Being the first language of almost 380 million people, English is one of the world’s most widely spoken languages and is essential for global communication in business, science and culture with its Germanic roots and Shakespearean contributions.
English
-
Classification
Indo-European > Germanic
-
Speakers
380 million
-
Script
Roman
-
Text direction
Left-to-right
-
Official language
67 countries have English as an official language. Too many to list here!
English
English is the third largest native language and the most learned second language in the world. It is an official language in many countries and an official language of the UN. It is from the West Germanic language group (which includes Dutch and German) with important influences from other languages including French, Latin and Greek.
Interestingly, the Campaign for Plain English advises British English speakers to avoid words with Latin roots (e.g. require, reduce, participate, obtain) and replace them with equivalent words from Anglo-Saxon roots (need, cut, join in, get) as they are perceived as simpler and less pretentious, despite having the same meaning.
Studies of the Oxford English Corpus have seen claims stating that the 100 most commonly used words in English make up about 50% of all written text in the language. If true, it could mean that English is very easy to learn, at least at a basic level.
Most native English speakers are united through language and culture, and divided through sport.
As a lingua franca, it bridges communication across the world, real and virtual.
Whether for medical, technical documents, marketing content or legal materials, Geo Language Services ensures your English content is clear, compelling and culturally appropriate for international audiences.
Services offered for this language
Translation / Transcreation / Subtitling / Localization / Adaptation / Copywriting / Authoring / Proofreading / Revision / Editing / Translation quality assurance / Terminology / Linguistic validation / Glossary creation / Dubbing / Voice-overs / Transcription / Typesetting / Simultaneous interpreting / Consecutive interpreting / Conference interpreting / Telephone interpreting / Public service interpreting / Interpreting equipment hire / Foreign language consulting
Interesting fact
In English, the syllable "ough" can be pronounced nine different ways, like in this catchy sentence: “A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed”.
