Why has English become the world language?

A) Because the British are no good at languages

B) They are arrogant and think everybody should understand them

C) They used to rule the world!! (Britannia rules the waves etc)

D) It's the language of commerce.

I am British and very proud to be so but I don't think English is a particularly easy language. It has rules but then there are so many exceptions.

First of all, I would like to say that English is a beautiful language and I like it very much.

Secondly, English is the world's No.1 widely-used language as it has a remarkable number of vocabulary i.e. it has over 500,000 words excluding half a million of scientific and technical terms. Moreover, one out of seven people speaks English around the world and it is the native language of over 400 million people. About 50% of the world's books are written in English and 75% of messages are sent in English.

Over 90% of all the information stored in computer all over the world is in English. Everywhere, English is used so if one knows English well, one can travel around the world.Though French and German are widely-used in Europe and Spanish in Latin America, one can still communicate if one knows English well. However, nowadays, Chinese language is taking the place of English gradually, especially in Asia. Therefore, English, though still a dominant language in Asia, I think Chinese will have become the most popular language by the year 2050.

But, no doubt, English will still be the most spoken language in the other parts of the world. That is what I think about the position of English as a world language.................................I think that English language can be put at the first place in world. I think that most people prefer to learn it as second language. Many sciences are written in English. And so there are thousands of cite which written in English. It is my second language after Arabic. And I find it very interesting and I adore the English literature. I think that Shakespeare is an important reason of its spread all over the world..........

English is pretty easy to learn compared to other languages. The structure and the forming of sentences is pretty easy. The only hard part is the slang that is used in English. Did you know that all airplane pilots need to know English. It is a common language for flying. Also the internet language like programming and such is based off of the English language. Just look at HTML and various programming. The internet was initially created for military purposes in the US. The main reason is that even though the US has done some bad things with the war a such people all over the world still look up to the US. That is why American music and movies are so popular world wide. For example everybody knows Micheal Jackson.

Three reasons, I think.

One, the British Empire spread to six continents,

two, in the 20th Century the USA became the world's dominant nation and spread English across the world through Holywood and TV,

and three, English is extremely flexible , allowing the language to borrow words from other languages and to evolve. Nouns can be turned into verbs , etc. (Eg. A medal, to medal. )

(Shakespeare's universality has, I'm sure, helped too.)

What's your native language ? Did you find English easy to learn ?

English is not the first language of the world.

It is the first language of USA and other affluent countries such as Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and through colonization in the 18th and 19th centuries, it is widely spoken (and has influenced languages) in India, many countries in Africa (including South Africa) and Asia.

Because of affluent countries and superpowers speaking English as their first language, it is the language of commerce and economy. It is definitely not the most spoken language in the world, but is widespread.

no english is the prefered language because the english populated north america, canada, austrailia new zealand occupied india took slaves from africa, and sent missionaries to preach christianity to just about every other country in the world. and of course the american influence no other language since the romans has had that much widespread use.

Like ___________ said. It's totally true. Trade/trade routs, conquest, slavery, etc. al lcontributed to it being the most widely used language of the world. It's not the UNIVERSAL language though. Or at least not that I know of and hope.

I don't know about it being the easier language though.. =\

Because even though the sun has now set on the British Empire, the Empire's linguistic influence lives on around the world.