THE IMPORTANCE OF ENGLISH G2sr04

 4. THE IMPORTANCE OF ENGLISH

There are thousands of languages in the world. Each language seems to be the most important to those who speak it as their native language.

The importance of a language can be judged according to several things. The first is the number of native speakers that a language happens to have. The second is how widely the native speakers are spread over the world. Next comes the cultural, economic and political influence of those who speak it as their mother tongue and who write in it.

There can be no doubt that English is one of the world's most widely used languages. People use a language in one of three ways: as a native language, as a second language, or as a foreign language. English is spoken as a native language by nearly three hundred million people: in the United States, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, some Caribbean countries, and south Africa. As a second language, English is often necessary for official business, education, information and other activities in a great many countries such as India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Singapore, and the Philippines.

Along with Chinese, French, Spanish, Russian and so on, it is one of the few" working" languages of the United Nations and is more frequently used than the others.

It is said that English has become the language of international trade and transport. Most pilots in planes travelling from one country to another use it to talk with airports. All ships sailing on the oceans call for help by radio in it. It has been said that 60 per cent of the world's radio broadcasts and 70 per cent of the world's mail uses English. At international sports meets, at meetings of scientists from different countries and at talks of writers and artists from the corners of the earth, English is the language most commonly used and the most widely understood.

English has in fact become the language of international cooperation in science and technology. The most advanced results in space, nuclear and computer research are published in it. A scientist who speaks and writes English is in closer touch with the scientists in other countries than one who doesn't.