Briefly discuss the global distribution of English

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answer: English has become the de facto international language of communication. It is an official language in over 50 countries, which is more than any other language. Additionally, English is the predominant language in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Globally, two billion people live in a country where English is an official language, although in some of these countries, some of the people cannot speak it.

The contemporary distribution of English speakers around the world exists because the people of England migrated with their language when they established colonies during the past four centuries. English first diffused west from England to North American colonies in the seventeenth century. More recently, the United States has been responsible for diffusing English to several places.

English has been the leading language of the Internet since its inception. During the 1990s, three out of every four people online and three out of every four websites used English. However, in recent years, other languages, especially Chinese have been catching up to English.

English has also spread through integration of vocabulary with other languages. The widespread mixing of English with French is called franglais, with Spanish Spanglish, and with German Denglish.