English in the world
know that English is one of the languages \u200b\u200bwith the largest number speakers and a wider geographical spread. However, the vagueness of the sources in this matter and the unequal lends definition to the very conception of speaking a language, give rise to a variety of computations, the reader can easily check by going to the many studies, yearbooks and encyclopaedias that collect such data. Many of the data collected and processed by many institutions as a source take the Encyclopedia Britannica [Britannica (Book of the Year)], which contains a statistical section designed exclusively to languages \u200b\u200band uses for its estimates a variety of national and international, including the United Nations Demographic Yearbook. There are only 12 languages \u200b\u200bto over 100 million speakers: Mandarin Chinese, English, English, Hindi, Bengali, Arabic, Portuguese, Russian, Urdu, Japanese, Punjabi, German. According to these studies, the number of English speakers in the world is around 380 million people. It is the world's third language speakers (after Mandarin Chinese, and -885 000 000 -440 English -) and number of countries (twenty) where an official language.
By extension of its territory in fourth place. If we talk about areas of the countries where each language is official in thousands of km2, depending on BBY, English is the fourth most widely spoken language in the world, after English, French and Russian in an area of \u200b\u200b11,990 km2, which occupies a 8.9 percent of the surface world emerged. This is by far the most widely used romance language (ahead of Portuguese and French), with about 380 million speakers spread over five continents *, but concentrated mainly in the large American territory that extends from Mexico (or Mexico) to Tierra del Fuego. The English is the official national language in the following countries: Mexico (where there are 97,563,000 speakers), Spain (39.244 million), Colombia (37,418,000), Argentina (35,798,000), Peru (24,950. 000), Venezuela (22396000), Chile (14508000), Ecuador (11,691,000), Guatemala (11558000), Cuba (10,999,000), Republic Dominican (8.228 million), Bolivia (7.67 million), Honduras (5.751 million), El Salvador (5.662 million), Paraguay (5.652 million), Nicaragua (4.386 million), Costa Rica (3,534,000) , Uruguay (3.262 million), Panama (2.693 million) and Equatorial Guinea (442 516). In some of them also speak local languages \u200b\u200b(some of which also have official status), although in most cases it is a situation of bilingualism in English that has the greatest weight. In Puerto Rico, despite strong English influence, the majority of its 3,818,000 inhabitants use English to communicate. On the other hand, there are large communities of English speakers U.S. (Almost 20 million, and is co-official language in the state of New Mexico along with English), the Philippines, Australia, Morocco, Western Sahara, Belize, etc.
Also, consider its importance and growing population expansion in the U.S. (where it is not official): There are already 34 million English speakers, representing almost 20% of the population. Its origin is varied. Traditionally part of the present territory of the United States was of Hispanic settlement belonged to the English crown or Mexico (parts of California, New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, etc..). Hispanics were also the conquest and colonization of parts of the current U.S. territory. The immigration of English-speaking population in U.S. territory has occurred continuously since the second half of last century. The population of Hispanic origin and speak in the United States is growing so overwhelming, especially in certain regions (California, Florida, etc.). Today English is the language most spoken in U.S. After English (and most studied in university departments of languages) and English-speaking colonies in cities like Los Angeles, Chicago or New York are enormous. American or Chicano studies are also the fastest growing at present and those that attract more students to universities.
Over forty-six million people study English throughout the world. Approximately 40 million English speakers regularly using the Internet (of which one-fifth in Spain) which is just over 6% of users in the world, behind German, Japanese, Chinese and especially English. Behind the English were immediately placed French, Korean, Italian, Portuguese and Dutch. In the presence of media in the network, the English have a good place: the second, after English.
But these are not the only criteria for measuring the strength of our language. In number of books translated into other languages English would be the seventh. With 6% of world population, produces less than five thousand of the science and technology publications (French, with a 2% produces 11 per thousand).
Although the number of English speakers in the world is clearly inferior to the Anglophones and significantly higher than the speakers of French, two languages \u200b\u200bthat grow very little English, perhaps because of the potential for expansion that provides its officers in countries high rates of population growth.
points can be summarized in six characteristics of English as a language system and as a communication vehicle a broad community:
1. English is a language of culture and first-class strike any comments on the history, the quality and richness of English and Latin American literature.
2. English is a relatively uniform language that offers a reduced risk of fragmentation. This is due to the simplicity of its vowel system (5 items), the amplitude of the consonant system shared by the entire Hispanic world, the size of the lexicon share (basic vocabulary) and the community in an elementary syntax.
3. It is also a geographically compact language: most English-speaking countries occupied contiguous territories, making this dominio en una de las áreas lingüísticas más extensas del mundo.
4. El español es una lengua en expansión; el aumento del número de hablantes ha sido continuo desde la época de la colonización americana, si bien el mayor crecimiento demolingüístico se ha producido a lo largo del siglo XX.
5. El español es una lengua internacional; tiene un carácter oficial y vehicular en 21 países del mundo.
6. Aunque la zona geográfica correspondiente al mundo hispánico incluye grandes zonas bilingües o plurilingües, asegura un índice de comunicabilidad muy alto (el español sirve de medio de comunicación en toda la sociedad) y un índice de diversidad bajo o mínimo (Probability of finding two randomly selected speakers who speak different languages), which charge rates of particular importance when compared with non-Hispanic territories.
As we have seen, the English language is characterized by its linguistic homogeneity, especially at its most cults. Regarded as manifestations of the "English" all-European dialects, and African-American and Creole spoken here include basic English and Judeo-English varieties distributed throughout various parts of the world.
France and the UK are also two other countries with a high degree of linguistic homogeneity despite the significant minority of immigrants (North Africans in France, Asians in the United Kingdom) and the recent decentralization processes (especially in the United Kingdom).
As we have said, English is a language of culture. International homogeneous, extensive and compact, it deserves a language policy which helps to maintain these attributes, the benefit of their own language and its speakers as individuals.
What can we do?
• Strengthen the quality of teaching (a foreign and native),
• improve the tools (software or not) to help us meet and manage, and
• ensure your drive terminology and convince us of the economic and strategic importance of mastering the aspects of language engineering.
A vital aspect, according to Jose Manuel Blecua, would be a general coordination of science policy language, currently scattered among universities, companies and various agencies (CSIC, Royal Academy, Instituto Cervantes) who strive to make a language a language rich extensive and provided with means.
confirmed its leading international presence, it is time to promote and encourage language policies aimed at increasing the cultural prestige, scientific and technological development of Hispanic countries and, therefore, of the English language. It would be advisable to reach agreement among all English-speaking countries with an eye toward planning of English, I could find, as common and essential objectives, the following:
• promote unity, enrichment and updating of the English language.
• Ensuring the right to communicate in English in public situations in English speaking countries.
• Protect the right to use correct and most prestigious of the English language.
is undeniable that by declaring an official language immediately become residents of a country speaking the language, and that political decisions can have longer term or indirect influence on the linguistic distribution of the population, in particular whether such decisions concern the main language of instruction or the use of languages \u200b\u200bin public administration. ________________________________________
Internet links:
http://www.cervantes.es/internet/indice.html : Instituto Cervantes.
http://cvc.cervantes.es/portada.html Cervantes Virtual Center.
Http://www.sil.org/ethnologue/ : Ethnologue: Languages \u200b\u200bof the World. Http://www.census.gov/
: U.S. Census Bureau.
http://babel.uoregon.edu/yamada/guides.html : Yamada Language Guide.
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