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English is spoken by hundreds of millions of people worldwide, but do the development of translation technology and “hybrid” languages threaten its status?
Which country boasts the most English speakers, or people learning to speak English?
The answer is China.
According to a study published by Cambridge University Press, up to 350 million people there have at least some knowledge of English – and at least another 100 million in India.
There are probably more people in China who speak English as a second language than there are Americans who speak it as their first. (A fifth of Americans speak a language other than English in their own homes.)
But for how much longer will English qualify as the “world’s favourite language”? The World Economic Forum estimates about 1.5 billion people around the world speak it – but fewer than 400 million have it as their first language.
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Of course, […]
