By Qasim Swati (United Kingdom)
Having developed during a period of over 1,400 years, English is an Indo-European language, belonging to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages, first evolved in the British Isles, specifically England, and eventually became a leading and world language, with an estimated more than 1.1 billion native and second-language users throughout the world.
The English language contains more synonymous or similar words than any other language, as this is abundant in the lexicon or lexis when this comes to vocabulary. As based on the last full edition of the Oxford English Dictionary from 1989, it is estimated that English has, approximately, as many as 170,000 or even around 220,000 words, if we include obsolete words, too, that are not in use any more or have been replaced by newer, better and more fashionable words.
British Study Centres (a leading international education group, helping people across the globe since 1930 by providing them with training and education) has/have given 10 different reasons for learning English. Some of the reasons to learn English, according to the British Study Centres, include such elements, as having access to multiple cultures; the ability to study throughout the world; English being one of the most important languages for businesses; being helpful for travelling globally; being the language of the media industry; a main source of the majority of scientific papers; being supportive in meeting new people around the world; assisting people in getting jobs and being a global language, etc.
According to ETS Global (A Subsidiary of Educational Testing Service), English is the third most widely spoken language in the world, while being generally used as a diplomatic or trade language across the globe and being a widely taught and spoken language in more than 118 countries. This is also the official language in 53 countries, whilst spoken, as a first language, by some 400 million people globally and also being the most common second language worldwide.
English is emerging as the more noticeable, important and stronger language of scientific papers and research than any other language across the world. It is also the language used more on the internet than any other language on earth, and said to be used by around 54% of the top 10 million websites of the globe, as of 2019, as shown by one survey. As a result, English is thought to be the fastest growing and the most widely spoken language at present, globally.
Being the largest language by number of speakers, English is spoken in every corner of the globe these days, while dominating every field of life, including science, arts, education, hospitality, the Industry of Sports, Entertainment Industry (like shows, films, television, radio or other activities and performances that entertain people), the media (such as the internet, magazines, newspapers, radio, television, etc.), travelling and tourism, better opportunities for getting better jobs and careers, multiculturalism, businesses, computers and internet, aviation, diplomacy, healthcare, warfare, international communication and globalization, etc.
Whether this is the United Nations Organization (UNO) or the European Union (EU), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) or the Commonwealth of Nations, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) or the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Criminal Court (ICC) or the Council of Europe, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) or the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) or the International Organization for Standardization (IOS), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) or the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), and the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) or the United Kingdom – United States of America Agreement, it is the English language that plays a pivotal and key role in the process of communication and diplomacy of all these international and regional organizations and bodies, which has resulted in English being a world language today.
Qasim Swati is a freelance journalist, writer and human rights activist, based in the UK, and can be reached at https://qasimswati.com or mailto:info@qasimswati.com.