Background to English becoming an international language:: political circumstances

Countries where English is an official language

Countries where English is a official language:
1 AUSTRALIA
2 NEW ZEALAND
3 UNITED KINGDOM
4 UNITED STATES
List of territories where English is an official language—that is, a language used in citizen interactions with government officials. As of 2019, there were 55 sovereign states and 27 non-sovereign entities where English was an official language. Many country subdivisions have declared English an official language at the local or regional level.

FACTORS WHICH CAN CHANGE LANGUAGE POSITION

• A change in population (and population growth) trends may prove to be an influential factor. The increasing Hispanic population of the USA has, in the opinion of some commentators, already begun a dilution of the “Englishness” of the country, which may in turn have repercussions for the status of the English language abroad. Hispanic and Latino Americans have accounted for almost half of America’s population growth in recent years, and their share of the population is expected to increase from about 16% today to around 30% by 2050. Some even see the future possibility of a credible secessionist movement, similar to that for an independent Quebec in Canada, and there has been movements within the US Republican party (variously called "English First" or "Official English" or "US English") to make English the nation’s official language in an attempt to reduce the significance of Spanish. Official policies of bilingualism or multilingualism in countries with large minority language groups, such as are in place in countries like Canada, Belgium and Switzerland, are an expensive option and fraught with political difficulties, which the USA would prefer to avoid.

Understanding different cultures helps people understand different languages

Understanding different cultures helps people understand different languages

• David Crystal recounted the difficulties he had in explaining the Heineken campaign’s meaning to a group of Japanese English language teachers when they stumbled across a billboard for it whilst on a study trip to the UK. Their confusion highlighted the importance of cultural understanding as a tool for understanding languages.
• He found it equally challenging to convey the same message and humour to an American friend when they came across the same billboard just a week later -- demonstrating that even native speakers often require cultural context in order to fully understand phrases in their mother tongue, as culture inevitably shapes the language that we use on a daily basis.

HOW GLOBAL LANGUAGE HELPS IN COMMUNICATION WITH CULTURES