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by anddeb on April 27th, 2009
Most people have been taught English since an early age.
by The Chief on April 28th, 2009
An "international language"... It really has more to do with the international influence of the more advanced nations.
For example, at the height of the Spain's rule, one could make the argument that Spanish was THE language to be spoken if you wanted to communicate anywhere in the world where Spain had a presence. And that was pretty much everywhere, at the time.
The same can be said for English. At one time the sun never set on the British empire (meaning they were truely global in their reach), so English was THE language to know.
Add to that the fact that America has lead the world for decades in technological advances, spreading them throughout the world, and you have yet another reason for English to be so widely spread.
If you were to substitute another nation in for these, with the same circumstances, the results would be similar for their language.
by Factotum on October 2nd, 2009
It's not the first, it's just the most current and it has to do with it being exported with technology/skills such as air traffic control and that it is very useful to conduct trade in.
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At other times other languages have been the most useful for trading.
by Greekgod on April 27th, 2009
Because England used to rule most of the natural world in the victorian age. So right or wrong this is why it happened.
by mrbuddhafreak on April 27th, 2009
English isn't really the first language per se. But it is definitely the first second language. More people speak English as a second language, by far, than any other language. English is the second language of the world because people of varying languages and cultures can speak to each other using English where it would be unlikely they could speak either of each others languages.
by Not so Loony gone Ape on April 27th, 2009
English is the official language of more countries, I think 37, than any other language.
However, Mandarin Chinese is spoken by almost 3 times as many people.
Does that answer your question?
by Pixie - jeg er elsket on April 27th, 2009
Well, its the most commonly spoken right now.
But i think we will see it change to Chinese or Arabic soon...
by Anonymous on October 1st, 2009
there are a couple of reasons behind this
1)the british empire and the influence of the united states
2)it is the language of business and diplomacy where if you've got two people one person speaking hindi the other speaking arabic your more than likely going to have both speaking english to make it easier on both of them
by tcyonline on October 2nd, 2009
English is an international Language as most of the countries Know it and it is very common Language.
http://www.tcyonline.com/india/testCategory/categoryID/100070
by Alicia Honey on October 2nd, 2009
As Factotum says it gained international popularity initially due to technology we produced, other languages didn't have equal words so had to use ours and at the same time Aviation was all in English the way Medical is all Latin. That began it and the wave of US began business backed it until English was too important not to learn.
by Marky Mark on March 10th, 2010
This is a map of the former British Empire. As you can see it was pretty widespread.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire
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Comments
I mean why? not when?
by crying heart on April 27th, 2009