Where does English come from?/By Hasnain Sherazi
  When we talk about English, we often think of it as a single language  but what do the dialects spoken in dozens of countries around the world  have in common with each other,  or with the writings of Chaucer?      And how are any of them related to the strange words in Beowulf?  The answer is that like most languages,  English has evolved through generations of speakers,  undergoing major changes over time.  By undoing these changes,  we can trace the language from the present day  back to its ancient roots.  While modern English shares many similar words  with Latin-derived romance languages,  like French and Spanish,  most of those words were not originally part of it.  Instead, they started coming into the language  with the Norman invasion of England in 1066.  When the French-speaking Normans conquered England  and became its ruling class,  they brought their speech with ...