Besides the major varieties of English, such as British English, American English, Canadian English, Australian English, Irish English, New Zealand English, and their sub-varieties, countries such as South Africa, India, Nigeria, the Philippines, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago also have millions of native speakers of dialect continua ranging from English-based creole languages to Standard English. The United Kingdom and the United States with 60 million and 230 million respectively, have the most native speakers. There also are countries where in a part of the territory English became a co-official language, in Colombia's San Andrés y Providencia, Hong Kong, Honduras's Bay Islands, and Nicaragua's Mosquito Coast. I live in a very Turkish neighbourhood and if I want to be understood I need to speak the local language. As previously mentioned, the countries with the highest English proficiency levels are primarily located in Europe. Outside the tourist centres, English isn’t spoken that much. In the Netherlands, between 90% and 93% of the population reports having English fluency. Someone told me that a lot more Turks speak German than English, I speak a bit of German. Click on a coloured area to see an article about English in that country or region, From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core. The language revolution. Before mistakenly correcting the percentage again, please note that there are fewer people aged 5 years or more in any country than there are people in that country, because some people are toddlers or infants. [15] English is also the primary natively spoken language in the Republic of Ireland, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, The Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Barbados, the United States Virgin Islands, the Channel Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Bermuda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the Isle of Man, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Saint Kitts and Nevis, the Cayman Islands, Guam, Gibraltar, the British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, the Falkland Islands, Montserrat, Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, the British Indian Ocean Territory, the Pitcairn Islands, and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. Some researchers believe this percentage is so high because the Dutch language shares similarities with English, making it easier to learn. The European Union is a supranational union composed of 28 member states. Because of this, English has never held an important role in its society. England, a part of the United Kingdom, is the birthplace of the English language, and the modern form of the language has been spreading around the world since the 17th century by the worldwide influence of the United Kingdom, and more recently, the United States. Through all types of printed and electronic media of these countries, English has become the leading language of international discourse and the lingua franca in many regions and professional contexts such as science, navigation and law. Additionally, there are 29 million in Canada, 24.1 million in Australia, 5 million in New Zealand, and 5 million in Ireland. In fact, Britain held Iraq as a mandate for 15 short years, between 1917 and 1932. This was a result of the influence of British colonization and American colonization in these areas. [29], Countries where English is an official language. This diversity makes English an important common denominator for shared communication. Five of the largest of these are sometimes described as the "core Anglosphere";[6][7][8] they are the United States of America (with at least 231 million native English speakers),[9] the United Kingdom (60 million),[10][11][12] Canada (at least 20 million),[13] Australia (at least 17 million),[14] and New Zealand (4.8 million). This language is particularly common in the city of Amsterdam, where signs, advertisements, and announcements are published in English. Estimates that include second-language speakers vary greatly, from 470 million to more than 2 billion. This country was a British colony until 1965, with English serving as the official language of government, administration, and business. Other countries, such as Ghana and Uganda, also use English as their primary official languages. Indigenous languages, such as Nawat and Maya, continue to be used today by a small percentage of the population. 2001 figures for native language (first language). Only 5% of, Source: Eurobarometer report 2006 (the 2012 report seems to have a critical typo). Consulta Mitofsky-Tracking Poll Roy Campos: Las Lenguas Extranjeras en México, January 2013, Figure for speakers of English as "main language", according to, Source: Euromonitor International report 2011, Source: Eurobarometer report 2006; Central Statistics Office. EF EPI 2018 – Turkey When it comes to English (or any other foreign language) proficiency, we rank at the bottom of the list. The top 7 countries for English proficiency (and their scores) are: the Netherlands (72.16), Denmark (71.15), Sweden (70.81), Norway (68.54), Finland (66.61), Singapore (63.52), and Luxembourg (63.20). It is also the official language in current dependent territories of Australia (Norfolk Island, Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands) and of the United States of America (American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico (in Puerto Rico, English is co-official with Spanish) and the US Virgin Islands),[19] and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. In publishing, English literature predominates considerably with 28 per cent of all books published in the world [Leclerc 2011][full citation needed] and 30 per cent of web content in 2011 (down from 50 per cent in 2000). Note this includes speakers of an English creole. Today, its official language continues to be Spanish. This country was a Spanish colony from 1525 until 1821, when the Spanish language was used for government, business, and religious purposes. Some trends were noted in the calculations: European countries tend to have the highest proficiency levels, Middle Eastern countries tend to have the lowest proficiency levels, higher proficiency levels in countries with higher gross national income per capita and exports per capita, and women tend to have higher levels of English than men. The EF English Proficiency Index was created by EF Education First, an educational company, to measure the English communication skills of adults in countries where English is not an official language. Of the thousands of languages spoken in the world today, English has become one of the most important. English is the primary natively spoken language in several countries and territories. Source: Crystal (2003), p. 109. It is also one of two co-official languages for astronauts (besides the Russian language) serving on board the International Space Station. English is pretty widely spoken overall in Serbia, and is common enough for you to get by without speaking any Serbian in most parts of the country, especially the capital Belgrade. Like many other countries on the “Very Low Proficiency” list, El Salvador does not have a significant history with the British Empire. AliceC. Since it was first made available on the internet in 2012, approximately 1.7 million individuals have taken the exam. However, most scholars and research that has been conducted dispute his assertions. Did you know English is by far the world's most studied language? ", "The UK after Brexit: Can and Will the Anglosphere Replace the EU? (Census 2009). [3] The United Kingdom remains the largest English-speaking country in Europe. Update 2: Telling me that 300% speak Mongolian isn't that helpful, don't speak that language either! ), Last edited on 30 September 2020, at 13:19, third largest language by number of native speakers, List of countries by English-speaking population, Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, List of territorial entities where English is an official language, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, "Crystal, David. English is one of the eleven official languages that are given equal status in South Africa (South African English), where there are 4.8 million native English speakers.[18]. Likewise, the total number of native English speakers adds up to around 350,000,000. Second language speaker figure only includes those literate in English aged 15 or more and does not include third language proficiency. The following is a list of English-speaking population by country, including information on both native speakers and second-language speakers. Regional and minority languages include: Syriac-Aramaic, Feyli Lurish, Armenian, Turkish, Turkmen, and Persian. English also plays an important role in the educational system of the Netherlands and is required for graduation. 51%) including 65,478,252 native speakers and 191,397,968 non-native speakers, and would be ranked 2nd if it were included. Crystal (2003), p. 109. Additionally, many important academic works and educational materials are only available in English, particularly information from the field of sciences and engineering. These countries include Botswana, Cameroon (co-official with French), Eswatini (Swaziland), Fiji, Ghana, India, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Liberia, Malta, the Marshall Islands, Mauritius, the Federated States of Micronesia, Namibia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, the Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Sudan, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, The Gambia, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. As of 2012, India claims to have the world's second-largest English-speaking population. Note this includes speakers of. Answer Save. Turkish is the official language of Turkey where it is spoken by 67 million people as a first and by another 350,000 people as a second language ().It is also the official language of Cyprus along with Greek.The rest of the Turkish speakers live in 35 different countries in Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Americas (Ethnologue). Over two billion people speak English (as of the 2000s),[1][2] making English the largest language by number of speakers, and the third largest language by number of native speakers. Top Answer. The main languages are French and Malagasy. [2] David Crystal calculates that, as of 2003, non-native speakers outnumbered native speakers by a ratio of 3 to 1. It has borrowed heavily from Persian, Arabic and French. It is considered a survey and not a controlled research project. In other words, no, the numbers will not automatically add up. Turkey is an ethnically diverse country with different ethnic languages spoken in the country. The differences between English and Turkish. In contrast, tourists spend most of their time in Sultanahmet, Cappadocia, or resort towns on the Mediterranean and Aegean coasts. 17%. As previously mentioned, most of the countries with the lowest English proficiency are located in the Middle East. This implies that there are approximately 850,000,000 people who speak English as an additional language. The list may be sorted by column by clicking on the column header. The English spoken in this country is referred to as Singapore English. Introduction: Turkish is a member of the Turkic language group and belongs to the larger Altaic family. In this country, Arabic and Kurdish are the official languages. In 2012, excluding native speakers, 38 per cent of Europeans consider that they can speak English.[27]. Five of the largest of these are sometimes described as the "core Anglosphere"; they are the United States of America (with at least 231 million native English speakers), the United Kingdom (60 million), Canada (at least 20 million), Australia (at least 17 million), and New Zealand (4.8 million). Of the 7 countries with “Very High Proficiency”, Singapore is the only non-European country listed. This article takes a look at which countries, where English is not an official language, have the highest and lowest levels of English proficiency according to the EF English Proficiency Index. Source: Data from the 2011 census for England and Wales. Iraq has a unique history that has not involved extensive trade with Europe or British colonialism.