| 2 | English Is the No 1 World Language (Level 3)

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More than six billion* people
In the autumn of 1999 the population of the world, for the first time, exceeded* six billion. That's six thousand million. How many zeros are there in six billion?

The population of the world is growing very fast. New babies are born every second, and the growth speed is accelerating. In 1972 we were 4 billion, in 1987 we were 5, in 2000 6, and we shall be 7 billion in 2011. The world is growing fastest in areas where English is not the official* language. How fast is the world growing?

6,000 languages
Every child that is born into this world has the ability to learn any of the world's 6,000, or so, languages that still exist (sadly, at least one language disappears every month). The ability to learn a language decreases* after the age of 14.

Out of all these 6,000 languages, a small number are more important than others because so many people speak them, and of course, write them. The more people there are who understand someone else's language, the more important that language becomes. Try to make up a list of the 10 biggest languages, and then have a look. They are the languages of countries that play very important roles in politics, and in world economy. You probably agree that the USA is the only superpower* if you consider economy, politics, and military power. Yet the Americans make up less than 5% of the world's population.

The Romans ruled much of the world two thousand years ago and Latin was the "lingua franca" of the powerful catholic church of the middle ages and a growing number of monastery schools and universities in the centuries to follow.

With British colonialism, the English language stretched its tentacles far outside the "Isles", and with the emergence of American hegemony it had laid the foundation for lasting (?) dominance.

One world language
More than twice as many people speak Chinese as English. On the other hand English is the official language of more than one country in each of the continents. English is the official, or semi-official*, language of nearly one hundred countries. You probably know the major English-speaking countries, Australia, Canada, Ireland, England, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa, Wales, and the USA,  but do you know how many people consider* English their first language, or use English daily, in India? Can you name another five countries where there are at least one million people who consider English to be their mother tongue* or their second language?

It is estimated* that hundreds of millions of people are currently* studying English in one way or another, maybe even as many as one billion. That's on sixth of the world's population, or in other words one in six. So you are not alone.

From science to entertainment
More and more information is stored electronically, for instance on the Internet. More than 80% of all that information is in English. 

A majority of all the scientists in the world use English in their daily work to find information and to read articles and books. 

Much of all the popular music that is produced around the world is written in English.