Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
As of 2024, there are 57 sovereign states and 28 non-sovereign entities where English is an official language. Many administrative divisions have declared English an official language at the local or regional level. Most states where English is an official language are former territories of the British Empire.
The English-speaking world comprises the 88 countries and territories in which English is an official, administrative, or cultural language. In the early 2000s, between one and two billion people spoke English, [1] [2] making it the largest language by number of speakers, the third largest language by number of native speakers and the most widespread language geographically.
The European Union is a supranational union composed of 27 member states. The total English-speaking population of the European Union and the United Kingdom combined (2012) is 256,876,220 [70] (out of a total population of 500,000,000, [71] i.e. 51%) including 65,478,252 native speakers and 191,397,968 non-native speakers, and would be ranked 2nd if it were included.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the Anglosphere as "the countries of the world in which the English language and cultural values predominate". [7] [b] However the Anglosphere is usually not considered to include all countries where English is an official language, so it is not synonymous with anglophone. [8] [better source needed]
A language that uniquely represents the national identity of a state, nation, and/or country and is so designated by a country's government; some are technically minority languages. (On this page a national language is followed by parentheses that identify it as a national language status.) Some countries have more than one language with this ...
Malay is the national language. [194] English is the main language used in Singapore. [195] As English links the different races and ethnic groups, a group with diverse races and ethnicities communicate using English. Most of the population can speak, read and write in English.
While the European Union (EU) allows member states to designate any of the national languages as an official language of the Union, in practice English is the main working language of EU organisations. [142] Although in most countries English is not an official language, it is currently the language most often taught as a foreign language.
Braj Kachru divides the use of English into three concentric circles. [8]The inner circle is the traditional base of English and includes countries such as the United Kingdom and Ireland and the anglophone populations of the former British colonies of the United States, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, and various islands of the Caribbean, Indian Ocean, and Pacific Ocean.