This
year English Language Day celebrates 'English the Global Language'. A
language that was the tongue of three tribes 1,500 years ago is today
the language of nearly two billion people. It has three-times more
non-native speakers than native speakers. No other language comes close
to matching that, and it is that that makes English global. It is the
modern lingua franca, the language used by the Russians to talk to the
Nigerians, the Germans to talk to the Spanish, the Chinese to talk to
the Brazilians. English is found on every continent. It has major speech communities
in over seventy countries. It is the language of the internet. It is
language of air-traffic control, of international travel, and of
international business. It is the language of science.
