It's also worth stating that these statistics on the numbers of English speakers are fairly doubtful. This is because it's extremely difficult to define what is meant by “English speaker”, much less definitions of the first language, second language, or mother tongue. With many questions asked like, what level of aptitude counts? Does a thick creole or English-based, but completely unintelligible to a native English speaker count? And to add to confusion even more, there are at least 40 million people in the English-speaking United States who don't even speak English. Moreover, the numbers are a combination of statistics from different sources, and dates. You may notice large variations on statistics that have been quoted here.
More recent estimates of first languages spoken advise that Mandarin Chinese has around 800-850 million native speakers, while English and Spanish both have about 330-350 million each. With Hindi speakers numbered at 180-200 million or around 240 million, or more, when combined with Urdu. Bengali has around 170-180 million, Arabic 150-220 million, Portuguese 150-180 million, Russian 140-160 million and Japanese about 120 million. If we include a second-language for speakers, Mandarin speakers rise to around 1 billion, English to over 500 million, Spanish to 420-500 million, Hindi/Urdu to around 480 million. With some estimates for English as a first or second language estimated to be over a billion. Essentially among English speakers, non-native speakers could actually eclipse native English speakers by as much as three to one in some places.
In relation to total population, in a world of about 7 billion people, the top three countries by population are China, 1.3 billion, India, 1.2 billion and USA roughly 310 million, then Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Russia and Japan. With the US being the most popular English-speaking country, accounting for almost 70% of native English speakers. Compared to Britain, with a population of just over 60 million, ranking just 22nd in the world. And India serves the third largest group of English speakers after the USA and UK. With only 4-5% of its population speaking English, that's 4% of over 1.2 billion and is still almost 50 million. But for all that, with some calculations being as many as 23% of Indians speaking English. Making it second place, and well above Britain, and strangely, Nigeria may have more English speakers than Britain depending on some estimates.
English is the native mother-tongue spoken in Britain, Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and a few Caribbean countries. Yet, in 57 countries, including Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Philippines, Fiji, Vanuatu, English is either its “official language” or a number of its inhabitants speak it as their first language. This is because English is mostly spoken in what was once part of the British Empire and has integrated English into its main institutions. With the next most popular language being French which is spoken in 31 countries, after that, Spanish is spoken in 25 countries, Arabic spoken in 25 countries, Portuguese spoken in 13 countries and Russian spoken in 10 countries.
English is a popular language in at least twenty other countries, including several former British colonies and protectorates, such as Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cyprus, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates. More commonly used as an unofficial language in Israel, and an increasing number of other countries such as Switzerland, the Netherlands, Norway and Germany. In Europe, it's estimated that 85% of Swedes can adequately speak English, with 83% of Danes, 79% of Dutch, 66% of Luxembourg and over 50% in countries such as Finland, Slovenia, Austria, Belgium, and Germany people being able to speak the English language.
English the Language of the Global World Today
Undoubtedly in today's world, that English is the tongue most spoken today. This is due to it being used in the fields of business, science, aviation, computing, education, politics and entertainment."Airspeak" as it is known, is spoken by over 90% of international airlines, an example of this being if an Italian pilot flying an Italian plane into an Italian airport, contacts ground control in English. This also applies in international maritime communications, and is known as “Seaspeak”. With two-thirds of all scientific papers published in English. Together with the Science Citation Index reports, that has as many of its articles, 95% in fact. are also written in English. Despite the fact that half of their authors are from English-speaking countries. Together with up half of all business deals done in the world spoken in English. With the music industry being fiercely dominated by up to 95% of English speaking singers. With American television being accessible nearly everywhere. Together with half of the world's newspapers printed in English, with 75% of the world mail correspondence written in English, and the USA alone constitutes 50%. With 35% of Internet users being English speakers, and an estimated 70-80% of the content produced on the net written in English. (Although without reliable figures these figures are difficult to confirm).
A number of international joint business ventures use English as their main language of communication. This applies even if there are no English-speaking members, for example; the Asian trade group ASEAN and the oil exporting organization OPEC. Even the European Central Bank uses it as its official language. Another strange fact is that Switzerland has three official languages, German, French and Italian, and in some circumstances, Romansh. Routinely marketing itself in English to avoid arguments between different areas. It doesn't matter where you are in the world, English signs and advertisements are always visible somewhere.
When the English Language Merges with Foreign Languages
Over the centuries the English language has incorporated other languages has developed. But, the reverse has also happened, Anglicisms like; stop, sport, tennis, golf, weekend, jeans, bar, airport, hotel, are commonly used the world over. When you start putting together the English derivations of foreign words where phonetic spelling are used. A few examples; herkot is Ukrainian for “haircut”; muving pikceris is Lithuanian for “movie” or “moving pictures”; ajskrym is Polish for “ice-cream”; schiacchenze is Italian for “shake hands”. There are the equivalent 20,000 anglicisms in Japanese, which are regularly used, and known more commonly as “Japlish”. These include; apputodeito or up-to-date, erebata or elevator, raiba intenshibu or labour-intensive, nekutai or neck-tie, biiru or beer, isukrimu or ice-cream, esukareta or escalator, remon or lemon, mai-kaa or my car, and shyanpu setto or shampoo and set. These meanings are difficult to understand until spoken phonetically. Anglicisms in Russian, known as “Russlish” uses phonetic spellings such as seksapil or sex appeal, jeansi or jeans, striptiz or strip-tease, kompyuter or computer, chempion or champion, and shusi or shoes. And a number of exact spellings like rockmusic, discjockey, hooligan, supermarket. Similarly German has come up with anglicisms that are nonexistent in English, for example; Pullunder from pullover, Twens from teens, Dressman a word for a male model and handy a word for a cellphone.The venerable Académie Française is trying to reclaim French from the onslaught of anglicisms. With the country passing laws to deter the use of anglicisms, in order to protect its own language and culture. Encouraging new French replacements instead of English, such as le logiciel instead of le soft or software, le disc audio-numérique instead of le compact disc or CD, le baladeur instead of le walkman or portable music player. And in Québec, the neologism le clavardage a portmanteau word combining clavier – keyboard – and bavardage – verbal chat has become a popular replacement for the popular anglicism le chat which is in the sense of online chat rooms. With Norway and Brazil adopting a similar measure to keep English out. Seen by some as a form of lexical invasion in the form of loanwords, and is seen by many to be a slippery slope, and is therefore rigorously avoided for the sake of national pride and cultural independence.
English Vocabulary Today
The English language, after hundreds of years of cultivation and development, has become incomparable in its richness and breadth. Accommodating a variety of changes in meaning the language has become so diverse that it has numerous words with the same meaning. For example the assortment of synonyms for big which are in daily use. The English language is looked upon as having the largest vocabulary of any language in the world. But it's very hard to compare with Chinese, because of basic differences in language structure.
Currently, there is a lot of postulation about the number of words in the English language. But the Global Language Monitor, based in Texas, tracks and analyzes worldwide language trends. Asserting that the English language currently boasts over a million words. And is impossible to count the current number of words in the language, this is due, in large part, to what actually counts as a word. As an example how do we manage abbreviations, hyphenated words, compound words, compound words with spaces? The most recent revision of the “Oxford English Dictionary”, published in 1989, and thought of as the leading dictionary of the English language. It contains about 615,000 word entries; these are listed under about 300,000 main entries. Containing some scientific terms, dialect words and slang, but not including specialised scientific and technical terms. And doesn't include the recent introduction of neologisms created each year. With “Webster’s Third New International Dictionary”, published in 1961, listing 475,000 main headwords.
It's very difficult to estimate the average English speaker's vocabulary. Currently the average educated English speaker uses 15,000 to 20,000 words. And only uses around 10% of these words in a typical week’s conversation. Using around 25% more words than are needed. A few studies have suggested that just 43 words account for half of the words in common use, and just 9 which are; and, be, have, it, of, the, to, will, you, comprising a quarter of the words in any of spoken English.
The vocabulary of English words, it's estimated, have been borrowed from 120 different languages. Effort has been made to put in context the numerous elements and origins of modern English vocabulary. In spite of the fact that this is a bit of an inexact science. Studies have shown that Germanic, French and Latin sources are more or less equal, between 26-29% each. The equilibrium being made up of Greek. With these words emanating from proper names, and without any clear etymology, as well as words from other languages. While other studies put the French data higher, and the Latin lower. indicating that other languages have contributed as much as 10% of the vocabulary. But none of these studies are thought to be definitive.
Throughout its history English has amassed words from different sources, these words act as synonyms or near synonyms to native or traditional words. This process started when England was being invaded by the Vikings and Normans. And continued to embrace the classical languages during the Renaissance and the acceptance of foreign words through trading and colonial connections. With a number of these developing different social connotations over time. With the introduction of Norman French words still considered to be classier and more refined than current Anglo-Saxon words, for example; the Norman desire compared to the Anglo-Saxon wish, odour compared to smell, chamber to room, dine to eat. It's understood that many English words have three synonyms suitable for the different levels of culture, for example popular/literary/scholarly, and often correlating to Old English/French/Latin roots. This is shown by groups of words like rise/mount/ascend, fear/terror/trepidation, think/ponder/cogitate, kingly/royal/regal, holy/sacred/consecrated, ask/question/interrogate. And often referred to as “lexical triplets”.
The English language has so many words that it can appear quite untidy sometimes, and its opulence can often feel gratuitous and unnecessary. This can be seen in the number of unnecessary phrases which are made up of two or more synonyms, which are in everyday use, for example; beck and call, law and order, null and void, safe and sound, first and foremost, trials and tribulations, kith and kin, hale and hearty, peace and quiet, cease and desist, rack and ruin.
What's even more strange is the accessibility of words, and the English propensity to load single words with multiple meanings, for example; fine having at least 14 definitions as an adjective, 6 as a noun, 2 as a verb and 2 as an adverb; round having 12 uses as an adjective, 19 as a noun, 12 as a verb, 1 as an adverb and 2 as a preposition; set has an incredible 58 uses as a noun, 126 as a verb and 10 as an adjective, with the “Oxford English Dictionary” taking about 60,000 words.
Like most languages, their meanings start shifting over time, with some moving many times, although in some cases, the same word can end up having two contradictory meanings or (contranyms). Examples of these are; sanction which has conflicting meanings of permission to do something, or prevention from doing something, cleave, to cut in half, or to stick together, sanguine, or hot-headed and bloodthirsty, or calm and cheerful, ravish, to rape, or to enrapture, fast, stuck firm, or moving quickly, oversight, watchful control, or something not noticed.
Even the introduction of the printing press, and desire to standardise the language, has led to anomalies and inconsistencies in its spelling, and has fixed existing inconsistencies in place. With Britain and the United States trying to reform the English language at different times, further muddying the picture. Regardless of a real desire for simplification. It has left us with inherent differences between American and British spellings, for example realize/realise, center/centre, dialog/dialogue, aging/ageing, traveler/traveller.
While the English language has only forty to fifty different sounds, yet more than many languages. There are still over 200 ways of spelling those sounds, for example; the sound “sh” can be spelled in a bewildering number of different ways, as in shoe, sugar, passion, ambitious, ocean, champagne. A long “o” can be written like go, show, beau, sew, doe, though, depot. A long “e” can be spelled as in me, seat, seem, ceiling, siege, people, key, machine, phoenix, paediatric. A long “a” can be rendered like hey, stay, make, maid, freight, great. George Bernard Shaw demonstrated that the word fish could just be spelled as ghoti, using the “gh” sound in enough, the “o” sound from women, and the “ti” from the middle of nation.
During the English Renaissance there was an entire catalogue of silent letters in English. With many of these letters adding to spellings of the time. With many words from the English period ceasing to be notable, and this might be out of a misplaced desire for etymological authenticity. In reality, of the 26 letters of the alphabet, only five, F, J, Q, V and X were never silent. There are too many to itemise, and some examples include: the silent “b” in comb, debt, climb; the silent “c” in scene, scent, science, scissors; the silent “k” in knife, knock, know; the silent “n” in damn, hymn, column; the silent “p” in psalm, psychiatry, ptarmigan; the silent “gh” in night, through, taught; the silent “g” in gnome, gnaw, sign; the silent “l’ in palm, salmon, yolk; the silent “u” in biscuit, building, tongue; the silent ”w” in wreck, knowledge, sword; and the silent “h” in hour, honour, honest. Along with annihilate, vehement, vehicle, ghost, rhyme, rhubarb, rhythm, exhaust, exhibition, exhort.
English contains countless words that are identical in meaning, different in spelling and pronunciation, and known as synonyms. The English language also contains homophones or heterographs, words with different spellings and different meanings, and identical in pronunciation. For example; hour and our, plane and plain, right, wright, write and rite; homographs or heteronyms, or words with identical spellings, but different meanings and pronunciations, for example; axes, bass, defect, desert, record, tear; and true homonyms, words with the same spelling and the same pronunciation, but different meaning, for example; such as stalk, bank, fluke.
To complicate things further, in some accents, some sounds have combined to the extent that they are no longer detectable, for example; pin and pen, and merry, marry and Mary, in some American accents; talk and torque, and court and caught in some British accents. Uncomplicated Americanised spellings of lite for light and thru for through have risen up in recent years, this is down to American Advertising we see on a daily basis.
The assortment of English spelling is quite intimidating to any outsider. With many words having five consecutive vowels, for example queuing; words with technically no vowels, for example, rhythm, pygmy; words with six consecutive consonants for example, catchphrase, watchstrap; words with alternating vowels and consonants, for example overimaginitive, versimilitudes; words with triple letters, for example, headmistressship, bulllike; words that include eight of the same letter, for example, possessionlessness. And long words using none of the same letters, for example, uncopyrightable; words spelled the same way backwards as forwards, for example deified, racecar, rotator.
English Spelling Today
Through time, the historical development of the English language, the language has become increasingly more difficult to spell correctly. With the long established borrowing from other languages, in addition to the shifts in pronunciation and reforms in orthography. This has resulted in a language ostensibly contrary to itself. In contrast with Old English that was about 90% phonemic, that is to say words sounding the same as they look. Which makes modern English closer to 40% phonemic. And a large number of possible spelling rules of up to about 100 by some calculations, with a number of exceptions to those rules. And even in today's world the English language continues to bemuse both native and foreign speakers alike.
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