IdentityThis page is about the language called English. Other meanings of English include:
the English (plural noun): the people of England
English (adjective): relating to England or its people (or the language)
English is a language originally the language of the people of England. Today, English is the main language of the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States of America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and more than fifty other countries. (Interestingly, English is NOT the official language of the USA, though it is the official language of some US states.)
Worldwide, there are over 400 million native speakers of English, and over one billion more people speak it as a second language. English is probably the third language in terms of number of native speakers (after Mandarin and Spanish); and probably the most widely spoken language on the planet taking into account native and non-native speakers.
Consequently English is sometimes described as a "world language" or a "global lingua franca". It is the world's most widely-used language in international business and telecommunications, newspaper and book publishing, scientific publishing, mass entertainment and diplomacy.
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