English

Native Speakers: 370 Million

English is listed in third place among the most spoken languages in the world. The reason behind this is that it is an international language spoken worldwide. Many of the IT sectors and the majority of the professional translation services use English as a target or source language. To know more about the English language, you can check out the languages of the UK and the languages of the USA.

If you’re reading this article, you may be one of the 370 million-odd native English speakers or one of the 978 million people who speak it as a second language. This indicates the remarkable success of English as the lingua franca of business, travel, and international relations. The relative ease with which English can be picked up (especially compared with Chinese) and the pervasive soft power of US culture means that English will continue to dominate the world stage for the foreseeable future. For some, English is still synonymous with opportunity and a better quality of life. English is the modern lingua franca of the world--the presence and actions of the British Empire playing a large role in this. It’s the world’s third most spoken language in terms of native speakers.

A few facts about the English language:

• English has many borrowed words from French, German, and other languages.
• The name for the English language, “English” has Germanic origins.