ABSTRACT
Although second to Chinese in terms of the number of native speakers, English is probably the most important language of the world in terms of geographic dispersion and in terms of the role it plays in international communication. From its original home base English has spread to Ireland, Scotland, North America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and is now the sole official language in more than thirty countries, including Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Jamaica and the Bahamas. In other countries like India, Singapore, the Philippines, Western Samoa, Tanzania and Cameroon, English shares official status with one or two other languages, so that it has an official status in over 60 of the world’s territories. Over 300 million speak English as a mother tongue and at least another 400 million use English as a first foreign (i.e. second or international) language. English is the main language of newspapers and of advertising. It is the official international language of airports and air-traffic control. It is the lingua franca of international business and academic conferences, of diplomacy, of sport and it is one of the six official languages used by the United Nations.
