Speaking a common language enables you to meet new people who also speak that language, and can result in lifelong friendships that you otherwise wouldn't be able to make. As well as building relationships with people who speak English, it also gives the opportunity to learn more about other cultures.
For the foreseeable future English will remain the dominant global lingua franca (a language used by people with different native languages to communicate with each other), but the role it plays in the lives of individuals or in policies will begin to change.
Proficient language can change your entire future by opening new career opportunities. It can benefit you if you are working in a multinational organization. Knowing more languages, you possess an advantage over other candidates who speak only one language.
English is the language of science, of aviation, computing, diplomacy, and tourism. It is the lingua franca of the business world, so knowledge of English increases your chances of getting a good job in a multinational company within your home country or for finding work abroad.
1. English (1,452 million speakers) According to Ethnologue, English is the most-spoken language in the world including native and non-native speakers. Like Latin or Greek at the time, English has become the world's common language.
“English is likely to remain one of the world's most important languages for the foreseeable future, but its future is more problematic — and complex — than most people appreciate,” said language researcher David Graddol.
That's why speaking is the most important skill of language learning. However, you need to remember that if you really want to learn a foreign language, you have to work on the main 4 language skills: speaking, listening, vocabulary, and reading.
Listening is the easiest skill to practice
All four language skills are incredibly important and present their unique challenges. When I say that listening is easiest, I do not mean that it requires less time or commitment than reading, writing, or speaking.
The number of Chinese speakers online is estimated at 888.4 million, which has risen an astounding 2600% over the same time period. The Chinese language is catching up quickly and is set to overtake English in the near future.
There is a strong chance that English will continue to be the lingua franca for the foreseeable future, but it is also wise for people to learn other languages such as Spanish and Chinese in case they begin to dominate.
Now, English is the official language of some 56 countries worldwide and the unofficial lingua franca of dozens more. English language dominance is still undoubtedly a thing and will likely remain so for many decades to come.
The lowest-ranked country is Haiti (#111), followed by Mexico (#110) and Ecuador (#109)1. The average score for LATAM countries is 462 (low proficiency)1.
Writing: It is the most difficult of the four language skills. It requires a command over vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structure. When children graduate to writing short paragraphs, it also involves establishing links among different sentences. All these help in creating meaning.
The English language is widely regarded as one of the most difficult to master. Because of its unpredictable spelling and challenging to learn grammar, it is challenging for both learners and native speakers.
English, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, and Arabic are widely recognized as some of the most important languages due to their global reach and the number of people who speak them.
So will Mandarin replace English as the next global language? Answer: not yet. English rose to prominence through the British Empire and as a result there are native English speakers to be found across the globe. English is the language of shared popular culture – music, film, even sport.
This is because English is the world's lingua franca or common second language, as this table shows. English is the international language of business, commerce, science, medicine, and many other key areas. Even in diplomacy, where French once ruled supreme, English is now dominant in most regions of the world.
About 1.35 billion people on Earth (population: 7.8 billion) speak English. That's more than 15% of the world's total population!
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.
Sumerian can be considered the first language in the world, according to Mondly. The oldest proof of written Sumerian was found on the Kish tablet in today's Iraq, dating back to approximately 3500 BC.
These include China, The Gambia, Malawi, Colombia, Swaziland, Brazil, Russia, Argentina, Algeria, Uganda, Yemen, Chile and Tanzania.