English is spoken practically all over the world. It is a world language. English is spoken by more than 350 million people. Geographically, it is the most widespread language on earth. It is nowadays second only to Chinese in the number of people who speak it.
It is the official language in 44 countries. English is the official language of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, of the United States of America, of Australia and New Zealand. It is one of the official languages in Canada, the Republic of South Africa, the Irish Republic, India and Pakistan.
The history of Great Britain helps to understand the present condition of English. English is a language of the Germanic group. Many English words were borrowed from the language of Angles and Saxons. Hundreds of French words came into English. The French language was the official language of the ruling class in Britain for three centuries. This explains the great number of French words in English. Many new words were brought by traders and travellers. These words came from all parts of the world: "umbrella”—_ from Italian, "skates" - from Dutch, "tea" - from Chinese, "cigar" — from Spanish. Some words came into English directly from Latin. Latin was
the language of the church and the universities in the Middle Ages.
Some of the English words of today are derivatives. One way of creating new words is to put together two or more English words. For example, the words "railway," "football," "newspaper" were made in this way. Many new scientific English words have been made from Latin and Greek words instead of English ones. For example, "telephone" was made from Greek words "far" and "talk."
From the British Isles English spread all over the world. Nowadays English is the language of progressive science and technology, trade and cultural relations, commerce and business. It is the universal language of international aviation, shipping and sports. It is also the major language of diplomacy.
Millions of books, magazines and newspapers are printed in English and read all over the world. 75 per cent of the world's mail and 60 per cent of the world's radio broadcasts are in English. Half of the world scientific literature is printed in English.
Nowadays English is the most fashionable language in the world. Millions of people study and use English as a foreign language. English today is absolutely necessary for every educated person, for every good specialist.