English_as_a_WL (1)

English as a Most Commonly Spoken Language

The English language belongs to a West Germanic group of languages. It originated in England and had a long history.

It is only in the course of the last hundred years that English has become a world language. In Shakespeare's time it was a “provincial” language of secondary importance with only six million native speakers. exporting of English began in the seventeenth century, with the first settlements in North America. Nowadays English is the most important world language in politics, science, computer technology, business, trade and cultural relations. In a number of speakers (400 million) it is second only to Chinese.

English is the official language of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, of the United States of America, of Australia and New Zealand, etc. It is used as one of the official languages in Canada, the Republic of South Africa and the Irish Republic, etc.

In this respect it might be thought that English will become ever more dominant in the future. It will become the global language – either the first or second language of every person on the planet.

For most students English is the proper language to speak with the rest of the nations, the so-called lingua franca.

All students want to know English as the main language of popular music and its advertising. It is also the main language of the satellite broadcasting, home-computers, and video-games. You can’t make use of them without English.

Personally I want to know foreign languages because I have always been interested in foreign countries, their cultures and peoples. Learning foreign languages is important for me because I want to know what is going on around me in the world. Language not only broadens the mind, it enriches us culturally.