Following on the footsteps of the British Empire and the technological and finance revolution of the twentieth century, the English language has become the world's ultimate lingua franca. Little did the likes of Shakespeare know that his language was to become one of the most widely spoken languages in history. Below you have a list where the English language has managed to establish itself as either the official language, or a language of the highest importance:
| Country | Languages (%) |
|---|---|
| Akrotiri | English, Greek |
| American Samoa | Samoan 90.6% (closely related to Hawaiian and other Polynesian languages), English 2.9%, Tongan 2.4%, other Pacific islander 2.1%, other 2%
note: most people are bilingual (2000 census) |
| Anguilla | English (official) |
| Antigua and Barbuda | English (official), local dialects |
| Argentina | Spanish (official), Italian, English, German, French |
| Aruba | Papiamento (a Spanish-Portuguese-Dutch-English dialect) 66.3%, Spanish 12.6%, English (widely spoken) 7.7%, Dutch (official) 5.8%, other 2.2%, unspecified or unknown 5.3% (2000 census) |
| Australia | English 78.5%, Chinese 2.5%, Italian 1.6%, Greek 1.3%, Arabic 1.2%, Vietnamese 1%, other 8.2%, unspecified 5.7% (2006 Census) |
| Bahamas, The | English (official), Creole (among Haitian immigrants) |
| Bahrain | Arabic, English, Farsi, Urdu |
| Bangladesh | Bangla (official, also known as Bengali), English |
| Barbados | English |
| Belize | Spanish 46%, Creole 32.9%, Mayan dialects 8.9%, English 3.9% (official), Garifuna 3.4% (Carib), German 3.3%, other 1.4%, unknown 0.2% (2000 census) |
| Bermuda | English (official), Portuguese |
| Botswana | Setswana 78.2%, Kalanga 7.9%, Sekgalagadi 2.8%, English 2.1% (official), other 8.6%, unspecified 0.4% (2001 census) |
| Brazil | Portuguese (official and most widely spoken language); note - less common languages include Spanish (border areas and schools), German, Italian, Japanese, English, and a large number of minor Amerindian languages |
| British Virgin Islands | English (official) |
| Brunei | Malay (official), English, Chinese |
| Cambodia | Khmer (official) 95%, French, English |
| Cameroon | 24 major African language groups, English (official), French (official) |
| Canada | English (official) 59.3%, French (official) 23.2%, other 17.5% |
| Cayman Islands | English 95%, Spanish 3.2%, other 1.8% (1999 census) |
| Chile | Spanish (official), Mapudungun, German, English |
| Christmas Island | English (official), Chinese, Malay |
| Cocos (Keeling) Islands | Malay (Cocos dialect), English |
| Cook Islands | English (official), Maori |
| Costa Rica | Spanish (official), English |
| Cyprus | Greek, Turkish, English |
| Dhekelia | English, Greek |
| Dominica | English (official), French patois |
| Egypt | Arabic (official), English and French widely understood by educated classes |
| European Union | Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, Gaelic, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish, Swedish
note: only official languages are listed; German, the major language of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, is the most widely spoken mother tongue - over 19% of the EU population; English is the most widely spoken language - about 49% of the EU population is conversant with it (2007) |
| Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) | English |
| Fiji | English (official), Fijian (official), Hindustani |
| Gambia, The | English (official), Mandinka, Wolof, Fula, other indigenous vernaculars |
| Gaza Strip | Arabic, Hebrew (spoken by many Palestinians), English (widely understood) |
| Gibraltar | English (used in schools and for official purposes), Spanish, Italian, Portuguese |
| Greece | Greek 99% (official), other 1% (includes English and French) |
| Greenland | Greenlandic (East Inuit) (official), Danish, English |
| Grenada | English (official), French patois |
| Guam | English 38.3%, Chamorro 22.2%, Philippine languages 22.2%, other Pacific island languages 6.8%, Asian languages 7%, other languages 3.5% (2000 census) |
| Guernsey | English, French, Norman-French dialect spoken in country districts |
| Guyana | English, Amerindian dialects, Creole, Caribbean Hindustani (a dialect of Hindi), Urdu |
| Iceland | Icelandic, English, Nordic languages, German widely spoken |
| India | Hindi 41%, Bengali 8.1%, Telugu 7.2%, Marathi 7%, Tamil 5.9%, Urdu 5%, Gujarati 4.5%, Kannada 3.7%, Malayalam 3.2%, Oriya 3.2%, Punjabi 2.8%, Assamese 1.3%, Maithili 1.2%, other 5.9%
note: English enjoys associate status but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication; Hindi is the most widely spoken language and primary tongue of 41% of the people; there are 14 other official languages: Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit; Hindustani is a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India but is not an official language (2001 census) |
| Indonesia | Bahasa Indonesia (official, modified form of Malay), English, Dutch, local dialects (the most widely spoken of which is Javanese) |
| Ireland | English (official) is the language generally used, Irish (Gaelic or Gaeilge) (official) spoken mainly in areas along the western coast |
| Isle of Man | English, Manx Gaelic |
| Israel | Hebrew (official), Arabic used officially for Arab minority, English most commonly used foreign language |
| Jamaica | English, English patois |
| Jersey | English 94.5% (official), Portuguese 4.6%, other 0.9% (2001 census) |
| Jordan | Arabic (official), English widely understood among upper and middle classes |
| Kenya | English (official), Kiswahili (official), numerous indigenous languages |
| Kiribati | I-Kiribati, English (official) |
| Korea, South | Korean, English widely taught in junior high and high school |
| Kuwait | Arabic (official), English widely spoken |
| Laos | Lao (official), French, English, and various ethnic languages |
| Lebanon | Arabic (official), French, English, Armenian |
| Lesotho | Sesotho (southern Sotho), English (official), Zulu, Xhosa |
| Liberia | English 20% (official), some 20 ethnic group languages few of which can be written or used in correspondence |
| Libya | Arabic, Italian, English, all are widely understood in the major cities |
| Madagascar | English (official), French (official), Malagasy (official) |
| Malaysia | Bahasa Malaysia (official), English, Chinese (Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka, Hainan, Foochow), Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Panjabi, Thai
note: in East Malaysia there are several indigenous languages; most widely spoken are Iban and Kadazan |
| Maldives | Maldivian Dhivehi (dialect of Sinhala, script derived from Arabic), English spoken by most government officials |
| Malta | Maltese (official) 90.2%, English (official) 6%, multilingual 3%, other 0.8% (2005 census) |
| Marshall Islands | Marshallese (official) 98.2%, other languages 1.8% (1999 census)
note: English (official), widely spoken as a second language |
| Mauritius | Creole 80.5%, Bhojpuri 12.1%, French 3.4%, English (official; spoken by less than 1% of the population), other 3.7%, unspecified 0.3% (2000 census) |
| Micronesia, Federated States of | English (official and common language), Chuukese, Kosrean, Pohnpeian, Yapese, Ulithian, Woleaian, Nukuoro, Kapingamarangi |
| Monaco | French (official), English, Italian, Monegasque |
| Montserrat | English |
| Namibia | English 7% (official), Afrikaans common language of most of the population and about 60% of the white population, German 32%, indigenous languages 1% (includes Oshivambo, Herero, Nama) |
| Nauru | Nauruan (official; a distinct Pacific Island language), English widely understood, spoken, and used for most government and commercial purposes |
| Nepal | Nepali 47.8%, Maithali 12.1%, Bhojpuri 7.4%, Tharu (Dagaura/Rana) 5.8%, Tamang 5.1%, Newar 3.6%, Magar 3.3%, Awadhi 2.4%, other 10%, unspecified 2.5% (2001 census)
note: many in government and business also speak English (2001 est.) |
| Netherlands Antilles | Papiamento 65.4% (a Spanish-Portuguese-Dutch-English dialect), English 15.9% (widely spoken), Dutch 7.3% (official), Spanish 6.1%, Creole 1.6%, other 1.9%, unspecified 1.8% (2001 census) |
| New Zealand | English (official), Maori (official), Sign Language (official) |
| Nigeria | English (official), Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo (Ibo), Fulani |
| Niue | Niuean, a Polynesian language closely related to Tongan and Samoan; English |
| Norfolk Island | English (official), Norfolk - a mixture of 18th century English and ancient Tahitian |
| Northern Mariana Islands | Philippine languages 24.4%, Chinese 23.4%, Chamorro 22.4%, English 10.8%, other Pacific island languages 9.5%, other 9.6% (2000 census) |
| Oman | Arabic (official), English, Baluchi, Urdu, Indian dialects |
| Palau | Palauan 64.7% official in all islands except Sonsoral (Sonsoralese and English are official), Tobi (Tobi and English are official), and Angaur (Angaur, Japanese, and English are official), Filipino 13.5%, English 9.4%, Chinese 5.7%, Carolinian 1.5%, Japanese 1.5%, other Asian 2.3%, other languages 1.5% (2000 census) |
| Panama | Spanish (official), English 14%; note - many Panamanians bilingual |
| Papua New Guinea | Tok Pisin, English, and Hiri Motu are official languages; some 860 indigenous languages spoken (over one-tenth of the world's total)
note: Tok Pisin, a creole language, is widely used and understood; English is spoken by 1%-2%; Hiri Motu is spoken by less than 2% |
| Philippines | Filipino (official; based on Tagalog) and English (official); eight major dialects - Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocano, Hiligaynon or Ilonggo, Bicol, Waray, Pampango, and Pangasinan |
| Pitcairn Islands | English (official), Pitkern (mixture of an 18th century English dialect and a Tahitian dialect) |
| Puerto Rico | Spanish, English |
| Qatar | Arabic (official), English commonly used as a second language |
| Rwanda | Kinyarwanda (official) universal Bantu vernacular, French (official), English (official), Kiswahili (Swahili) used in commercial centers |
| Saint Barthelemy | French (primary), English |
| Saint Helena | English |
| Saint Kitts and Nevis | English |
| Saint Lucia | English (official), French patois |
| Saint Martin | French (official language), English, Dutch, French Patois, Spanish, Papiamento (dialect of Netherlands Antilles) |
| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | English, French patois |
| Samoa | Samoan (Polynesian), English |
| Seychelles | Creole 91.8%, English 4.9% (official), other 3.1%, unspecified 0.2% (2002 census) |
| Sierra Leone | English (official, regular use limited to literate minority), Mende (principal vernacular in the south), Temne (principal vernacular in the north), Krio (English-based Creole, spoken by the descendants of freed Jamaican slaves who were settled in the Freetown area, a lingua franca and a first language for 10% of the population but understood by 95%) |
| Singapore | Mandarin 35%, English 23%, Malay 14.1%, Hokkien 11.4%, Cantonese 5.7%, Teochew 4.9%, Tamil 3.2%, other Chinese dialects 1.8%, other 0.9% (2000 census) |
| Slovenia | Slovenian 91.1%, Serbo-Croatian 4.5%, other or unspecified 4.4% (2002 census) |
| Solomon Islands | Melanesian pidgin in much of the country is lingua franca; English (official but spoken by only 1%-2% of the population); 120 indigenous languages |
| Somalia | Somali (official), Arabic, Italian, English |
| South Africa | IsiZulu 23.8%, IsiXhosa 17.6%, Afrikaans 13.3%, Sepedi 9.4%, English 8.2%, Setswana 8.2%, Sesotho 7.9%, Xitsonga 4.4%, other 7.2% (2001 census) |
| Sri Lanka | Sinhala (official and national language) 74%, Tamil (national language) 18%, other 8%
note: English is commonly used in government and is spoken competently by about 10% of the population |
| Sudan | Arabic (official), English (official), Nubian, Ta Bedawie, diverse dialects of Nilotic, Nilo-Hamitic, Sudanic languages
note: program of "Arabization" in process |
| Suriname | Dutch (official), English (widely spoken), Sranang Tongo (Surinamese, sometimes called Taki-Taki, is native language of Creoles and much of the younger population and is lingua franca among others), Caribbean Hindustani (a dialect of Hindi), Javanese |
| Swaziland | English (official, government business conducted in English), siSwati (official) |
| Switzerland | German (official) 63.7%, French (official) 20.4%, Italian (official) 6.5%, Serbo-Croatian 1.5%, Albanian 1.3%, Portuguese 1.2%, Spanish 1.1%, English 1%, Romansch (official) 0.5%, other 2.8% (2000 census)
note: German, French, Italian, and Romansch are all national and official languages |
| Syria | Arabic (official); Kurdish, Armenian, Aramaic, Circassian widely understood; French, English somewhat understood |
| Tanzania | Kiswahili or Swahili (official), Kiunguja (name for Swahili in Zanzibar), English (official, primary language of commerce, administration, and higher education), Arabic (widely spoken in Zanzibar), many local languages
note: Kiswahili (Swahili) is the mother tongue of the Bantu people living in Zanzibar and nearby coastal Tanzania; although Kiswahili is Bantu in structure and origin, its vocabulary draws on a variety of sources including Arabic and English; it has become the lingua franca of central and eastern Africa; the first language of most people is one of the local languages |
| Thailand | Thai, English (secondary language of the elite), ethnic and regional dialects |
| Timor-Leste | Tetum (official), Portuguese (official), Indonesian, English
note: there are about 16 indigenous languages; Tetum, Galole, Mambae, and Kemak are spoken by significant numbers of people |
| Tokelau | Tokelauan (a Polynesian language), English |
| Tonga | Tongan, English |
| Trinidad and Tobago | English (official), Caribbean Hindustani (a dialect of Hindi), French, Spanish, Chinese |
| Turks and Caicos Islands | English (official) |
| Tuvalu | Tuvaluan, English, Samoan, Kiribati (on the island of Nui) |
| Uganda | English (official national language, taught in grade schools, used in courts of law and by most newspapers and some radio broadcasts), Ganda or Luganda (most widely used of the Niger-Congo languages, preferred for native language publications in the capital and may be taught in school), other Niger-Congo languages, Nilo-Saharan languages, Swahili, Arabic |
| United Arab Emirates | Arabic (official), Persian, English, Hindi, Urdu |
| United Kingdom | English, Welsh (about 26% of the population of Wales), Scottish form of Gaelic (about 60,000 in Scotland) |
| United States | English 82.1%, Spanish 10.7%, other Indo-European 3.8%, Asian and Pacific island 2.7%, other 0.7% (2000 census)
note: Hawaiian is an official language in the state of Hawaii |
| Vanuatu | local languages (more than 100) 72.6%, pidgin (known as Bislama or Bichelama) 23.1%, English 1.9%, French 1.4%, other 0.3%, unspecified 0.7% (1999 Census) |
| Vietnam | Vietnamese (official), English (increasingly favored as a second language), some French, Chinese, and Khmer; mountain area languages (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian) |
| Virgin Islands | English 74.7%, Spanish or Spanish Creole 16.8%, French or French Creole 6.6%, other 1.9% (2000 census) |
| West Bank | Arabic, Hebrew (spoken by Israeli settlers and many Palestinians), English (widely understood) |
| World | Mandarin Chinese 13.22%, Spanish 4.88%, English 4.68%, Arabic 3.12%, Hindi 2.74%, Portuguese 2.69%, Bengali 2.59%, Russian 2.2%, Japanese 1.85%, Standard German 1.44%, French 1.2% (2005 est.)
note: percents are for "first language" speakers only |
| Zambia | English (official), major vernaculars - Bemba, Kaonda, Lozi, Lunda, Luvale, Nyanja, Tonga, and about 70 other indigenous languages |
| Zimbabwe | English (official), Shona, Sindebele (the language of the Ndebele, sometimes called Ndebele), numerous but minor tribal dialects |
Source: CIA – The World Factbook