English-speaking countries list. Countries in which English is official: quantity and brief description

English-speaking countries list. Countries in which English is official: quantity and brief description
English-speaking countries list. Countries in which English is official: quantity and brief description

Everyone knows that English is one of the most common languages \u200b\u200bof the world. It is talking about 430 million people in the world. Many call him politics and business language, because in most countries it is official.

Today, every fifth person in our country has a minimum level in English, because he is recognized by international. He is studied in different countries of the world.

It has become international due to high demand.

List of states where English is used in communication

In which countries of the world, English is recognized as National

State

Number of people living

Top 3 countries with the best knowledge of English among the population of other European states

The largest population of the country speaking English:

  1. . The United States of America is the fourth country in magnitude in the world. The state takes 9,629,091 square kilometers. Officially, America consists of 50 states and the Federal District of Columbia.

The American English and British English differs among themselves on the phonetic level and in grammatical terms.

In the United States of America, the English language appeared in the XVII-XVIII century, when the mass resettlement of British colonists in America began. At that time, Indian peoples lived on the territory of the country, which in the conversational speech used exclusively autochthonous adhesions. Along with the Indians, the representatives of the Spanish and French nation also lived in the USA. It was the mixed population that influenced the formation and change of English into the American variation. Fully formed American English for 400 years after its introduction in America.

Top 3 countries with the worst knowledge of English among the population of European states

A very considerable contribution to the formation of the American language was made by Noah Webster. That particular person was developed by phonetics, spelling and vocabulary of modern American English. He also released a dictionary of English words in 1828.

It is also worth noting that officially English has not been adopted by state in the United States, although it is official in 27 America.

  1. Great Britain. This country is called the officially United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The country officially consists of 3:
  • Scotland.
  • Northern Ireland.
  • Wales.

In the territory of Scotland and Northern Ireland, English is recognized as a state language, and in Wales National Language - Welsh.

The formation of English in the UK began with the advent of Celts into the territory of this state in 800 to our era. In the XIV century, this language was officially recognized as literary. Gradually, it was introduced to study in schools. In the period from the XIV to the XV century in the UK, improper verbs began to introduce. This period in the history of the development of the English language is called the "Great Shift of Glooms".

  1. Canada. Today in Canada 2 officially recognized by the Constitution of the language - English and French. In English, more than 67% of the population of this country is talking.

In Canada, the English appeared in the XVII century due to the arrival of English colonists.

  1. Australian Union. In Australia, the official language is recognized by English, which, thanks to the formation of a special Australian dialect, was named by Starya.
  2. Nigeria. The Federal Republic of Nigeria is located in West Africa and is the largest state in the African Continent.

In Nigeria, English was introduced during the UK colonial domination.

  1. Ireland. In Ireland, as in many countries of the world, the English language "brought" the British, who conquered the island and led them almost 800 years.

English level in Europe

This state has not taken English for a very long time. He began to be considered "native" only in the XIX century after the farewell year, which caused the departure of many indigenous inhabitants to the United States of America.

There are several countries in the world, where the main state language is English. This happened on a number of several reasons: in some lands, the adverb (United Kingdom) itself was born, in others it was listed by immigrants (USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand). In other of them, the tongue penetrated together with the colonizers and remained state, since these powers are still under the influence of Great Britain or USA (Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica). There are also such English-speaking countries where local adverbs almost extinct over the years of the centuries-old occupation and most of the population no longer remember how ancestors said (Ireland).

The territories of some states are populated by different peoples, whose representatives simply do not understand each other without the presence of one, in common to all adverbs. Therefore, such English-speaking countries, such as India and Singapore, made a British speech on par with Hindi (in India) or Tamil, Malay and Chinese (in Singapore), but also beyond the above states, the language originating from the British Islands is becoming increasingly popular. Agree, in the modern world, a little-old person is simply obliged to own English.

It is possible how many wonder why the "universal" Esperanto suffered Fiasco, and young people of different countries, dreaming to make a career, Cut "Inglish". Perhaps the case was in the skillful policy of British colonization. Whereas France, Belgium, Holland and Germany won the countries in Africa, but the influx of the population from the monopoly was minimal, Britain was trying to inhabit the conquered territories with their immigrants. The English-speaking countries of the American continent - the United States and Canada, as well as Australia and New Zealand simply outed the indigenous population on Margines - along with their adverbs and dialects.

An interesting situation has developed with Ireland and Malta. These English-speaking countries of Europe have pretty complex local talks. Gaelic gradually displaced on the "Green Island", especially after the Holodomor, when most of his carriers - rural residents died. Now Dublin is leading a long-term program on the revival of native speech, but is officially used

Maltese, which is a complicated mixture of Semitic, Arab, Occitan and Italian, has long been an oral communication language for a long time, and only at the beginning of the XIX century, literary works appeared on it. The "scientist" speech was until 1800 of the Italian (when the island owned knights-Joanites), and after this date, when Britain seized power, English. In the 1920s, residents were solved by referendum, which adverb should be left as the second official (after Maltese). The choice was not in favor of Italian, and thus Malta was accepted into the English-language countries of the world.

Why exactly the impregnation of a rather small island - Britain - won the planet? Experts believe that began with the United States. There, on undeveloped land, flashed immigrants from all the old light. These were people enterprising, not afraid to risk. They were inventive, thoughtlessly thoughtfully. European bureaucracy and feudal remnants did not connect the hands of new entrepreneurs as in Europe. And since the majority of the population were immigrants from the UK, who accepted the tremendous wave of US emigrants and Canada retained the spectacle of the former historical homeland. Now these two English-speaking countries are leaders of high-tech technologies.

No one is secret that English is recognized as an international and universal communication language. It is ideal in cases where two people from different parts of the planet need to understand each other. Interestingly, there are countries where English is the second or third state language. Have you ever thought about how many countries English is the official language? Let's deal with.

Such common English

To date, English is confidently ranked second among the most common languages. It speaks about one billion people. Scientists argue that this is 1/5 of the entire population of the Earth. Moreover, this quantity can also be attributed to those for whom English is not a birth language. This category of people is talking on it along with native or even several other foreign languages.

If we are talking about those for which conversations in English from birth is the norm, then there are a little more than four hundred thousand million in the world. An impressive figure is not true? But in which countries is the official language - English? Let's try to find out.


Countries in which English language official: brief description and total

If we consider countries where it is customary in English, then you must take into account several nuances:

  • First of all, countries can be sovereign states and incomplete objects.
  • In addition to these categories, there are a number of territories where English is the second or even third state language.
  • In addition, the general list includes states where there is simply no official language, but most of the population communicates freely in English.
  • Interestingly, in some regions there is a concept as "working language", and most often he is English.

Based on the above, it is safe to say that countries where English is official, extremely numerous. And it is not surprising if you consider the fact that we are talking about the second prevalence in the world. According to the latest data (taking into account sovereign and incomplete territories), more than eighty countries. This includes the United States, United Kingdom, Seychelles, Malta, Jamaica, New Zealand, Singapore, Canada, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Pakistan, Nigeria, Philippines and many other states. As part of the article, we will not be able to mention all, but we will tell you the most interesting, we will tell you.

Australian Union: the state where there is no official language

Of course, if we are interested in countries in which English is official, then we are not very entitled to rank a Australia here. After all, the state language has not been established here at the legislative level. But almost all Australians speak English freely, and it is all the documentation in the country.

This is due to the fact that for a long time Australia was in colonial dependence on the British crown. In addition, a large number of British at one time moved to these amazing lands from the UK.

Over time, immigrants from different countries, talking primarily in English, created a special dialect, which is now called Australian English.


India: A country where most of the official languages \u200b\u200bare registered

If we are talking about the countries in which English is official, then India occupies a special place among them. The fact is that the population of this state is talking more than four hundred languages \u200b\u200band dialects. In connection with the need to indicate the official language, this fact caused some difficulties from the Government of India. Therefore, a special scheme was invented, which is not found in any other country in the world. The Constitution points out that Hindi and English receive the status of state languages. But besides this, a list is attached to the Chief Document of India, indicating another twenty-two official languages, which may be affected in the country and formulate official papers (including legislative acts).

Botswana: Official and National Language

Botswana is a country where a large number of different nations gets around, each of which has its own language. On average, there are about thirty different languages \u200b\u200bin the country, however, according to unofficial data, it can be safe to add approximately fifty dialects.

Interestingly, the inhabitants of Botswana are clearly divided by the official language and national. TSSvan belongs to the latter, they say more than one million Botswans. But the English on which only about four thousand local residents speak, has the status of the official. It's amazing, but it was this fact that served as the root cause that writing in the country is based on Latin. Although no more than sixty percent of the population consider competently.

Be that as it may, but in the list that the countries form, where the official language is official, can be safely turned on Botswana. After all, at the legislative level, the great language of Shakespeare is enshrined here.


East Timor: official and working languages

East Timor is located in Southeast Asia. The population of the country exceeds 10,000,000 people. The whole story of its existence was under the Protectorator of Portugal and Indonesia. And only fifteen years ago received long-awaited independence.

This fact seriously affected the development of Eastern Timor as a state, as well as the formation of official languages. Now in the country, this status has Portuguese and Tetum. In addition, the numerous local population is actively explicitly explicitly expanded on aboriginal dialects and adverbs. You ask: "And where is English in this system?" He takes a special place. The fact is that in East Timor, there is a concept as "working language". It can be described as a language on which business negotiations are underway, office work and processing large amounts of information. So, in East Timor, English and Indonesian are languages.

As you have managed to notice from our article, the countries in which English is official, quite diverse. They have different cultural traditions and the level of economic development, but they are all united by one. Together they create an Angreosphere - a set of English-speaking countries that have a certain community of cultural traditions formed under the influence of the UK.

One of the serious obstacles to the way to move to the country is a language barrier. One way or another, but to talk in a local language and to interact with the population will have.

However, at first, in most states of the world, knowledge of English comes to the rescue. SelfmadetRip presents to your attention Education First English Proficiency Index rating, which called the country where they speak like a native.

Main conclusions

In testing participated more than 750 thousand adults from 63 countries of the world. Following the rating of 2014, the following conclusions were made:

  • worldwide, the degree of English proficiency among adults increases, but this statement applies far from all countries and peoples;
  • women master the tongue better than men, which directly reflects on labor activities;
  • Europe is leading in terms of the development of English;
  • in most cases, Latin American countries, the Middle East and North Africa demonstrate a low level of English proficiency;
  • among the Asian countries, the level of language development is extremely heterogeneous: somewhere very high, and somewhere - complete stagnation;
  • there is a clear relationship between the degree of development of English and quality of life, the level of income, business involvement, the use of the Internet and a duration of school training.

Overall, in general competition in the language of proficiency, European countries leading to the language:

  1. Denmark - 69,30.
  2. Netherlands - 68, 98
  3. Sweden - 67, 80
  4. Finland - 64,39.
  5. Norway - 64,32.
  6. Poland -64,26
  7. Austria - 63,21
  8. Estonia - 61,39.
  9. Belgium - 61.20.
  10. Germany - 60,88.

Russia

Our country occupies the 36th place in the world and the 22nd among European states. Russians demonstrate a fairly low level of language knowledge: 50.43. At the same time, in the cities of federal significance it is much higher. Women own English better than men, and its development of young people aged 18 to 24 is comparable to the middle world. Information on indexing all regions of the Russian Federation can be obtained. Thus, residents of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk and Vladivostok demonstrate the highest level.

English and business

An increasing number of firms lead their affairs in English. Those who resist this - become uncompetitive. Companies such as Nokia, Rakuten, Renault and Samsung, made English by their corporate language. There are several reasons why it is worth following them:

  • successful promotion on the world market;
  • minimization of losses due to misunderstanding;
  • raising company profits.

English language and quality of life

In many developing countries, knowledge of English is considered as a luxury. He is taught at the proper level only in private schools and universities. This is largely due to the fact that language proficiency plays a central role in future employment and professional success. Given the growing importance of English in the world, after 15 years, his knowledge will be considered as a mandatory requirement for applicants. At the moment, countries leading in the overall standings of 2014 rating are also leading on the human development index and economic prosperity index.

Why do you learn English? For work, education, travel ... everything comes down to communication, right? People speaking English confidently feel not only at home, but also abroad. Especially in countries where English does not use tourists, but the local population. Moreover, the English-speaking countries of the world have much in common not only in the language of communication, but also in culture as a whole. We recently discussed.

At the same time, English-speaking countries often have the second, and then the third official language. Tourists know him not necessarily, but imagine how much the boundaries of perception will expand! After all, it is for this that we go on travel. Therefore, let's find out in which countries are English as the main language, and what is an Angloofer.

AngloSplest as the sum of the English-speaking countries of the world

The term "AngloSplefe" is still young - he appeared in 1995 due to the wit's wit Nila Stevenson. In his fantastic novel The Diamond Age: Or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer, London is the center of the cultural English-speaking world. He wrote about English-speaking countries in English and had the species of a purely cultural component without any political subtext.

But we understand that in the real world it is impossible to ignore such political and social aspects as, for example, the boundaries of states, the number of their population, official symbols, etc. Therefore, let's remember which countries are English officially, that is, English remains for them the main state language:

    India (population 1 129 866 154 people)

    USA (Population 300 007 997 people)

    Pakistan (population 162 419 946 people)

    Nigeria (population 128 771 988 people)

    Philippines (population 87 857 473 people)

    United Kingdom (population 60 441 457 people)

    South Africa Republic (population 44 344 136 people)

    Tanzania (population 38 860 170 people)

    Sudan (population 36 992 490 people)

  1. Kenya (population 33 829 590 people)
  2. Canada (population 32,300,000)
  3. Uganda (population 27 269 482 people)
  4. Ghana (population 25 199 609 people)
  5. Australia (population 23 130 931 people)
  6. Cameroon (population 16 380 005 people)
  7. Zimbabwe (population 12,746,990 people)
  8. Sierra Leone (population 6 017 643 people)
  9. Papua - New Guinea (population 5 545 268 people)
  10. Singapore (population 4,425,720)
  11. Ireland (population 4 130,700 people)
  12. New Zealand (population 4 108 561 people)
  13. Jamaica (population 2 731 832 people)
  14. Fiji (population 893 354 people)
  15. Seychelles (population 81 188 people)
  16. Marshall Islands (population 59,071 people).

This list contains the names of not all, but the largest and most interesting for travelers of countries in which English is state. However, be careful, using the definition of the "official language". Because each state, despite belonging to the imaginary "Angleosphere", manages in its own way. For example, the overwhelming majority of Australians speak English, including government agencies use it in work, but in Australia there is simply no official language.

But India, Ireland, New Zealand, Canada and Philippines, having a large and multinational population, consider English official, but not the only one - other official languages \u200b\u200bare used on a par with it.

Other countries where speak English

Map of the Angleospheres of the Pest and diverse. It is impossible to combine all English-speaking countries with common bridges and / or roads, too much they scattered around the world. But you can trace the distribution of English on the planet. He emerged in the UK, and her policy in the XVIII-XIX centuries contributed to the spread of English worldwide. Many of the countries where the English language is official is the former British colonies. And even today, not all of them became sovereign states. Here are the incomplete English-speaking countries of the world:

    Hong Kong (population 6 898 686 people)

    Puerto Rico (population 3 912 054 people)

  1. GUAM (population 108 708 people)
  2. American Virgin Islands (Population 108 708 people)
  3. Jersey (population 88,200)
  4. Bermuda (population 65 365 people)
  5. Cayman Islands (population 44,270 people)
  6. Gibraltar (population 27,884 people)
  7. British Virgin Islands (population 22,643 people)
  8. Falkland Islands (population 2969 people)

These territories, and even the British Territory in the Indian Ocean with its population of 2800 people are not sovereign states. Their residents are talking primarily in English. Simply put, English-speaking people are called anglofones (from the Greek "Anglo" - English and "Phonos" - sound). This collective term conventionally unites all the English-speaking population of the Earth. And this is for a minute, 510 million people. And only for 380 million English is a native language, and another 130 million are freely communicated in English, but he is second for them, that is, learned. Studying English on courses and / or independently, we strive to join them, right? :)

Symbols of English-speaking countries

Each country has its own traditions and symbols. For example, there are floristic (plants), animalistic (animals) characters of English-speaking countries. They can overlapping each other or be completely unlike, as, for example, the symbol of Ireland clover and Britain - Rose. But often you can easily trace the community or continuity of flags of English-speaking countries.

And you remember, in which countries are you honored for those or other animals? Here are some tips:


Learn English, explore the English-speaking countries and raise English-speaking friends to truly find out the culture of different nations.