The English language is the de facto official language of England, the sole official language of Gibraltar and of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, and one of the official languages of the Republic of Ireland, Malta, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey and the European Union.
The United States and India have the most total English speakers, with 306 million and 265 million, respectively. These are followed by Pakistan (104 million), the United Kingdom (68 million), and Nigeria (60 million). As of 2022, there were about 373 million native speakers of English.
Montenegro is popularly known as one of the cheapest place to live in Europe that speak English and has a higher percentage of English-speaking population. If you are someone, who is not interested in learning a new language to move to a new EU country, Montenegro is for you.
Italy has the lowest level of English proficiency of any country in the European Union.
These include China, The Gambia, Malawi, Colombia, Swaziland, Brazil, Russia, Argentina, Algeria, Uganda, Yemen, Chile and Tanzania. We also used the EF English Proficiency Index, which ranks countries according to their English language proficiency.
New Zealand has been ranked as the most peaceful English-speaking country in the world. New Zealand came 4th in the Institute for Economics and Peace's Global Peace Index, after Iceland, Denmark and Austria. That makes New Zealand the safest destination for English learning.
The Netherlands has emerged as the nation with the highest English language proficiency, according to the EF English Proficiency Index, with a score of 72. It is ahead of five other northern European nations at the top of the chart.
It is the country's common language and de facto national language; while Australia has no official language, English is the first language of the majority of the population, and has been entrenched as the de facto national language since British settlement, being the only language spoken in the home for 72% of ...
Languages that are related to English and easy to learn include most Germanic languages (Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, and German) and Romance languages (Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, and Romanian).
People in Europe speak many different languages. Most of these languages belong to three large groups or 'families': Germanic, Slavic and Romance.
Unsurprisingly, Berlin ranked highest overall with a score of 65,51. Expat-friendly Bavaria (65,09), Hamburg (64,72) and North-Rhine Westphalia (64,63) also ranked highly. The lowest-ranking regions were Mecklenburg-West Pomerania (58,72) and Saxony-Anhalt (60,70).
1) The British Empire.
Before colonizing around a quarter of the planet (!), Britons were the only ones speaking English, and the language was confined to the British Isles. But once they started doing trade with places like Asia and Africa, colonizing and settling around the globe, the language naturally spread.
Manchester
However, a study by Manchester University revealed that up to 200 different languages are spoken in the Manchester area. Even more impressive than that is the density of this multilingualism, given the city's relatively small size.
Swedes have the best non-native English skills in the world, according to the eighth edition of the EF English Proficiency Index. Sweden's Scandinavian siblings Norway and Denmark also place in the top five. Of course, anyone who's visited Sweden, Norway or Denmark won't be surprised by the findings.
For the entire world, American accent is most universal. British, Scottish, Irish and Australian accents are pretty unfamiliar with all ears of the people around the globe. Irish English is the easiest to understand.
Perhaps the two most iconic English varieties in the world are British and American accents. Both of them have a form of “general” accent which is perceived as more educated or correct than the other varieties, as if having an accent-free speech was a sign of social status.
Across multiple sources, Mandarin Chinese is the number one language listed as the most challenging to learn. The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center puts Mandarin in Category IV, which is the list of the most difficult languages to learn for English speakers.