Text 2. English as a world language

It is only in the course of the last hundred years that English has become a world language. In Shakespeare's time it was a "provincial" language of secondary importance with only 6 million native speakers. Nowadays English has become the world's most important language in politics, science, trade and cultural relations. In a number of speakers (400 million) it is second only to Chinese. It is the official language of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, of the United States of America, of Australia and New Zealand. English is used as one of the official languages in Canada, the Republic of South Africa and the Irish Republic. It is also spoken as a second language by many people in India, Pakistan, numerous countries in Africa. The number of second-language speakers may soon exceed the number of native speakers, if it has not done so already.

Even more widely English is studied and used as a foreign language. In this respect it acquired an international status. It is used for communication across frontiers, listening to broadcasts, reading books and newspapers, in commerce and travel. Half of the world's scientific literature is in English. English is associated with technological and economic develop­ment of the great manufacturing countries and it is the principal language of international aid. It is the language of automation and computer technology. It is not only the universal language of international aviation, shipping and sport, it is to a consid­erable degree the universal language of literacy and public communication. It is the major language of diplomacy, and is the most frequently used language both in the debates in the United Nations and in the general conduct of the UN business.

English has become a world language because of its estab­lishment as a mothertongue outside England, in all the countries of the world. This exporting of English began in the seventeenth century, with the first settlements in North America. Above all, it is the great growth of population in the United States, assisted by massive immigration in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, that has given the English language its modern standing in the world.

Unit 5. Let's talk about films.