Everyone who speaks English knows it’s a jumbled mess of borrowed words, colloquialisms and exceptions to the rules. The Internet has shown us that even 13 (or more) years of English education aren’t even enough for some people to get the basics down. But also thanks to the Internet, there are ways to learn about things that are more interesting–and definitely more entertaining–than taking notes in a middle school classroom. For that, the Open University presents “The History of English in Ten Minutes”, a ten-part series of bite-sized history lessons on the sources of English words and phrases, as well as a look at how English grew into a major global language.
The rest of the series (each about one minute long) can be found on the OUlearn YouTube channel.
If you’d like a deeper look at the history, I recommend reading Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: the Untold Story of English. The book is a bit dense, but if you’re a word nerd and a fan of history, you’ll enjoy it as much as I did.