising interest towards the English language, this fact has produced quite a number of web sites of varying quality. The web sites hosted by their nationals are “talking United States”, as the saying goes. The sites are rather readable, though with a fair amount of poor grammar. However, what hits the eye immediately is the slangish approach to the lexical side. Combined with heavy phraseology based on the national language, the English language of these sites leaves a sadly poor impression.

According to recently published data the ten world languages most used in the Internet are English – 72.3 mln users, German – 9.9 mln, Spanish – 9.5 mln, Chinese – 8 mln, French – 3.2 mln, Korean – 1.7 mln, Portugese – 0.7 mln, Russian – 0.7 mln. So far, it is still English that a major part of the Internet is now speaking and writing. But will it remain the same for another, say 50 years? Let us live and see.

3. Write out the answers to the True/False statements in 1.

TEST 4

(Variant 1)

To complete this Test refer to GRAMMAR REFERENCE for revision.