According to research by the British Council, "English has official* or special status in at least seventy-five countries with a total population of over two billion. English is spoken as a native* language by around 375 million and as a second language* by around 375 million speakers in the world. Speakers of English as a second language will soon outnumber those who speak it as a first language. Around 750 million people are believed to speak English as a foreign language*. One out of four of the world's population speak English to some level of competence. Demand from the other three-quarters is increasing."
* Official- the language that is used in official documents, spoken on the radio and on television
*Second language - language you learn because you have to live in the country where the language is spoken.
*Foreign language - languages spoken abroad (a language you can choose to study at school.)
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ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES
The British Council says "English is the main language of books, newspapers, airports and air-traffic control, international business and academic conferences, science, technology, diplomacy, sport, international competitions, pop music and advertising.
Over two-thirds of the world's scientists read in English. Three quarters of the world's mail is written in English. Eighty per cent of the world's electronically stored information is in English. Of the estimated forty million users of the Internet, some eighty per cent communicate in English, but this is expected to decrease to forty per cent as speakers of other languages get online."
(you can LISTEN to accents from some of the main English-speaking countries...Try it!)
And now have some fun watching Hugh Laurie: the British accent vs the American!
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