| 3 |  A New World Language (Level 1)

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Why has English become the world language?
Well, it is not because it's better than any of the other 5,000 languages. It is not easy to learn. It is not easy to write. It is not easy to pronounce*.

So there must be other reasons. Latin was the common* language for academic* purposes* through the Middle Ages and well into modern times. Why? Roman culture, the pope*, and the church! The Russian upper classes used to speak French. Why? Because the Russian aristocracy* was influenced by France.

Power and influence
Power and influence decide which languages become globally* more important than others. People have tried to create new, and independent*, world languages. Esperanto is one of them. It has an active world wide association*, but it has not been accepted as a world language. Basic English (British, American, Scientific, International, Commercial* English) was introduced in 1930. It consisted of a basic vocabulary of only 850 words. It was no success.

Any language could become a dominant* world language. If the Romans had been able to keep their empire* into our days, Latin would perhaps still have been the world language. If Sir Francis Drake had not managed to defeat the Spanish Armada in 1588, it is possible that the Spaniards would have colonized all of America. So the USA could have been a Spanish-speaking country today. The Spaniards could have colonized Australia and New Zealand too. 

It wasn't the Spaniards but the English who colonized many parts of the world. From the 16th century into the 19th, the British Empire became bigger and bigger. Today the (British) Commonwealth is no political and economic superpower. The English-speaking USA is. So it is probable that American English more and more will dominate the development of the English world language.

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