Why is English the world´s language?

Question

I need reasons!!!!

Answer 1

In 1588, the English were busy looking at their navels on their little island, trying to keep from becoming Catholic again. Philip II of Spain sent a "little" fleet of warships to pick up his army in the Netherlands and land them in England to force the English back into the Catholic fold. The small English navy, helped a lot by the even smaller Dutch navy, by the skin of their teeth, managed to interfere with the pickup of the troops, so the fleet sailed back to Spain. They couldn't sail back through the Channel because the wind was in the wrong direction so they sailed north around Scotland and Ireland instead. While sailing around the north end of Britain, they encountered very severe weather combined with poor navigation skills and many of the ships were wrecked on the Irish and Scottish coasts. Despite this, most of the Spanish ships returned to Spain.

HOWEVER, Queen Elizabeth used this "victory" as a major propaganda tool and within just months the English believed that GOD HIMSELF had sent this divine wind to drive the Spanish ships from England's shores. This absolute belief that GOD had chosen England above all other countries to favor with His divine power, turned the English from a puny little island people, happy with their lot, into a world-conquering juggernaut, bent on overcoming all obstacles in their God-ordained quest to become the instruments of God's will on the planet. Within 20 years they had established the first permanent colony in the United States and the rest, they say, is history.

For the next 300 years, England proceeded to dominate world trade and colonization. When England's fortunes began to decline at the beginning of the 20th century, another English-speaking superpower, the United States, stood in line to take up the mantle of the God-ordained rulers of the planet.

That's the historical basis of why English came to be the world's most dominant language. It has NOTHING to do with the grammar, vocabulary or sound system of English. It has EVERYTHING to do with the shift in attitude of the English people that drove them to plant colonies around the world.

For the people who say that "Spanish and Chinese" have more speakers, they need to do some basic research. These two languages may have more first-language speakers, but English has more second-language speakers than both of them combined. I can see English all over the place when I travel. I live right now in Rivne, Ukraine. I can see English signs, etc. everywhere I look. There is not a single word of either Spanish or Chinese anywhere in town (except, perhaps, in the language section of the public library).

Answer 2

Wishful thinking and lies. In Rome's day, many of the subcultures spoke the language of the empire. If it was just Britan, no one would speak English. The world speaks Engllish due to the States's powerful status in the last 100 years.

It there was no America, no one would have spoken it but some or a few Brits. German and French would have been the languages of choice spoken by most of the world.

Answer 3

The fact that the British Empire was the largest ever known. Taken this with the loss of the first Empire The United States over one sixth of the worlds population was rules from UK. It therefore not unreasonable expect the language to be the most widely known. Whilst is possibly a very difficult language to speak properly (most English people do not) It is probably one of the easiest to make yourself understood in. In to-days world with the power of USA it is inevitable that English words and phrases infiltrate them selves into other languages much to the fury of French Acedenia

Answer 4

The British colonised large parts of the world - North America and Australasia - and governed others, such as large parts of Africa and India. With the former, the settlers brought their language with them and with the latter, the ability to speak English gave a greater chance of advancement. Since then, the sheer number of English speakers in the world has encouraged many other countries to teach English as a second language.

Answer 5

Maybe u rock, i dont know and dont think thats the reason.... i think the reason is the very simple grammar english have.... think of it... Chino is a world wide spoken language only due to China is a very crowed crountry, the same with Hindi, but Spanish is and easy language too and is getting more and more speaking.... but think in the french language... is boring and hard to pronounce... in the past ppl used to learn it, but later ppl chage french fot english and now ppl is changing ur english for spanish.

I think thats the reason.
The simply grammar and the big posesions around the world which had Spain and Great Britain.

Answer 6

By the way , it is not the world's language. There is world English, but it is not the same!!!!! English will most likely not become the dominant world language as more people speak more than one language.

Answer 7

Western countries speak it.
Austrailia, America, Canada and of course England. In the west English is the main language.

Answer 8

Because us English are cr.ap at learning other languages - we were conquered by the French we don't speak French in Roman Britain there was 4 Romans to 1 Brit we're not a Romance language. Had we been conquer by Germany we might now be bilingual but would revert back to English with a few more modern German words in our language once they went away. Sorry I can only give you that one.

Answer 9

English is a West Germanic language originating in England, and the first language for most people in Australia, Canada, the Commonwealth Caribbean, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States of America (also commonly known as the Anglosphere). It is used extensively as a second language and as an official language throughout the world, especially in Commonwealth countries and in many international organisations.

Modern English is sometimes described as the global lingua franca.[1][2] English is the dominant international language in communications, science, business, aviation, entertainment, radio and diplomacy.[3] The influence of the British Empire is the primary reason for the initial spread of the language far beyond the British Isles.[4] Following World War II, the growing economic and cultural influence of the United States has significantly accelerated the spread of the language.

A working knowledge of English is required in certain fields, professions, and occupations. As a result over a billion people speak English at least at a basic level (see English language learning and teaching). English is one of six official languages of the United Nations.

Generally speaking, when a languages has got the position of a universal language, the position tends to be affirmed and extended by itself. Since "everyone" knows and uses English, people are almost forced to learn English and use it, and learn it better.

Even if you expect the majority of your readers to understand your native language, you may be tempted to use English when writing e.g. about research work. Usually researchers all over the world know English and use it a lot, and often the relevant terminology is more stable and well-known in English than in your own language. Thus, to maximize the number of interested people that can understand your text, you often select English even if the great majority of your readers have the same native language as you. Alternatively, you might write your texts both in your native language and in English, but this doubles the work needed for writing your document and possibly maintaining it. The maintenance problem is especially important for documents on the World Wide Web - the information system where one crucial feature is the ability to keep things really up to date. Consequently, the use of English in essentially national contexts tends to grow.

In the news system, the position of English in most international groups is regarded as so obvious that people who post non-English articles to such groups - by accident or by ignorance - typically get flamed quickly. This is the sort of control that newsgroup communities exercise in other matters than language, too. It is often regarded as an example of the "democratic" nature of the news system. However, things are changing fast. The flame control - i.e. control by flaming - has worked to a great extent because people have had relatively compatible status, background, and values of life. The time has come - childhood's end for the Internet - when we will see more and more people and organizations who pay little attention to flames and netiquette. The increasing amount of spamming is just one indication of this. But these general remarks hardly apply to the status of English.

Answer 10

Because English-speaking countries are very important in the world's economy.