REINO UNIDO 2

THE UNITED KINGDOM

A top London tourist attraction –

the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace

Reino Unido 2 en español

PART TWO

The word ‘Britain’ usually refers only to England, Scotland, Wales and the smaller islands, while ‘the British Isles’ is a geographical term which refers to all the islands in this North Atlantic group, ignoring all political factors. For example, ‘Birds of the British Isles’.

London is a city and it is the capital of England. The government of the United Kingdom sits in London, at the Palace of Westminster. It is the focal point for British tourism and nearly every tourist wishes to see historic London.

The Queen’s principal residence, Buckingham Palace, is also in London. Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland, Cardiff is the capital of Wales and Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland (Dublin is the capital of the Irish Republic).

The members of the UK have their own regional governments in their own capital cities but – perhaps surprisingly – England itself doesn’t have any equivalent regional government.

Giant’s Causeway, A magnet for

tourists in Northern Ireland

Scotland and Wales have their own indigenous, or traditional languages, and so does Ireland. In Wales the language is Welsh; in Scotland and Ireland it is Gaelic, and these are all minority languages.

English is spoken everywhere in the UK, but that does not mean that ‘everyone speaks English’. It is still possible to find people in the Scottish islands or in the west of Wales and Ireland who speak only their indigenous language.

England does not have an ancient language although some areas, like Cornwall in the far west, have one. In recent years there has been a great revival of interest in the traditional languages, led by Wales, where the old language has never really lost its force.

The Welsh language has been sustained and developed to the point where  we can say that Wales has a higher proportion of truly bilingual people than any other part of the UK.

QUESTIONS:

1. What is the geographical name of the group of islands mentioned in this article?

2. Where does the British government meet?

3. What is the capital city of Scotland?

4. Only one of the following is TRUE -

a) French is the second language in Wales

b) English is spoken in all parts of the United Kingdom

c) There are no Scottish cities.

d) The Queen’s palace is in Germany

5. What is the name of the Queen’s main palace?

6. Which of the four countries mentioned does not have its own regional government?

7. Welsh is an indigenous or traditional language in the UK. Can you name another?

8. Of which country does the article say, ‘the old language has never really lost its force’?

Keywords:

1. The British Isles

2. The Palace of Westminster in London.

3. Edinburgh (phonetically, Edinbara)

4. b)

5. Buckingham Palace

6. England

7. Gaelic

8. Wales.

Reino Unido Pt. 1