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122-728: The Olympiastadion ( German pronunciation: [oˈlʏmpi̯aˌʃtaːdi̯ɔn] ), also known in English as the Berlin Olympic Stadium or simply the Olympic Stadium , is a sports stadium at Olympiapark Berlin in Berlin , Germany. It was originally designed by Werner March for the 1936 Summer Olympics . During the Olympics, the record attendance was thought to be over 100,000. Since renovations in 2004,

244-553: A mixed language or a creole —a theory called the Middle English creole hypothesis . Although the great influence of these languages on the vocabulary and grammar of Modern English is widely acknowledged, most specialists in language contact do not consider English to be a true mixed language. English is classified as a Germanic language because it shares innovations with other Germanic languages including Dutch , German , and Swedish . These shared innovations show that

366-644: A 2012 official Eurobarometer poll (conducted when the UK was still a member of the EU), 38 percent of the EU respondents outside the countries where English is an official language said they could speak English well enough to have a conversation in that language. The next most commonly mentioned foreign language, French (which is the most widely known foreign language in the UK and Ireland), could be used in conversation by 12 percent of respondents. A working knowledge of English has become

488-544: A big receptacle for the Olympic Flame . The Maifeld (Mayfield) was created as a huge lawn (11.2 hectares, 28 acres) for gymnastic demonstrations, specifically annual May Day celebrations by the government. The area was surrounded by 19 metres of land elevation (62 ft), even though the Olympiastadion (to the east) was only 17 metres (55 ft) high. The total capacity was 250,000 people, with 60,000 in

610-658: A distinct language from Modern English and is virtually impossible for 21st-century unstudied English-speakers to understand. Its grammar was similar to that of modern German: nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and verbs had many more inflectional endings and forms , and word order was much freer than in Modern English. Modern English has case forms in pronouns ( he , him , his ) and has a few verb inflections ( speak , speaks , speaking , spoke , spoken ), but Old English had case endings in nouns as well, and verbs had more person and number endings. Its closest relative

732-490: A foreign language, make up the "expanding circle". The distinctions between English as a first language, as a second language, and as a foreign language are often debatable and may change in particular countries over time. For example, in the Netherlands and some other countries of Europe, knowledge of English as a second language is nearly universal, with over 80 percent of the population able to use it, and thus English

854-600: A friendly match at the Olympiastadion with 50,000 spectators (27 January 1990). In 1990, Hertha returned to the Bundesliga , although they fell again to the 2. Bundesliga from 1991 until 1997. Since 1997, the club has improved, climbing up the Bundesliga table and qualifying for the UEFA Champions League , with matches against top European teams like Chelsea and AC Milan . The Olympiastadion held

976-600: A memorial. The recreation of the tower was carried out from 1960 to 1962, once again by the architect Werner March, following the original blueprints . The present tower became an important tourist destination offering a panorama of Berlin, Spandau , the Havel Valley, Potsdam , Nauen and Hennigsdorf . The most significant battle around the Olympiastadion was in April 1945 when the Soviet army fought to capture it. This

1098-520: A more standard version of English. They have many more speakers of English who acquire English as they grow up through day-to-day use and listening to broadcasting, especially if they attend schools where English is the medium of instruction. Varieties of English learned by non-native speakers born to English-speaking parents may be influenced, especially in their grammar, by the other languages spoken by those learners. Most of those varieties of English include words little used by native speakers of English in

1220-695: A number of other Anglic languages, including Scots and the extinct Fingallian dialect and Yola language of Ireland. Like Icelandic and Faroese , the development of English in the British Isles isolated it from the continental Germanic languages and influences, and it has since diverged considerably. English is not mutually intelligible with any continental Germanic language, as it differs in vocabulary , syntax , and phonology . However, some of these, such as Dutch or Frisian, do show strong affinities with English, especially with its earlier stages. Unlike Icelandic and Faroese, which were isolated,

1342-684: A requirement in a number of occupations and professions such as medicine and computing. English has become so important in scientific publishing that more than 80 percent of all scientific journal articles indexed by Chemical Abstracts in 1998 were written in English, as were 90 percent of all articles in natural science publications by 1996 and 82 percent of articles in humanities publications by 1995. International communities such as international business people may use English as an auxiliary language , with an emphasis on vocabulary suitable for their domain of interest. This has led some scholars to develop

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1464-407: A rich inflectional morphology and relatively free word order to a mostly analytic pattern with little inflection and a fairly fixed subject–verb–object word order . Modern English relies more on auxiliary verbs and word order for the expression of complex tenses , aspects and moods , as well as passive constructions , interrogatives , and some negation . The earliest form of English

1586-571: A rock venue, and has been regularly used for that purpose since. Some other artists who have appeared there include Bruce Springsteen , who 23 000 people came to see, Queen , U2 , David Bowie , Rod Stewart , The Rolling Stones , Iron Maiden , AC/DC , Berlin's Rammstein in 2016, Germany's Alphaville in 1986, Bon Jovi , Metallica , Van Halen , Black Sabbath , Pearl Jam , Kings of Leon , Radiohead , Robbie Williams , Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds , Prince , Depeche Mode , Whitney Houston and Barbra Streisand . Phil Collins performed at

1708-758: A significant minority speaks English. The countries with the most native English speakers are, in descending order, the United States (at least 231 million), the United Kingdom (60 million), Canada (19 million), Australia (at least 17 million), South Africa (4.8 million), Ireland (4.2 million), and New Zealand (3.7 million). In these countries, children of native speakers learn English from their parents, and local people who speak other languages and new immigrants learn English to communicate in their neighbourhoods and workplaces. The inner-circle countries provide

1830-634: A smaller equivalent of the Dietrich Eckart theatre. The theatre opened on 2 August 1936, the day after the opening of the games, with the première of Eberhard Wolfgang Möller 's Frankenburger Würfelspiel . 20,000 people were in attendance, and the Reich Labour Service supplied 1,200 extras. It was also used for some events of the games, in particular boxing matches. During the Olympics and later, dance and choral movement productions took place there, in addition to operas: during

1952-576: A sword, the other with a spear, a pairing that was to be used more famously by Arno Breker ; and on the right, representing artistic celebration, two female nudes, one with a laurel wreath, the other with a lyre. The arena, the Maifeld field, and the Olympic stadium itself were designed to be used together for large events, and March also provided an indoor arena in the nearby Haus des deutschen Sports (House of German Sports) that has been regarded as

2074-447: A verb ending ( present plural): From the 8th to the 11th centuries, Old English gradually transformed through language contact with Old Norse in some regions. The waves of Norse (Viking) colonisation of northern parts of the British Isles in the 8th and 9th centuries put Old English into intense contact with Old Norse , a North Germanic language. Norse influence was strongest in the north-eastern varieties of Old English spoken in

2196-563: Is Old Frisian , but even some centuries after the Anglo-Saxon migration, Old English retained considerable mutual intelligibility with other Germanic varieties. Even in the 9th and 10th centuries, amidst the Danelaw and other Viking invasions, there is historical evidence that Old Norse and Old English retained considerable mutual intelligibility, although probably the northern dialects of Old English were more similar to Old Norse than

2318-466: Is also undergoing change under the influence of American English, fuelled by the strong presence of American English in the media and the prestige associated with the United States as a world power. As of 2016 , 400 million people spoke English as their first language , and 1.1 billion spoke it as a secondary language. English is the largest language by number of speakers . English

2440-610: Is also widely used in media and literature, and the number of English language books published annually in India is the third largest in the world after the US and UK. However, English is rarely spoken as a first language, numbering only around a couple hundred-thousand people, and less than 5% of the population speak fluent English in India. David Crystal claimed in 2004 that, combining native and non-native speakers, India now has more people who speak or understand English than any other country in

2562-407: Is an official language of countries populated by few descendants of native speakers of English. It has also become by far the most important language of international communication when people who share no native language meet anywhere in the world. The Indian linguist Braj Kachru distinguished countries where English is spoken with a three circles model . In his model, Kachru based his model on

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2684-538: Is called Old English or Anglo-Saxon ( c.  450–1150 ). Old English developed from a set of West Germanic dialects, often grouped as Anglo-Frisian or North Sea Germanic , and originally spoken along the coasts of Frisia , Lower Saxony and southern Jutland by Germanic peoples known to the historical record as the Angles , Saxons , and Jutes . From the 5th century, the Anglo-Saxons settled Britain as

2806-536: Is often arbitrarily defined as beginning with the conquest of England by William the Conqueror in 1066, but it developed further in the period from 1150 to 1500. With the Norman conquest of England in 1066, the now-Norsified Old English language was subject to another wave of intense contact, this time with Old French , in particular Old Norman French , influencing it as a superstrate. The Norman French spoken by

2928-424: Is routinely used to communicate with foreigners and often in higher education. In these countries, although English is not used for government business, its widespread use puts them at the boundary between the "outer circle" and "expanding circle". English is unusual among world languages in how many of its users are not native speakers but speakers of English as a second or foreign language. Many users of English in

3050-517: Is spoken by communities on every continent and on islands in all the major oceans. The countries where English is spoken can be grouped into different categories according to how English is used in each country. The "inner circle" countries with many native speakers of English share an international standard of written English and jointly influence speech norms for English around the world. English does not belong to just one country, and it does not belong solely to descendants of English settlers. English

3172-564: Is the sole or dominant language for historical reasons without being explicitly defined by law (such as in the United States and United Kingdom ). It is a co-official language of the United Nations , the European Union , and many other international and regional organisations. It has also become the de facto lingua franca of diplomacy, science , technology, international trade, logistics, tourism, aviation, entertainment, and

3294-777: Is the third person pronoun group beginning with th- ( they, them, their ) which replaced the Anglo-Saxon pronouns with h- ( hie, him, hera ). Other core Norse loanwords include "give", "get", "sky", "skirt", "egg", and "cake", typically displacing a native Anglo-Saxon equivalent. Old Norse in this era retained considerable mutual intelligibility with some dialects of Old English, particularly northern ones. Englischmen þeyz hy hadde fram þe bygynnyng þre manner speche, Souþeron, Northeron, and Myddel speche in þe myddel of þe lond, ... Noþeles by comyxstion and mellyng, furst wiþ Danes, and afterward wiþ Normans, in menye þe contray longage ys asperyed, and som vseþ strange wlaffyng, chyteryng, harryng, and garryng grisbytting. Although, from

3416-454: The 2006 FIFA World Cup , when it hosted six matches, including the final . The DFB-Pokal final match is held each year there since 1985 . The Olympiastadion Berlin served as a host for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup as well as the 2015 UEFA Champions League final . It hosted six games in UEFA Euro 2024 , including the final . During the 1912 Summer Olympics , the city of Berlin

3538-485: The Augustinian canon Orrm , which highlights the blending of both Old English and Anglo-Norman elements in English for the first time. In Wycliff'e Bible of the 1380s, the verse Matthew 8:20 was written: Foxis han dennes, and briddis of heuene han nestis . Here the plural suffix -n on the verb have is still retained, but none of the case endings on the nouns are present. By the 12th century Middle English

3660-546: The Danelaw area around York, which was the centre of Norse colonisation; today these features are still particularly present in Scots and Northern English . The centre of Norsified English was in the Midlands around Lindsey . After 920 CE, when Lindsey was incorporated into the Anglo-Saxon polity, English spread extensively throughout the region. An element of Norse influence that continues in all English varieties today

3782-552: The European Free Trade Association , Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) set English as their organisation's sole working language even though most members are not countries with a majority of native English speakers. While the European Union (EU) allows member states to designate any of the national languages as an official language of

Olympiastadion (Berlin) - Misplaced Pages Continue

3904-550: The Indo-European language family , whose speakers, called Anglophones , originated in early medieval England on the island of Great Britain . The namesake of the language is the Angles , one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to Britain . It is the most spoken language in the world, primarily due to the global influences of the former British Empire (succeeded by the Commonwealth of Nations ) and

4026-663: The Internet . English accounts for at least 70% of total speakers of the Germanic language branch, and as of 2021 , Ethnologue estimated that there were over 1.5 billion speakers worldwide. Old English emerged from a group of West Germanic dialects spoken by the Anglo-Saxons . Late Old English borrowed some grammar and core vocabulary from Old Norse , a North Germanic language . Then, Middle English borrowed vocabulary extensively from French dialects , which are

4148-767: The Low Saxon and Frisian languages . English is an Indo-European language and belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages . Old English originated from a Germanic tribal and linguistic continuum along the Frisian North Sea coast, whose languages gradually evolved into the Anglic languages in the British Isles , and into the Frisian languages and Low German /Low Saxon on

4270-604: The United Nations at the end of World War II , English had become pre-eminent and is now the main worldwide language of diplomacy and international relations. It is one of six official languages of the United Nations. Many other worldwide international organisations, including the International Olympic Committee , specify English as a working language or official language of the organisation. Many regional international organisations such as

4392-410: The United States . English is the third-most spoken native language , after Standard Chinese and Spanish ; it is also the most widely learned second language in the world, with more second-language speakers than native speakers. English is either the official language or one of the official languages in 59 sovereign states (such as India , Ireland , and Canada ). In some other countries, it

4514-518: The palatalisation of consonants that were velar consonants in Proto-Germanic (see Phonological history of Old English § Palatalization ). The earliest varieties of an English language, collectively known as Old English or "Anglo-Saxon", evolved from a group of North Sea Germanic dialects brought to Britain in the 5th century. Old English dialects were later influenced by Old Norse -speaking Viking invaders and settlers , starting in

4636-554: The € 45 million franchise. The consortium took charge of the operation of the facilities together with Hertha BSC and the Government of Berlin after the remodelling. On 3 July 2000, the renovation began with a ceremony presided over by the Chancellor Gerhard Schröder , accompanied by Eberhard Diepgen (Mayor of Berlin), Franz Beckenbauer and Prof. Dr. Ignaz Walter. The re-inauguration celebrations of

4758-564: The "outer circle" countries are countries such as the Philippines , Jamaica , India , Pakistan , Singapore , Malaysia and Nigeria with a much smaller proportion of native speakers of English but much use of English as a second language for education, government, or domestic business, and its routine use for school instruction and official interactions with the government. Those countries have millions of native speakers of dialect continua ranging from an English-based creole to

4880-402: The 1920s the first buildings of a school, the "Deutsches Sportforum" (German Sport Forum), dedicated to the teaching of professors of physical education and the study of sport science were built northeast of the stadium site. From 1926 to 1929, Otto March's sons (Werner and Walter) were assigned to build an annex for these institutions, though the finalization was delayed until 1936. In 1931,

5002-617: The 8th and 9th centuries. Middle English began in the late 11th century after the Norman Conquest of England, when a considerable amount of Old French vocabulary was incorporated into English over some three centuries. Early Modern English began in the late 15th century with the start of the Great Vowel Shift and the Renaissance trend of borrowing further Latin and Greek words and roots, concurrent with

Olympiastadion (Berlin) - Misplaced Pages Continue

5124-478: The Allianz Arena is also lower than the extended capacity of the Olympiastadion. The stadium has been used as the home venue for the 2. Bundesliga club Hertha Berlin since 1963. In 1963, the Bundesliga was formed, and Hertha BSC participated by direct invitation, leaving its old stadium (the " Plumpe ") to use the Olympiastadion. On 24 August, it played the first local match against 1. FC Nürnberg , with

5246-608: The Angles. English may have a small amount of substrate influence from Common Brittonic, and a number of possible Brittonicisms in English have been proposed, but whether most of these supposed Brittonicisms are actually a direct result of Brittonic substrate influence is disputed. Old English was divided into four dialects: the Anglian dialects ( Mercian and Northumbrian ) and the Saxon dialects ( Kentish and West Saxon ). Through

5368-464: The British engineers demolished the tower; however, it was reconstructed accurately in 1962. The Olympic Bell (which had survived the fire and remained in its place in the tower) fell 77 metres and cracked and has been incapable of sounding since then. In 1956, the bell was rescued, only to be used as a practice target for shooting with anti-tank ammunition. The damaged old bell survives and serves as

5490-738: The British Army ( Berlin Infantry Brigade ) annually celebrated the King's or Queen's Official Birthday on the Maifeld and used it for a variety of sporting activities including cricket. Starting in 2012, Maifeld became home to the cricket clubs of Berlin. The Bell Tower crowned the western end of the Reichssportfeld planted amid the tiers of the Maifeld stands. It was 77 metres (247 ft) high. From its peak could be observed

5612-470: The British Empire in the 1950s and 1960s, former colonies often did not reject English but rather continued to use it as independent countries setting their own language policies. For example, the view of the English language among many Indians has gone from associating it with colonialism to associating it with economic progress, and English continues to be an official language of India. English

5734-480: The Bundesliga. 1. FC Union Berlin played four home matches during the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League at the Olympiastadion and the home matches in the 2023–24 UEFA Champions League , both due to the Stadion An der Alten Försterei not being up to UEFA's Stadium Specifications. When the Olympiastadion was not picked to host matches for the UEFA Euro 1988 because of West Berlin 's controversial status,

5856-547: The Early Modern period includes the works of William Shakespeare and the translation of the Bible commissioned by King James I . Even after the vowel shift the language still sounded different from Modern English: for example, the consonant clusters /kn ɡn sw/ in knight , gnat , and sword were still pronounced. Many of the grammatical features that a modern reader of Shakespeare might find quaint or archaic represent

5978-600: The English Language , which introduced standard spellings of words and usage norms. In 1828, Noah Webster published the American Dictionary of the English language to try to establish a norm for speaking and writing American English that was independent of the British standard. Within Britain, non-standard or lower class dialect features were increasingly stigmatised, leading to the quick spread of

6100-557: The English-speaking inner circle countries outside Britain helped level dialect distinctions and produce koineised forms of English in South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. The majority of immigrants to the United States without British ancestry rapidly adopted English after arrival. Now the majority of the United States population are monolingual English speakers. English has ceased to be an "English language" in

6222-761: The International Olympic Committee selected Berlin to host the 11th Summer Olympics . Originally, the German government decided merely to restore the earlier Olympiastadion of 1916, with Werner March again retained to do this. When the Nazi Party won the election in Germany in 1933, they decided to use the Olympic Games to build a new stadium and Olympic Complex for Berlin in 1936. Fuhrer and Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler ordered

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6344-774: The March brothers in the 1920s, which the Third Reich had used for official sport organisations such as the Reich Academy of Physical Training and extended by 1936, adding the "Haus des deutschen Sports" (House of German Sports) and other buildings (which belong since 1994 to the Olympiapark Berlin , a central sporting facility of the City of Berlin). Soon, the British forces renovated war-damaged buildings but also converted interiors to their specific needs (one gymnasium

6466-462: The Olympiastadion has a permanent capacity of 74,475 seats and is the largest stadium in Germany for international football matches. The Olympiastadion is a UEFA category four stadium. Besides its use as an athletics stadium, the arena has built a footballing tradition. Since 1963, it has been the home of the Hertha BSC . It hosted three matches in the 1974 FIFA World Cup . It was renovated for

6588-445: The Olympics and again in 1937 for the celebration of the 700th anniversary of the founding of Berlin, Handel 's Hercules ; also in 1937, Gluck 's Orfeo ; and in 1939, a production of Wagner 's Rienzi paid for and co-designed by Hitler in association with Benno von Arent . After World War II, the Olympic grounds were within the British occupation sector of Berlin. They were released for public use beginning in 1948, and

6710-466: The Reichssportfeld was finished, it was 132 hectares (330 acres). It consisted of (east to west): the Olympiastadion, the Maifeld (Mayfield, capacity of 50,000) and the Waldbühne amphitheatre (capacity of 25,000), in addition to various places, buildings and facilities for different sports (such as football, swimming , equestrian events , and field hockey ) in the northern part. Werner March built

6832-554: The Roman economy and administration collapsed . By the 7th century, this Germanic language of the Anglo-Saxons became dominant in Britain , replacing the languages of Roman Britain (43–409): Common Brittonic , a Celtic language , and British Latin , brought to Britain by the Roman occupation. At this time, these dialects generally resisted influence from the then-local Brittonic and Latin languages. England and English (originally Ænglaland and Ænglisc ) are both named after

6954-494: The Union, in practice English is the main working language of EU organisations. Although in most countries English is not an official language, it is currently the language most often taught as a foreign language . In the countries of the EU, English is the most widely spoken foreign language in nineteen of the twenty-five member states where it is not an official language (that is, the countries other than Ireland and Malta ). In

7076-628: The Waldbühne on 14–15 July 1990 during his Seriously, Live! World Tour . Even though East Germany was free at last, Phil Collins did not rely on getting enough payment there (he might have had to lower his fee or play for more people to get the same payment). The Berlin Philharmonic holds its outdoor concert there every summer, featuring noted guest artists. This concert has been broadcast on live TV since 1992. The facility seats more than 22,000, in three ranks that rise 30 metres (98 ft);

7198-804: The addition of a mobile grandstand over the Marathon Arch. The extended capacity reached 76,197 seats in 2014. The only stadiums in Germany with higher total capacities are the Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund and the Allianz Arena in Munich . However, the Signal Iduna Park and the Allianz Arena have both seating and standing areas and their all-seated capacities are lower than that of the Olympiastadion. The total capacity of

7320-449: The amphitheatre was used for film showings, including for the Berlinale , and, beginning in 1960, for boxing matches. Use for concerts began in the 1960s, but when The Rolling Stones performed there on 15 September 1965, the theatre was severely damaged. Fans stormed the stage, and after the band left after a set of only 20 to 25 minutes, fought police, who attempted to control them with rubber truncheons and fire hoses, and destroyed

7442-407: The base from which English spreads to other countries in the world. Estimates of the numbers of second language and foreign-language English speakers vary greatly from 470 million to more than 1 billion, depending on how proficiency is defined. Linguist David Crystal estimates that non-native speakers now outnumber native speakers by a ratio of 3 to 1. In Kachru's three-circles model,

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7564-401: The basis for the required controlled natural languages Seaspeak and Airspeak, used as international languages of seafaring and aviation. English used to have parity with French and German in scientific research, but now it dominates that field. It achieved parity with French as a language of diplomacy at the Treaty of Versailles negotiations in 1919. By the time of the foundation of

7686-400: The beginning, Englishmen had three manners of speaking, southern, northern and midlands speech in the middle of the country, ... Nevertheless, through intermingling and mixing, first with Danes and then with Normans, amongst many the country language has arisen, and some use strange stammering, chattering, snarling, and grating gnashing. John Trevisa , c.  1385 Middle English

7808-638: The consensus of educated English speakers around the world, without any oversight by any government or international organisation. American listeners readily understand most British broadcasting, and British listeners readily understand most American broadcasting. Most English speakers around the world can understand radio programmes, television programmes, and films from many parts of the English-speaking world. Both standard and non-standard varieties of English can include both formal or informal styles, distinguished by word choice and syntax and use both technical and non-technical registers. The settlement history of

7930-405: The construction of a great sports complex in Grunewald named the "Reichssportfeld" with a new Olympiastadion. Architect Werner March remained in charge of the project, assisted by his brother Walter . When the complex was built it was owned by the Hohenzollern Royal Family (Constitutional Monarchy of Germany), who retained ownership after the games. Construction took place from 1934 to 1936. When

8052-518: The continent. The Frisian languages, which together with the Anglic languages form the Anglo-Frisian languages , are the closest living relatives of English. Low German/Low Saxon is also closely related, and sometimes English, the Frisian languages, and Low German are grouped together as the North Sea Germanic languages, though this grouping remains debated. Old English evolved into Middle English , which in turn evolved into Modern English. Particular dialects of Old and Middle English also developed into

8174-418: The current Jesse-Owens-Allee. The government of Germany decided not to build in the nearby Grunewald forest, or to renovate buildings that already existed. Because of this desire, they hired the same architect who originally had built the "Rennverein", Otto March. March decided to build the stadium under the ground ("Erdstadion", in German). However, the 1916 Olympic Games were cancelled due to World War I . In

8296-450: The destiny of the Olympiastadion in light of the legacy it represented for Germany. Some wanted to tear the stadium down and build a new one from scratch, while others favoured letting it slowly crumble "like the Colosseum in Rome". Finally, it was decided to renovate the Olympiastadion. FIFA chose it as one of the venues of the 2006 FIFA World Cup . The State of Berlin hired a consortium composed of Walter Bau AG and DYWIDAG that won

8418-476: The development of English was influenced by a long series of invasions of the British Isles by other peoples and languages, particularly Old Norse and French dialects . These left a profound mark of their own on the language, so that English shows some similarities in vocabulary and grammar with many languages outside its linguistic clades —but it is not mutually intelligible with any of those languages either. Some scholars have argued that English can be considered

8540-404: The distinct characteristics of Early Modern English. In the 1611 King James Version of the Bible, written in Early Modern English, Matthew 8:20 says, "The Foxes haue holes and the birds of the ayre haue nests." This exemplifies the loss of case and its effects on sentence structure (replacement with subject–verb–object word order, and the use of of instead of the non-possessive genitive), and

8662-401: The early period of Old English were written using a runic script . By the 6th century, a Latin alphabet was adopted, written with half-uncial letterforms . It included the runic letters wynn ⟨ ƿ ⟩ and thorn ⟨ þ ⟩ , and the modified Latin letters eth ⟨ ð ⟩ , and ash ⟨ æ ⟩ . Old English is essentially

8784-551: The educational reforms of King Alfred in the 9th century and the influence of the kingdom of Wessex , the West Saxon dialect became the standard written variety . The epic poem Beowulf is written in West Saxon, and the earliest English poem, Cædmon's Hymn , is written in Northumbrian. Modern English developed mainly from Mercian, but the Scots language developed from Northumbrian. A few short inscriptions from

8906-695: The elite in England eventually developed into the Anglo-Norman language . Because Norman was spoken primarily by the elites and nobles, while the lower classes continued speaking English, the main influence of Norman was the introduction of a wide range of loanwords related to politics, legislation and prestigious social domains. Middle English also greatly simplified the inflectional system, probably in order to reconcile Old Norse and Old English, which were inflectionally different but morphologically similar. The distinction between nominative and accusative cases

9028-408: The expanding circle use it to communicate with other people from the expanding circle, so that interaction with native speakers of English plays no part in their decision to use the language. Non-native varieties of English are widely used for international communication, and speakers of one such variety often encounter features of other varieties. Very often today a conversation in English anywhere in

9150-648: The final score 1–1. However, in 1965, the German Football Association found Hertha BSC guilty of bribery and relegated them to the Regionalliga Berlin . In 1968, Hertha returned to the first division, and to the Olympiastadion, and in 1971 sold the "Plumpe". The second half of the 1970s was quite successful for Hertha BSC. In 1979, it reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup , but was defeated by Red Star Belgrade . Hertha reached

9272-572: The finals of the German Cup twice (1977 and 1979). In the 1980s, Hertha had a declining time in the Bundesliga, and fell into the Amateur-Oberliga Berlin in 1986. They moved to the smaller Poststadion . Hertha recovered, and joined the 2. Bundesliga for the 1988–89 season, and returned to the Olympiastadion. Other teams have also used the Olympiastadion, like Tasmania , Tennis Borussia and Blau-Weiß 90 when they played in

9394-603: The forces that participated in a battle fought in Langemark (West Flanders, Belgium) on 10 November 1914, during the First World War. Since 2006, the ground floor is home to a public exhibit providing historical information on the area of the former Reichssportfeld. During the 1936 Olympics, the Maifeld was used for polo and equestrian dressage events. After the Second World War, the occupying forces of

9516-419: The game field was changed from red to blue, reflecting the colours of Hertha BSC. The renovations used 70,000 cubic metres (2,500,000 cu ft) of concrete and 20,000 cubic metres (710,000 cu ft) of pre-cast reinforced concrete elements. Some 12,000 cubic metres (420,000 cu ft) of concrete was demolished and removed and 30,000 cubic metres (1,100,000 cu ft) of natural stone

9638-531: The games were the 10th (Summer) Olympics, they were the Games of the XI Olympiad. The Bell Tower was the only part of the Reichssportfeld that was destroyed in the war. The Third Reich used the tower's structure to store archives (such as films). The Soviet troops set its contents on fire, turning the tower into a makeshift chimney. The structure emerged from the fire severely damaged and weakened. In 1947,

9760-654: The growing economic and cultural influence of the United States and its status as a superpower following the Second World War has, along with worldwide broadcasting in English by the BBC and other broadcasters, caused the language to spread across the planet much faster. In the 21st century, English is more widely spoken and written than any language has ever been. As Modern English developed, explicit norms for standard usage were published, and spread through official media such as public education and state-sponsored publications. In 1755, Samuel Johnson published his A Dictionary of

9882-479: The history of English was Early Modern English (1500–1700). Early Modern English was characterised by the Great Vowel Shift (1350–1700), inflectional simplification, and linguistic standardisation. The Great Vowel Shift affected the stressed long vowels of Middle English. It was a chain shift , meaning that each shift triggered a subsequent shift in the vowel system. Mid and open vowels were raised , and close vowels were broken into diphthongs . For example,

10004-407: The history of how English spread in different countries, how users acquire English, and the range of uses English has in each country. The three circles change membership over time. Countries with large communities of native speakers of English (the inner circle) include Britain, the United States, Australia, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand, where the majority speaks English, and South Africa, where

10126-403: The inner-circle countries, and they may show grammatical and phonological differences from inner-circle varieties as well. The standard English of the inner-circle countries is often taken as a norm for use of English in the outer-circle countries. In the three-circles model, countries such as Poland, China, Brazil, Germany, Japan, Indonesia, Egypt, and other countries where English is taught as

10248-531: The introduction of loanwords from French ( ayre ) and word replacements ( bird originally meaning "nestling" had replaced OE fugol ). By the late 18th century, the British Empire had spread English through its colonies and geopolitical dominance. Commerce, science and technology, diplomacy, art, and formal education all contributed to English becoming the first truly global language. English also facilitated worldwide international communication. English

10370-475: The introduction of the printing press to London. This era notably culminated in the King James Bible and the works of William Shakespeare . The printing press greatly standardised English spelling, which has remained largely unchanged since then, despite a wide variety of later sound shifts in English dialects. Modern English has spread around the world since the 17th century as a consequence of

10492-431: The languages have descended from a single common ancestor called Proto-Germanic . Some shared features of Germanic languages include the division of verbs into strong and weak classes, the use of modal verbs , and the sound changes affecting Proto-Indo-European consonants, known as Grimm's and Verner's laws . English is classified as an Anglo-Frisian language because Frisian and English share other features, such as

10614-595: The large stands that extended at the west end. Also located there were the Langemarck-Halle (below) and the Bell Tower (rising high). The walls were built with sturdy stone from the area of the Lower Alps, and also feature equine sculptures (work of Josef Wackerle ). This consisted of huge halls built under the stands of the Maifeld. Pillars were raised on which hung flags and shields commemorating all

10736-408: The last row of seats, the 88th, is also 93.5 metres (307 ft) from the centre of the orchestra pit, so originally 40 microphones were installed on-stage, feeding 10 coordinated groups of loudspeakers. In 1982, a canopy costing 200,000  € was erected over the stage, providing both a visual and an acoustic barrier. Concert promoter Peter Schwenkow leased it from 1981 until the end of 2008, when

10858-492: The lease was transferred to CTS Eventim . Before COVID-19 , American-Armenian rock and roll band System of a Down was set to perform at the arena on 8 June 2020, American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift was set to perform on 24 June 2020 as part of Lover Fest and Canadian singer Celine Dion was due to return to the arena after 11 years with the Courage World Tour on 22 July 2020. However, Dion's concert

10980-551: The new Olympiastadion on the foundation of the original Deutsches Stadion, once again with the lower half of the structure recessed 12 metres (40 feet) below ground level. The capacity of the Olympiastadion reached 110,000 spectators. It also possessed a VIP stand. At its end, aligned with the symmetrically designed layout of the buildings of the Olympischer Platz and toward the Maifeld, was the Marathon Gate with

11102-408: The new Olympiastadion were carried out on 31 July 2004, and 1 August 2004. On that day, Saturday, the party began with performances from Pink , Nena and Daniel Barenboim . It culminated at night with the opening ceremony. On day two, friendly matches were played between different categories of the club Hertha BSC and visiting teams. On 8 September 2004, Brazil played Germany . From 2003 to 2007,

11224-419: The press stand and 133 are seats in skyboxes. The lower tier has 42 seating rows at an average angle of 25.4° and houses 38,020 seats, of which 32,310 are regular seats, 560 are box seats, 563 are lounge seats (expandable to 743), 4,413 are business seats, and 174 are wheelchair spaces. For some football matches, such as those between Hertha BSC and FC Bayern München , the capacity can be temporarily expanded by

11346-426: The prestige varieties among the middle classes. In modern English, the loss of grammatical case is almost complete (it is now only found in pronouns, such as he and him , she and her , who and whom ), and SVO word order is mostly fixed. Some changes, such as the use of do-support , have become universalised. (Earlier English did not use the word "do" as a general auxiliary as Modern English does; at first it

11468-678: The reign of Henry V . Around 1430, the Court of Chancery in Westminster began using English in its official documents , and a new standard form of Middle English, known as Chancery Standard , developed from the dialects of London and the East Midlands . In 1476, William Caxton introduced the printing press to England and began publishing the first printed books in London, expanding the influence of this form of English. Literature from

11590-599: The seating, fire hydrants and other furnishings. 270,000  DM in damage was done, in a riot that fulfilled the dire prophecies of some Berlin newspapers about rock concerts and was the first inter-generational battle of the 1960s in West Germany . A reporter from Bild wrote of the concert, "I know Hell." The arena had to be completely renovated and was then little used until 1978. Jimi Hendrix second-to-last appearance in "Berlin Super Concert70"

11712-479: The seats and is made up of transparent panels that allow sunlight to stream in during the day. The western portion (on the Marathon Arch) is open to reveal the Bell Tower to the spectators. The conservation factor of the Olympiastadion as a historical monument was also considered, especially with respect to the preservation of the natural stone blocks. After criticisms, the colour of the athletics track around

11834-468: The sense of belonging only to people who are ethnically English . Use of English is growing country-by-country internally and for international communication. Most people learn English for practical rather than ideological reasons. Many speakers of English in Africa have become part of an "Afro-Saxon" language community that unites Africans from different countries. As decolonisation proceeded throughout

11956-483: The source of approximately 28% of Modern English words , and from Latin , which is the source of an additional 28% . As such, though most of its total vocabulary comes from Romance languages , Modern English's grammar, phonology, and most commonly used words in everyday use keep it genealogically classified under the Germanic branch. It exists on a dialect continuum with Scots and is then most closely related to

12078-474: The southern dialects. Theoretically, as late as the 900s AD, a commoner from certain (northern) parts of England could hold a conversation with a commoner from certain parts of Scandinavia. Research continues into the details of the myriad tribes in peoples in England and Scandinavia and the mutual contacts between them. The translation of Matthew 8:20 from 1000 shows examples of case endings ( nominative plural, accusative plural, genitive singular) and

12200-588: The stadium held a Four Nations Tournament instead, and the DFB-Pokal final was awarded to Berlin for five years. It has been held there permanently since 1985. The stadium also hosted the women's DFB-Pokal finals from 1985 to 2009. With the demolition of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, a spontaneous feeling of sympathy between Hertha and 1. FC Union Berlin from East Berlin arose, which culminated in

12322-437: The stadium in exhibition games. During those years, Bundesliga football matches were played in the Olympiastadion, with Hertha BSC as the local team. In the Maifeld, several competitions of football , rugby and polo were staged too. In the summers, the Waldbühne resumed its classical music concerts, and playing movies . The theatre was also used as an improvised ring for boxing matches. In 1998, Berliners debated

12444-588: The stadium was home to the Berlin Thunder . In 2011, the venue hosted the World Culture Festival organized by the Art of Living where 70,000 people meditated for peace. In 2018, the venue hosted the 2018 European Athletics Championships . In 2024, the venue hosted the UEFA Euro 2024 final . With the intention of creating a more intimate atmosphere for football games, the playing field

12566-455: The study of English as an auxiliary language. The trademarked Globish uses a relatively small subset of English vocabulary (about 1500 words, designed to represent the highest use in international business English) in combination with the standard English grammar. Other examples include Simple English . The increased use of the English language globally has had an effect on other languages, leading to some English words being assimilated into

12688-428: The vocabularies of other languages. This influence of English has led to concerns about language death , and to claims of linguistic imperialism , and has provoked resistance to the spread of English; however the number of speakers continues to increase because many people around the world think that English provides them with opportunities for better employment and improved lives. Waldb%C3%BChne The theatre

12810-610: The whole city of Berlin. During the games, it was used as an observation post by administrators, police officials, doctors, and the media. In the tower was the Olympic Bell. On its surface were the Olympic rings with an eagle , the year 1936, the Brandenburg Gate , the date 1–16 August in German, a motto between two swastikas : "I call the youth of the world" also in German, and 11. Olympic Games Berlin – although

12932-473: The word bite was originally pronounced as the word beet is today, and the second vowel in the word about was pronounced as the word boot is today. The Great Vowel Shift explains many irregularities in spelling since English retains many spellings from Middle English, and it also explains why English vowel letters have very different pronunciations from the same letters in other languages. English began to rise in prestige, relative to Norman French, during

13054-785: The world may include no native speakers of English at all, even while including speakers from several different countries. This is particularly true of the shared vocabulary of mathematics and the sciences. English is a pluricentric language , which means that no one national authority sets the standard for use of the language. Spoken English, including English used in broadcasting, generally follows national pronunciation standards that are established by custom rather than by regulation. International broadcasters are usually identifiable as coming from one country rather than another through their accents , but newsreader scripts are also composed largely in international standard written English . The norms of standard written English are maintained purely by

13176-567: The world record for the attendance of a baseball game during the 1936 Olympics thought to be over 100,000. The stadium hosted five American Bowls between 1990 and 1994. The stadium was also home to Berlin Thunder , an American football team in NFL Europe , from 2003 until the league's operator, the U.S. National Football League , closed down the money-losing competition in 2007. The stadium also hosted The World Culture Festival. 2011

13298-539: The world, but the number of English speakers in India is uncertain, with most scholars concluding that the United States still has more speakers of English than India. Modern English, sometimes described as the first global lingua franca , is also regarded as the first world language . English is the world's most widely used language in newspaper publishing, book publishing, international telecommunications, scientific publishing, international trade, mass entertainment, and diplomacy. English is, by international treaty,

13420-438: The worldwide influence of the British Empire and the United States. Through all types of printed and electronic media in these countries, English has become the leading language of international discourse and the lingua franca in many regions and professional contexts such as science, navigation , and law. Its modern grammar is the result of a gradual change from a dependent-marking pattern typical of Indo-European with

13542-405: Was adopted in parts of North America, parts of Africa, Oceania, and many other regions. When they obtained political independence, some of the newly independent states that had multiple indigenous languages opted to continue using English as the official language to avoid the political and other difficulties inherent in promoting any one indigenous language above the others. In the 20th century

13664-413: Was built as part of the Olympic complex on the request of Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels . March made use of a natural ravine and modelled the theatre on ancient Greek amphitheatres. With the intent of showing the kinship between ancient Greek and Germanic culture, the entrance is flanked by two pairs of reliefs by Adolf Wamper : on the left, representing the "Fatherland", two male nudes, one with

13786-597: Was converted into a dining hall, another into a garage). From 1951 to 2005, the Olympischer Platz had a giant antenna transmitting for all the portable radios in Berlin. From then until 1994 and their departure, British forces held an annual celebration of the Queen's Official Birthday in the Maifeld with thousands of spectators from Berlin present. During the 1960s, American military and high school football teams introduced hundreds of thousands of Berliners to American football at

13908-621: Was designated by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to host the 1916 Summer Olympics . Germany's proposed stadium for this event was to be located in Charlottenburg , in the Grunewald Forest , to the west of Berlin—thus the stadium was also known as Grunewaldstadion . A horse racing -course already existed there which belonged to the Berliner Rennverein, and even today the old ticket booths survive on

14030-516: Was during the final battle of the Second World War in Europe, with the total invasion of Berlin as the Allies ' target. The Olympiastadion survived the war almost untouched; it only suffered the impact of machine gun shots. After the war, the former Reichssportfeld became the headquarters of the British military occupation forces. The administration settled in the northeastern buildings designed by

14152-518: Was fully developed, integrating both Norse and French features; it continued to be spoken until the transition to early Modern English around 1500. Middle English literature includes Geoffrey Chaucer 's The Canterbury Tales , and Thomas Malory 's Le Morte d'Arthur . In the Middle English period, the use of regional dialects in writing proliferated, and dialect traits were even used for effect by authors such as Chaucer. The next period in

14274-505: Was lost except in personal pronouns, the instrumental case was dropped, and the use of the genitive case was limited to indicating possession . The inflectional system regularised many irregular inflectional forms, and gradually simplified the system of agreement, making word order less flexible. The transition from Old to Middle English can be placed during the writing of the Ormulum . The oldest Middle English texts that were written by

14396-477: Was lowered by 2.65 metres (8.7 ft). Approximately 90,000 cubic metres (3,200,000 cu ft) of sand was excavated. The lower tier of seating in the stadium was demolished and rebuilt at a completely different angle of inclination. The roof was extended to cover a total of 37,000 square metres (400,000 sq ft), with 20 roof-supporting columns carrying a weight of 3,500 tonnes (3,900 short tons) of steel . The roof rises 68 metres (223 ft) over

14518-533: Was only used in question constructions, and even then was not obligatory. Now, do-support with the verb have is becoming increasingly standardised.) The use of progressive forms in -ing , appears to be spreading to new constructions, and forms such as had been being built are becoming more common. Regularisation of irregular forms also slowly continues (e.g. dreamed instead of dreamt ), and analytical alternatives to inflectional forms are becoming more common (e.g. more polite instead of politer ). British English

14640-470: Was planned at the Waldbühne on 4 September 1970. Due to bad weather conditions, it was relocated to the Deutschlandhalle. Alongside were also Ten Years After and Procol Harum . In the reality series Pawn Stars , Rick Harrison bought a rare poster for this concert for $ 4,000 (episode #20 of season 5, aired 30 January 2012). Following a concert by Bob Marley in 1980, it became well known as

14762-541: Was refurbished. The Olympiastadion was equipped with the latest technology in artificial illumination and sound equipment. It has 113 VIP stands, a set of restaurants, and two underground garages (for 630 cars). The total cost of the remodelling and amplification was €242 million. The new Olympiastadion has the highest all-seated capacity in Germany. It has a permanent capacity of 74,475 seats. The upper tier has 31 seating rows at an average slope of 23° and houses 36,455 seats, of which 36,032 are regular seats, 290 are seats on

14884-534: Was to celebrate 30 years of service to humanity by Art of Living Foundation . The stadium also hosts the annual Internationales Stadionfest since 1937, which served as an IAAF Golden League event until 2010. The stadium hosted the 2009 World Championships in Athletics where Usain Bolt broke the 100 metres and 200 metres world records. English language English is a West Germanic language in

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