English stands out immediately to foreign ears, and can be identified even by those who don’t speak it. If it wasn’t so widespread, it would sound a bit strange, as though it had surged in ancient times from rugged and soggy lands. Think of “Wuthering Heights” (a title with all the typical sounds), and you have an idea of the original English vibe. The British Isles are the land of fog and mystery, the cradle of crime novels, ghost stories and Halloween.
The phonetics of English is often odd : the english r is unique, alike the barking of a dog; the w sound is everywhere, remaining of wind blowing; although rare in other languages, the lisping θ and ð sounds are also typical, hinting to Celtic and Viking roots. The h sound is unknown in Latin languages and different in slavic ones. There is an unusual amounts of vowels of different lengths with very subtle differences. Consonants are followed by a slight aspiration, and diphtongues are heard all the time, a trait so ingrained that it immediately gives away native English speakers.
Although the spelling of English is totally erratic, the grammar is simple on the whole, and syntax is unusually fluid. Such compounds like “no go”, or “pay off” are unbeatable, it is impossible for other European languages to be more concise than English. “Game over” would be longer in any other European language. News headlines in English are famous for their shortness. This has been a major asset for establishing English as a global lingua franca. Another asset is that, although originally a Germanic language, English vocabulary is heavily romanized, and therefore more linked than German to the European classical tradition.
The English language came to prominence especially in the Victorian era. So for a long time, it has been associated with the stereotypes of England as it was perceived over a hundred years ago: gentlemen in bowler hats, old fashioned colleges, overpolite and puritanical tea drinkers in stylish conservative attire, well traveled champions of self control and tongue in cheek humor, a soft spot for eccentricity, eager sport players with a sense of fairplay. Rudyard Kipling and Lewis Carroll were quintessentially British.
Then in the 20th century, English language was associated more with the USA and for better or worse, it became the language of modernity. After WW2, English was the language by default used for aircraft and electronics, and surpassed French once and for all in international organizations. English came to mean big business, skyscrapers, car culture, consumerism, supermarkets, magazines, coca cola, popcorn, bubblegum, fast food, sportswear, commercials in glaring neonlight, space age, science fiction…
All European languages, including French, have bowed in front of that superiority as though they had all become provincial. English loanwords are now all the rage everywhere. This snobbery for English is often derided as childish and servile, and gets outright comical when it is misused or mispronounced. But like it or not, using English words makes anything sound upstart, up to date, efficient and cosmopolitan.
A key element of the English language soft power has been modern music. In old times, the British used to stand small as a musical nation compared to their continental peers. But the United States gave birth to jazz, blues, country music and rock’n roll. Rock culture has become a universal reference with its epicenter in the UK. All modern music top artists perform now in English, and millions of people throughout the world started learning the language by trying to understand the lyrics of some song that sounded cool.
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