The Adventure Of English

The Biography of a Language

English is the collective work of millions of people throughout the ages. It is democratic, ever-changing and ingenious in its assimilation of other cultures. English runs through the heart of world finance, medicine and the Internet, and it is understood by around two thousand million people across the world. Yet it was very nearly wiped out in its early years.

In this book Melvyn Bragg shows us the remarkable story of the English language; from its beginnings as a minor guttural Germanic dialect to its position today as a truly established global language. THE ADVENTURE OF ENGLISH is not only an enthralling story of power, religion and trade, but also the story of people, and how their day-to-day lives shaped and continue to change the extraordinary language that is English.

(P)2003 Hodder & Stoughton Audiobooks©2003 Melvyn Bragg

Educational

This fast paced commentary of how English developed over many centuries and became the international language we know and use today also gives the listener insight into the weirdly inconsistent spelling rules in our language, and how we have come to have such a broad vocabulary with its many shades of expression.