It is quite possible to have a normal existence in a foreign country with a minimal knowledge of the language; however, it is advisable to learn the language as soon as it is possible. 

Throughout the history of the United Kingdom many people from different parts of the world have come to Britain in search of a better life for themselves and learn its language. However, there are no written documents about the first people who made the crossing from continental Europe into Britain but it is thought that two millenniums ago a group of people coming from Gaul - who called themselves Celts - arrived in Britain. As often was the case, for obvious reasons, in the time before the present one, the hospitality of the natives was not overwhelming and I don't think for a minute that the newcomers nourished a different reception as it was frosty and hostile at the best of time; nevertheless, they did not dwell on it and got down to grass roots and soon they found themselves at home with the environment and customs of the indigenous people of Britain. It must be said that it took a while but integration soon happened as they mixed with the local people for better or for worse and they became one people, one nation. The Celts were very skilful in making iron jewellery, tools and weapons and as the population grew the settlements became towns and trading centres began to develop and flourish. The Celts became much more sedentary and society became more complex and it was not surprising when many decided to move away from their original settlements and began to create new settlements of their own, and with distance, differences in custom and dialects started to developed and soon they were divided into communities in the definition of tribes. Trade was the main element which contributed most to the prosperity of Britain then and it has been said that commerce between the British Celts and the Romans took place long before the latter decided to pay a visit to Britain in 55 BC with the view to colonise the place.  As often is the case, in every society the soft-minded people seemed to propagate owing to paganism, lack of learning resources and the belief that there is someone superior to them who is keeping a watchful eye over their doings on Earth and which has kept them stuck in second gear for long period of time. Of course, the Celts were not any different to any other society as there was a small group of people who exploited this weakness by widely and efficiently applying intelligence to the little people's paganism and illiteracy and soon that small group of people became the ruling class. These people were called nobles and were in control of the government and religious ceremony. The job of the priests or Druids - as they were better known - were to confuse the minds of the people and put them in vulnerable states so that they could rule over them and use them as human sacrifices for the benefit of paganism and all the rest. Indeed, human sacrifices were carried out by priggish priests who thought themselves as self righteous and divine people. In fact, the main reason for the priest or Druids leaving Europe in such a hurry, when they did, for Britain was the fact that the Romans were trying to curb their rituals and ban them from continuing to use humans as sacrifice objects in mainland Europe since the Romans believed that the definition of freedom was not merely to cast off a man's chains but to make he live in a way that his human rights were respected to an extent and he respected the liberty of others. This was inevitably seen by the rest of the civilised world as an excuse by the Roman to deprive the freedom of others without facing criticism from the human right league which existed in Romans' time. Indeed, as promised in 55 BC a Roman fleet under the command of Julius Caesar came to explore Britain's coast line to see if there was a reason for invading the country and, of course, get acquainted with the way of life of its inhabitants. Approximately, 15000 legionnaires ran ashore at South Foreland - near Dover - to make the inspection and it seemed they were not very impressed with what they saw as the welcoming committee was not in talking mood and decided to repel the visitors by force. Nevertheless, it did not work since the Celts disorderly soldierly crowd was no match for the well trained Roman legionnaires and the former had no other option but to show the visitors a clean pair of heels. Having said that, it appeared that the Romans did not think that Britain was worth invading as they made their way back to Europe and did not return to this shores for another 100 years or so.  Nevertheless, in those days it was almost impossible to escape from the thought that they would sooner or later be back as the Romans and its Emperor, Claudius were interested in expanding their realm over the world and wield power over its people. It was in 43 AD when the Emperor and his administration made the decision to capture Britain and make it part the empire. Deftly ignoring a hostile reception the Romans landed in Britain that year and very soon they have seen what they wanted to see and began their conquest of Britain and its people. Soon the Romans elevated Britain to a different level as the Romans built roads, forts to wield power over the conquered people and their culture and language pervaded almost over the whole of the country when its people were force to embrace the Romans' way. Of course, it was not that simple as some tribes made the colonisation a bit harder for the invaders but in the end these people were driven into the mountains of what is today Wales and Scotland. Caratacus was the king of Catuvellauni people in Wales and he defended its land ferociously until he was defeated; he was captured by the conquerors and sent to Rome to be sold as a slave.  In 60 AD Wales finally fell under the Romans as the rebels and their Queen Boudicca were taken prisoners and dealt with accordingly to Romans' laws. In approximately 84 AD, the Romans made an attempt to conquer Scotland, which the Roman named Caledonia, but the Romans ended with eggs on their faces as it became a different proposition to Wales since they did not manage to conquer it. Having left Caledonia empty handed the Romans decided to bring Britain into a new order were the Romans' Laws would be applied. Latin became the lingua franca and Britain was adhere to the Roman Empire as more Romans citizens moved to live in the country and those born free under the Romans' rule were allowed to take Romans' citizenship. Indeed, the influence of the Romans lasted for almost 350 years and it has been said that Britain under the Romans was a good place to live. Nevertheless, all goods things come to an end as it was the case of the Romans' rulers in Britain as they were summoned to Rome as it had been attacked by Europeans barbarians.  Britain was left unprotected and as new invaders began to arrive at its shores people began to desert Romans' way of life and return to their previous ways of life in the country. 

Indeed, at its height the Roman Empire was colossal and it became too large to be controlled from Rome but it did not come as a surprise when political wrangles began to take place amongst Romans rulers and congressmen. Civil war broke out and the aftermath prompted many colonies to seek independence from Rome and as the Empire started to disintegrate Europeans barbarians, armed with the confidence of knowing that the Romans were a spent force, took advantage of the situation and began to wage war against the Rome as they attacked and seized the place until they had burned it. So the Romans left Britain and went on their way to Rome to try to salvage the eternal city and left the Britons to fend for themselves. The Romans' departure was met with curses and overblown phrases as the Roman-Britons felt let down by their leaving Britain unprotected from foreign invasions. Their fears soon came to be realised when in 407 AD Britain came under constant raids by the Picts and Scots who came from the northern part of the island. Things were getting very difficult for the Britons so they decided to engage the service of a group of tribes from the north part of Europe in their fight with their neighbours. The Angles, Saxons, Frisians and Jutes responded to the call-up and very soon they put the Britons' enemies in their places. However, this help from those tribes came at a price and land was the currency the Britons used to pay their helpers. Certainly, the Britons were happy to give land to those who helped them in their hour of need but little they knew that this alliance would end up in disappointment since more people from those tribes kept coming and demanding more land for themselves. Inevitably, attitudes shifted when the Britons complained to the heads of those tribes about their behaviour but there was a total failure by the chiefs to understand the Britons' complaint since common sense did not prevail and war broke out as the Britons became the enemies of the raiders who forced them to seek sanctuary in Wales and Island.  Moving on with the times in approximately 789 AD three centuries after the raiders of the north had settled in Britain another wave of desperadoes coming from the North of Scandinavia came to visit the country with the purpose of storming the place. However, a storm unleashed fury and the visitors met a strong defence that came from a very well organised army which made them to return to their vessels in a hurry and turned their backs on Britain after testing the strength of the front line of its army. Naturally enough the visitors were not about to give up their intentions of raiding Britain and within approximately two and a half years they were back. This time luck was on their side and they managed to land, raid and take what they came here for leaving a trial of misery behind for the people involved. They soon departed with the spoil of the raid back to where they came from and from there on - year after year - Britain was raided by these northern people named Vikings and in approximately 850 AD they made up their mind and decided to stay for good.

The lure of easy money and acquisition of land in Britain prompted more Vikings to make their way to these shores and as they exploited the vulnerability of the Angle-Saxon people who, in years gone by, had forced the Celts and the native inhabitants of this country to abandon their land and seek refuge in the mountains of Wales and Scotland, they became hungry for more of the same. Indeed, the Vikings were seeking to become masters in a land which offered them the opportunity to satisfy their thirsty for wealth and barbarous behaviour. Generous to a fault the Anglo-Saxon people surrendered more territory to the Vikings that they were ever prepared to cede but the Vikings wanted more land and to get their wishes they waged war against the Angle-Saxon people as their properties and land were constantly raided by the former.  The echoes of defeat were all too loud to accept without fighting back but in the end the Angle-Saxon became a spent force and within forty years or so the Vikings had managed to occupy all of the Angle-Saxon territory. There was a moment when a perfect resolution met a perfect execution when King Sweyn of Denmark decided to annexed Britain to his Kingdom as he became the very first Danish King of Britain. King Sweyn's reign was very beneficial for the Angle-Saxon as they were allowed to keep their land in return for their faithfulness to the Kingdom of Denmark but it was a stressful time for them too, especially, when King Sweyn passed away and his son, Cnut took over for the Angle-Saxon people did not trust him; nevertheless, their fears were unfounded for he was a good king as he made sure that law and order was maintained and the human rights of his people were upheld. Ethelred and Edward were the sons of Cnut and both followed their father to the throne of the Kingdom of Denmark. Ethelred was the king when Edward decided to spend some time in continental Europe and live in France. He did so until the death of his brother when he was summoned to Britain to be Crowned King.  He was better known as Edward the Confessor and he was perceived as a man of peace. He ordered the construction of the Westminster Abbey as he was very passionate about Christianity and all the rest.  He died without having produced an heir to follow him as the King of Britain so a struggle for the throne arose and all hell broke loose. There was William, Duke of Normandy, who was King Edward's cousin making a claim to the Kingdom of Britain based on a promise that Edward had made him, many years before he passed away, of leaving the crown of Britain to him after his death. William sought the help of Harold who was then a very powerful Angle-Saxon earl in Britain. In the next corner, there was Harald Hardrada a Viking King who was in love with idea of adding Britain to his Kingdom in Norway and Sweden. In order to attempt a take over the Kingdom of Britain Harald enlisted the service of Tostig who was the brother of Harold. William was not fully convinced that Harold would keep his promise to support him to claim the crown of Britain but he did not have any other option but to enlist his help in order to achieve what he had set to do. Harold and his army travelled north to engage in a battle of strength at Stamford Bridge with Harald and his troop and after three hours or so the battle ended and Harold and his army were victorious and then decided to claim the Kingdom of Britain for himself and abandon his promise to William to support his claim. Harold was crowned king of Britain in January 1066 by claiming that Edward had made him the same promise that William was claiming for the right to be King of Britain. News arrived at Harold's ears that William had landed in Britain somewhere near Hastings and he was looking forward to confront Harold for his audacious impudence. Harold and his army travelled south and on 13th October 1066 they arrived at Hastings.