Where in the World Do People Speak English?

“Where in the World do People Speak English?” (Alexandra Ambrose) Leave a reply .comments-link .entry-header  “Where in the World do People Speak English?” by Alexandra Ambrose English is one of the most prevalent languages in the world. The top 5 countries with the highest population of English-speakers are the U.S., the U.K. (or England), Canada, Australia, and Ireland. 215,423,557 people speak English in the U.S. alone. Here is a list of countries in which English is the official language: Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas Barbados Belize Botswana Cameroon Canada Dominica Eritrea Federated States of Micronesia Fiji Gambia Ghana Grenada Guyana India Ireland Jamaica Kenya Kiribati Lesotho Liberia Malawi Malta Marshall Islands Mauritius Namibia Nauru New Zealand Nigeria Pakistan Palau Papua New Guinea Philippines Rwanda Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Solomon Islands Somaliland South Africa South Sudan Sudan Swaziland Tanzania Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tuvalu Uganda Vanuatu Zambia An official language is the one used by the government. Interestingly enough, the U.K., Australia, and the United States are not included on this list. In these countries English is the de facto language or the one that is most commonly used, but isn’t necessarily recognized legally. India is another country that could be included in this list, considering English is the primary language used in Indian schools; however, like the U.K., Australia, and the U.S., English is not considered the official language. This map shows a geographic representation of where English is spoken (the countries in green primarily use English): Even though people speak English in many countries, the language sounds different according to the dialect used. Dialects are accents and grammatical rules that vary according to location. They can make two people speaking the same language sound like they are speaking completely different languages. Next week I will talk about dialects in the U.S.! Sources: wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_where_English_is_an_official_language (list of countries and map) my.sou.edu/cp/render.UserLayoutRootNode.uP?uP_tparam=utf&utf=http%3A%2F%2Fhanlib.sou.edu%2Freference%2Freference_resources.html (NationMaster.com)