For many Malaysians, English is part and parcel of daily life, spoken both casually at home and professionally at work.

Yet, different English-speaking countries communicate in English differently from each other. Why is that?

Also, if you’ve ever attempted reading a text written in Old English, you will barely be able to understand, let alone recognise the language at all.

Speaking to FMT, Shangeetha Rajah Kumaran, Universiti Malaya English Language department head, said that modern-day English is the product of centuries of evolution.

“The English language has evolved due to the influence of many other languages, and the language spoken and written today is definitely different from how it was originally used.”

It is no coincidence that English shares many words with Spanish and French, both Latin-descended Romance languages.

After all, the French-speaking Normans did invade and conquer England in 1066, introducing words like “beef”, “mutton” and “pork”.

“In addition,” added Shangeetha, “another notable change in the language was the reduction of inflections as Old English was a highly inflected language.”

Before the Normans arrived, the inhabitants of England spoke a variant of English known today as Old English. “Cow”, “sheep” and “swine” are all Old English words.

This is the language that the epic of Beowulf was written in, and suffice to say, it is gibberish to most modern English speakers.

Just look at this example: “On þyssum geare man halgode þet mynster æt Westmynstre on Cyldamæsse dæg.” This simply means : “In this year, the monastery at Westminster was hallowed on Childermass day.”

If you can speak German though, reading Old English will actually be easier; Old English is a member of the Germanic language group, after all.

German and English remain eerily alike today. “Lang lebe der König!” “Long live the king!” See the similarity?

During the 5th and 6th centuries, many Germanic groups, including the Angles and the Saxons, migrated to the British Isles, bringing their language with them.

Later Viking settlers introduced Old Norse words into the English lexicon. “Want” and “take” both have Norse origins.

And of course, you simply cannot forget William Shakespeare, whose stories continue to entertain and bore students with equal measure.

According to Shangeetha, Queen Elizabeth I’s patronage of the arts helped develop the English language, with playwrights like Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe benefiting from this.

Shakespeare is said to have introduced some 2,000 words and phrases into the English language. “Green-eyed monster” and “breaking the ice” are both attributed to him.

“Dauntless”, “besmirch”, “eyeball” and “anchovy” are others that the playwright conjured up.

These additions prove that language is never stagnant, and some random poet can make new words if he so wishes. Let’s add “Ekki-ptang-zoom-boing” to the dictionary then, shall we?

“Prominent figures such as John Wycliffe and Geoffrey Chaucer elevated the status of the language in the Middle English period,” said Shangeetha, emphasising the role of writers.

Not long after, the 1611 publication of the King James Bible added even more phrases and metaphors into the English language.

“A leopard can’t change its spots” and “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” are just two examples that originate from that Bible and still see common use outside religious contexts.

For a large part of Western history, most scientific discussions were conducted in Latin, which ultimately meant laypeople could never understand what scholars were babbling about.

Come the 17th century though, and science became more accessible to the masses with new words like “gravity”, “electricity”, “sternum” and “cardiac”.

British colonialism also had a part to play in the development and spread of the English language. Many foreign words like “zombie” and “barbecue” have ended up in English dictionaries.

Shangeetha said, “The influence of native languages helped diversify the English language that is spoken today.”

Even Malay contributed a handful of words, including “amok”, “bamboo”, “cockatoo” and “paddy”. Sadly, “alamak”, the word you never want to hear your surgeon say, never made it in.

There were attempts to standardise the language, particularly spelling, through the publication of dictionaries.

After nine years, in 1755, Samuel Johnson compiled 42,773 entries into his dictionary, resulting in a 45cm tall book. No records on whether it was ever used as a deadly weapon.

And in 1857, the first Oxford English Dictionary was published, after causing its writers to suffer. One third edition author supposedly went mad and the others bored themselves into quitting.

One can’t discuss English without bringing up a particularly popular version of it: American English.

Malaysians seem to have been largely influenced by Hollywood films, which explains why the American “cookie” is used alongside the British “biscuit”.

Interestingly enough, while American English is younger than its British relative, Americans still use many words considered to be old-fashioned in British English.

For example, Americans still say “fall” and “faucets” while the British have since moved on to “autumn” and “taps”.

With the dawn of the digital age, English has continued to undergo numerous changes, most evident in the way you write text messages and e-mails.

Just check your teenage kids’ phones and see how true it is. “LOL”, “ASAP”, “IMO” and “BTW” will surely pop up on screen.

So, what now for the future of English? The language has taken a life of its own, and Malaysian English is a different beast from its British counterpart.

In all honesty though, that’s alright. It’s not right to say one version of English is the correct version; language evolves constantly and what’s “correct” now may be outdated in a century or two.

So, it doesn’t matter whether “you eat dinner already” or “you’ve eaten dinner”. Malaysian English is just one of many strange variants of the English language, a strange language on its own.