Theme: General information about English speaking countries

Independent work

Theme: General information about English speaking countries.

Prepared by: Allanazarova Z.

Group: 401

Theme: General information about English speaking countries.

Plans

1.English-speaking world

2.Majority English-speaking countries

3.Countries where English is an official language

4.English as a global language

1.Speakers of English are known as Anglophones and the countries where English is spoken natively by the majority of the population is termed the Anglosphere. Over two billion people speak English as of the 2000s, making English the largest language by number of speakers, and the third largest language by number of native speakers.

The United Kingdom and the United States, with 67 million and 330 million respectively, have the most native speakers. Additionally, there are 29 million in Canada, 25.7 million in Australia, 5 million in New Zealand, and 5 million in Ireland.[citation needed] Estimates that include second-language speakers vary greatly, from 470 million to more than 2 billion. David Crystal calculates that as of 2003 non-native speakers outnumbered native speakers by a ratio of 3:1.As of 2012, India claimed to have the world's second-largest English-speaking population: the most reliable estimate is around 10% of its population (125 million people), a number that is expected to quadruple by 2022. When combining native and non-native speakers, English is the most widely spoken language worldwide.

England and the Scottish Lowlands, parts of the United Kingdom, are the birthplace of the English language, and the modern form of the language has been spreading around the world since the 17th century by the worldwide influence of the United Kingdom, and more recently, the United States. Through all types of printed and electronic media of these countries, English has become the leading language of international discourse and the lingua franca in many regions and professional contexts such as science, navigation and law. The United Kingdom remains the largest English-speaking country in Europe.

Besides the major varieties of English, such as American English, British English, Canadian English, Australian English, Irish English, New Zealand English, and their sub-varieties, countries such as South Africa, India, Nigeria, the Philippines, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago also have millions of native speakers of dialect continua ranging from English-based creole languages to Standard English. Other countries, such as Ghana and Uganda, also use English as their primary official languages.

2. English is the primary natively spoken language in several countries and territories. Five of the largest of these are sometimes described as the "core Anglosphere"; they are the United States of America (with at least 231 million native English speakers), the United Kingdom (60 million),Canada (19 million),Australia (at least 17 million), and New Zealand (4.8 million).English is also the primary natively spoken language in the Republic of Ireland, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, The Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Saint Kitts and Nevis. English is also spoken by a majority of people as a second language in countries such as Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Sweden.

3. In some countries where English is not the most spoken language, it is an official language. These countries include Belize, Botswana, Cameroon (co-official with French), Eswatini (Swaziland), Fiji, Ghana, India, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Liberia, Malaysia, Malta, the Marshall Islands, Mauritius, the Federated States of Micronesia, Namibia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Rwanda, Samoa, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, the Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Sudan, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, The Gambia, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. There also are countries where in a part of the territory English became a co-official language, in Colombia's San Andrés y Providencia, Hong Kong, Honduras's Bay Islands, and Nicaragua's Mosquito Coast. This was a result of the influence of British colonization and American colonization in these areas.

India has the largest number of second-language speakers of English (see Indian English); Crystal (2004) claims that combining native and non-native speakers, India has more people who speak or understand English than any other country in the world. However, most scholars and research that has been conducted dispute his assertions.Pakistan also has the English language (Pakistani English) as a second official language after the Urdu language as the result of British rule (Raj). Sri Lanka and the Philippines use English as their third and second official language after Sinhala and Tamil, and Filipino, respectively.

English is one of the eleven official languages that are given equal status in South Africa (South African English), where there are 4.8 million native English speakers. It is also the official language in current dependent territories of Australia (Norfolk Island, Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands) and of the United States of America (American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico (in Puerto Rico, English is co-official with Spanish) and the US Virgin Islands), and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China.

Although the United States federal government has no official languages, English has been given official status by 32 of the 50 US state governments. Furthermore, per United States nationality law, the process of becoming a naturalized citizen of the US entails a basic English proficiency test, which may be the most prominent example of the claim of the nation not having an official language being belied by policy realities.

Although falling short of official status, English is also an important language in several former colonies and protectorates of the United Kingdom, such as Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cyprus and the United Arab Emirates.

4.Because English is so widely spoken, it has often been referred to as a "world language", the lingua franca of the modern era, and while it is not an official language in most countries, it is currently the language most often taught as a foreign language. It is, by international treaty, the official language for aeronautical and maritime communications. English is one of the official languages of the United Nations and many other international organizations, including the International Olympic Committee. It is also one of two co-official languages for astronauts (besides the Russian language) serving on board the International Space Station.

English is studied most often in the European Union, and the perception of the usefulness of foreign languages among Europeans is 67 per cent in favour of English ahead of 17 per cent for German and 16 per cent for French (as of 2012). Among some of the non-English-speaking EU countries, the following percentages of the adult population claimed to be able to converse in English in 2012: 90 per cent in the Netherlands, 89 per cent in Malta, 86 per cent in Sweden and Denmark, 73 per cent in Cyprus, Croatia, and Austria, 70 per cent in Finland, and over 50 per cent in Greece, Belgium, Luxembourg, Slovenia, and Germany. In 2012, excluding native speakers, 38 per cent of Europeans consider that they can speak English.

Books, magazines, and newspapers written in English are available in many countries around the world, and English is the most commonly used language in the sciences with Science Citation Index reporting as early as 1997 that 95% of its articles were written in English, even though only half of them came from authors in English-speaking countries.

In publishing, English literature predominates considerably with 28 per cent of all books published in the world and 30 per cent of web content in 2011 (down from 50 per cent in 2000).

This increasing use of the English language globally has had a large impact on many other languages, leading to language shift and even language death, and to claims of linguistic imperialism. English itself has become more open to language shift as multiple regional varieties feed back into the language as a whole.

Great Britain, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are English speaking countries. They are situated in different parts of the world and differ in many ways. The nature of these countries, their weather and climate and way of life of their people differ. Each coutry has it's own history customs, traditions, its own national holidays. But they all have a common language. English, the language of the people who left England to make their names in new countries. The United Kindom of Great Britain and North Ireland consist of 4 parts: England, Scotland, Wales, Northen Ireland. The British Isles are group of islands lying off the noth-west coast of the continent of Europe. There are no high mountains, no very long river, no great forest in U.K. The population of the U.K. is almost fifty-six million. Great Britain is a capitalists country. The USA is situated in the central part of the North American continent. The population of the USA is more then 236 million people. The USA is a highly develoed industrial country. In the USA there are two main political parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. Canada has area of nearly 10 million square kilometres. It's westen coast is washed by the Pacific Ocean and its eastern coast by the Atlantic Ocean. The population of Canada is over 26 million people. Canada is a capitalist federal state and a member of the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth of Australia territories are the continent of Australia, the island of Tasmania and number of smaller islands. Australia has an area of nearly eight million square kilometres. The population of Australia is over sixteen million people. The Commonwealth of Australia is a capitalist self- governing federal state. New Zealand is situated south-east of Australia. The country consists of the large islands called North Island, South Island and Stewart Island and also many small islands. The population of New Zealand is over three million people. New Zealand is a capitalist self-governing state and a meember of the Commonwealth. Speakers of English are known as Anglophones and the countries where English is spoken natively by the majority of the population is termed the Anglosphere. Over two billion people speak English as of the 2000s,[1][2] making English the largest language by number of speakers, and the third largest language by number of native speakers.

The United Kingdom and the United States, with 67 million and 330 million respectively, have the most native speakers. Additionally, there are 29 million in Canada, 25.7 million in Australia, 5 million in New Zealand, and 5 million in Ireland.[citation needed] Estimates that include second-language speakers vary greatly, from 470 million to more than 2 billion.[2] David Crystal calculates that as of 2003 non-native speakers outnumbered native speakers by a ratio of 3:1.[3] As of 2012, India claimed to have the world's second-largest English-speaking population: the most reliable estimate is around 10% of its population (125 million people), a number that is expected to quadruple by 2022.[4] When combining native and non-native speakers, English is the most widely spoken language worldwide.

What Are The Main English Speaking Countries?

English is perhaps most commonly associated with the United States and the United Kingdom; the two largest English speaking countries. It is believed that there are around 230 million native speakers in the United States, making it the largest English-speaking country, while the United Kingdom has approximately 60 million native speakers.

Despite having two different official languages, Canada has the third largest English-speaking population, with somewhere in the region of 20 million native speakers, while Australia is next in the list, with around 17 million.

Some of the other notable countries around the world where English is the primary language include the Republic of Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand. Combined, these three countries are believed to be home to around 13 million people who speak English as their first language Overview of English Speaking Countries

Below, we provide a breakdown of some of the most significant countries that have English as either a de jure or a de factoofficial language. The countries have been sorted based on their geographical location. An official language is defined as a language used by the citizens of that country during interactions with their government.

It should be noted that some of the countries listed have more than one official language and, therefore, English may not necessarily be their most common native language.

North America:
United States
Canada
Europe:
United Kingdom
Republic of Ireland
Malta
Caribbean:
Jamaica
Barbados
Trinidad and Tobago
Bahamas
Guyana
Oceania:
Australia
New Zealand
Papua New Guinea
Fiji
Samoa
Tonga
Solomon Islands
Micronesia
Vanuatu
Kiribati
Asia:
India
Pakistan
Singapore
Philippines
Sri Lanka
Malaysia
Africa:
South Africa
Nigeria
Cameroon
Kenya
Zimbabwe
Ghana
Rwanda
Sudan
Botswana
Ethiopia