South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Languages

Map showing the location of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

English is the primary language used in South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. English is one of the Indo-European, West Germanic Languages and it was first spoken in Anglo-Saxon England, which existed from the 5th to the 11th centuries. The language derived its name from the Angles, a Germanic tribe that migrated to England. English is written in the Latin alphabet, and the alphabet consists of 26 letters and five vowels. English has evolved through the years from old English, Middle English, and Early Modern English to Modern English which is spoken today.

The population in the islands is mostly temporary, and they have never had any natives though few people have been born on the islands. As of 2006, English was spoken as a first language by about 400 million people and as a foreign language by approximately 700 million people in the entire world. English has been widely used in the islands through the years, but it is difficult to tell the breakdown of speakers on the islands as most of the people do not live there permanently. The significant dialects in English language include North American English, British English, and the Southern hemisphere English which includes New Zealand and Australian English.

The islands are British overseas territories, and therefore British English is used for communication. British English and American English have some differences in spelling but there should be no difficulty in communicating between the two.

There are no minority languages in the islands because there are no permanent residents, though there are several languages that have been used on the island in the past. Some of these languages include Norwegian used by whalers in the past and some of the place names and whaling stations on the island are in Norwegian. Russian was used by some travelers, Spanish, Swedish and several other languages may have been used by whalers and explorers.

This page was last modified on May 1st, 2018

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Published on 2019-11-06


Capital	Grytviken
Area	3,903.00 km²
Land Area	3,903.00 km²
Location	Southern South America, islands in the South Atlantic Ocean, east of the tip of South America
Climate	Hot with seasonal rainfall influenced by the annual shift of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone; rainfall heaviest in upland areas of the south and diminishes to the north
Terrain	Most of the islands are rugged and mountainous rising steeply from the sea; South Georgia is largely barren with steep, glacier-covered mountains; the South Sandwich Islands are of volcanic origin with some active volcanoes

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Languages

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