Geographical distribution of English

Ø 1) Answer the questions:

a) How many languages are there in the world?

b) Which language has the largest number of speakers?

c) Is English the official language of the USA and the UK?

d) Among the countries where English is spoken as a second language, the People’s Republic of China has the biggest number of speakers, doesn’t it?

e) Why is English called “the lingua franca” of the modern era?

f) Which languages are mostly studied in the European Union?

Since 1750, the population of the world has grown rapidly from less than one billion to six billion in 1999. Projected population growth foresees a continuing rise to eight billion in 2027 and reaching about ten billion in 2250. After 2250, it is projected that population growth will stabilize at about ten billion.

Although there are an estimated 7,000 different languages spoken in the world, it is estimated that 50% of the world population speaks one of the top twelve languages as a native language, and one of them is English.

The countries with the highest populations of native English speakers are, in descending order: the United States (215 million), the United Kingdom (58 million), Canada (18.2 million), Australia (15.5 million), the Republic of Ireland (3.8 million), South Africa (3.7 million), and New Zealand (3.0-3.7 million). It is interesting to note that English is not a de jure official language of the United States or the United Kingdom; however, these countries use English de facto.

Countries such as Jamaica and Nigeria also have millions of native speakers of dialects ranging from an English-based Creole to a more standard version of English. Of those nations where English is spoken as a second language, India has the most such speakers (“Indian English”). Following India is the People’s Republic of China.

Because English is so widely spoken, it has often been referred to as a “world language,” the lingua franca of the modern era. English is the language most often studied as a foreign language in the European Union (by 89% of schoolchildren), followed by French (32%), German (18%), and Spanish (8%). Among non-English speaking countries, a large percentage of the population claimed to be able to converse in English in the Netherlands (87%), Sweden (85%), Denmark (83%), Luxembourg (66%), Finland (60%), Slovenia (56%), Austria (53%), Belgium (52%), and Germany (51%). Norway and Iceland also have a large majority of competent English-speakers.

English does not have the largest number of native speakers. In 1950, English was clearly in the second place compared with Chinese. Currently, English is spoken as a native language by about as many people as speakers of Spanish and Hindu / Urdu but these numbers are all muchsmaller than the number of Chinese speakers. Because of differences in population age and population growth, English will very soon be overtaken by Spanish and Hindu / Urdu. By 2050, Arabic may well have replaced English as the fourth most popular native language.

Ø 2) Say what these numbers and words refer to: less than one billion, 2027, 10 billion, one of the top twelve languages, the fourth, 3.0-3.7 million, a second language, 89%, a large majority of, the largest number of, a large percentage of.

Ø 3) Express your opinion on the quotation from the text: “English will very soon be overtaken by Spanish and Hindu / Urdu.”

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