In the modern world, English is everywhere. Signs in the metro of any city are duplicated in English. Most of the information and research is done in English. Business negotiations are also conducted mainly in English. Even if you just want to talk to someone from any other country, you will most likely use English. So why exactly has English become the main language of international communication?
There is a myth that English is the easiest language, so they chose it. But this is far from the case. The wide variety of temporal forms and the inconsistency of spelling and sounding of words suggests otherwise. There are also languages that are easier to learn.
Another myth says that English is extremely rich and versatile, that any thought can be expressed in English. But this is far from the case. The English language undoubtedly has a very wide vocabulary, but it is still very far from the number of synonyms of the Russian language or the number of different meanings of German words.
Another popular myth is that English is simply spoken by the majority of the world's population. It would seem that in the USA, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and many other countries, English is spoken as a native, and this is almost half of the world. But in fact, there are many more people who speak Chinese and Spanish as their first.
So why exactly English? The answer to this question can be said in one sentence: "It happened historically." But I'm not so interested. I decided to figure out how it happened historically. And now I will tell you about it.
The first reason. Historical and political
Promotional video:
In the 19th century, Great Britain was a very influential country. Not only did her voice carry enormous weight in the international political arena, but she also made a huge contribution to the global economy. Naturally, everyone wanted to suck up to a strong power and therefore began to force their subjects to learn English. Yes, and the aristocracy of many countries themselves were not against learning the language of the great country (Russia does not count, we somehow got used to French more).
Also, Great Britain had a huge number of colonies on all continents, where the local population also had to learn English. Therefore, in the modern world there are still 54 countries where English is one of the official languages, and another 83 where there are fairly large English-speaking communities. Well, it is understandable for what reason in those countries everyone has long been studying English as a second language.
Countries in which English is one of the official languages.
And after the collapse of the colonial system, everyone continued to speak English among themselves just out of habit. And in the 20th century, the United States became a new country with enormous global political and economic influence. That's all they speak English, and those who disagree with this had to either lock themselves in their country without English, or join the majority.
The second reason. Linguistic
Even before England began to influence everyone else, the situation was completely opposite. A huge number of factors have influenced the English language.
In short, the story was like this. First, in the 6th century, the Anglo-Saxons came to the islands with their Germanic language and conquered this territory from the Celts. But they still received little influence from the Celtic language. Then the Normans came. They did not completely conquer the territory from the Anglo-Saxons, but simply decided to become the main ones there. So the influence of the French language joined the English. There also Vikings with their Scandinavian appeared from time to time. The church brought the influence of Latin into the language. And the ancient teachings added a pinch of Greek.
The result is such a Frankenstein, stitched together from several languages.
Thus, there are elements of Germanic, Romance, Scandinavian and Greek in English. Everyone will find something of their own. And for Europeans, it really was a simple language. On other continents, no one asked - the colonies. And the Slavs will somehow figure it out themselves.
The third reason. Information and cultural
It just so happened that the United Kingdom and the United States for the past 100 years have a huge informational, scientific and cultural influence in the world.
The five largest information companies in the world are based in England, USA and Canada. They are also the oldest and most influential sources of news and information in the world. These are ABC, BBC, NBC, CBC and CBS. And more than half of the entire Internet is written in English.
Most recent scientific and humanitarian research has been done in England or the United States.
You want to understand what your favorite performers are singing about. We'll have to learn English.
And the culture of these two countries has also spread throughout the world at an incredible speed. English rock. American rap. Yes, only Hollywood movies are worth something.
Therefore, everyone who wants to be in trend (news, scientific or cultural), one way or another, had to learn English.