English language in the

world today
 Omnipresent English
• English as lingua franca
(or working language, bridge language,
vehicular language)

• English is the leading language of international

discourse
 The dominant world language
• Reasons
• 1st stage: imperialism (British Empire)
 The dominant world language
• 2nd stage: neo-imperialism (American Empire)

• Superpower

• Cultural, political and economic influence

• IT era – 8/10 top visited websites in the world

 The dominant world language
• China challenging America for the position of
the number one economic power

• Chinese as a lingua franca?

List of languages by number of native
speakers
Top languages by population per Nationalencyklopedin
Native Fraction
speakers of world
Rank Language
in millions population
2007 (2010) (2007)
Mandarin (entire
1 935 (955) 14.1%
branch)
2 Spanish 390 (405) 5.85%
3 English 365 (360) 5.52%
4 Hindi[a] 295 (310) 4.46%
5 Arabic 280 (295) 4.23%
6 Portuguese 205 (215) 3.08%
7 Bengali (Bangla) 200 (205) 3.05%
8 Russian 160 (155) 2.42%
9 Japanese 125 (125) 1.92%
10 Punjabi 95 (100) 1.44%
11 German 92 (95) 1.39%
List of countries by English-speaking
population
Rank Country % Eligible Total As first As an
English population English language Additional
speakers speakers language

1 United 95.81% 262,375,1 251,388,3 215,423,5 35,964,74

States 52 01 57 4

2 India 11.38% 1,100,000, 125,226,4 226,449 125,000,0

000 49 00

3 Philippines 92.58% 97,000,00 89,800,00 3,427,000 46,373,00

0 0 0
4 Nigeria 53.34% 148,093,0 79,000,00 4,000,000 >75,000,0
00 0 00
 List of countries by English-speaking
population
Rank Country % Eligible Total As first As an
English population English language Additional
speakers speakers language

6 Germany 56% 82,191,00 46,272,50 272,504 46,000,00

0 4 0
7 Canada 85.18% 33,355,40 25,246,22 17,694,83 7,551,390
0 0 0
8 France 36% 64,473,14 23,000,00 23,000,00
0 0 0
9 Pakistan 10.97% 164,157,0 18,000,00 18,000,00
00 0 0

10 Australia 97.03% 21,394,30 17,357,83 15,013,96 2,343,868

9 3 5
 Importance of English in international
business
• 6,5 billion people/360 million native English
speakers
• More than 2 billion people speak English

• English as the language of governments,

business, education, media

• English as a means of increasing living standards

Importance of English in international
business
• Outsourcing (offshoring)

• Immigrants

• Career opportunities
 Other reasons for the importance of
the English language
• travel
• the same country
• education/studies
• correspondence
• Internet
 The Power of the Internet in
Spreading English

• most websites are in English

• the Internet has allowed English to spread
around the world
• learning English online
 English As Lingua Franca
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljxuPLyn0
qs
• Questions:
1 What is a lingua franca?
2 What is the origin of the term?
3 How did English become a lingua franca?
(history, military, globalisation)
 Conclusion

• English as the leading language in the world

• the level of English knowledge – the level of

education

• good English – good opportunities