General English. Ульянова О.В - 57 стр.

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57
ENGLISH AROUND THE WORLD
Imagine a meeting between two people from different parts of the
world - Russia and Mexico, let's say, or Japan and Brazil - when neither
speaks the other's native language. How do they communicate?
Nowadays, they would almost certainly use English.
Unofficially, English is becoming the international language of
travel and tourism, technology and computers, business, medicine and so
on.
Officially, it is the international language of air traffic control* and
shipping. Also, in countries with several tribal or ethnic groups speaking
different languages, they often choose English as the official language of
government, as in Nigeria, India and Papua New Guinea.
Geographically, English is the most widespread language on earth.
It is being widely spoken on six continents, and is the official language, or
one of the official languages, in 55 countries.
400-500 million people speak it as their native language (second
only to Mandarin Chinese, which has about 700 million native speakers).
In addition, roughly the same number speak English as their second
language, or use it in their daily lives for business, study and so on.
In other words, one in every 6-7 people on our planet regularly uses
some sort of English - and the percentage is growing all the time.
Even in the countries where English is not the first language, a
number of English words are used. Words from no other language are
borrowed more often than from English. Hundreds of words borrowed
from English can now be found in other languages such as soda, hotel,
golf, tennis, jeans, O.K., baseball, and airport. Many words are used just
as they are. Others are changed to make them more like the native
language, easier to say and remember.
English is everywhere. It is on signs, clothing, soft drinks and other
goods around the world. In spite of the popularity of the English words
and phrases, they are not always welcome. Some people think that the use
of English words is dangerous for the purity of their native language.
Some countries are trying to eliminate English as their official language
in order to save their native tongue.
Languages are changing and disappearing throughout the history.
This change is inevitable. But because people have very strong feelings
about the importance of their native language, we probably will not have
English as a universal language in the near future. It is certain, however,
that English words will continue to pop up everywhere, whether some
people like it or not. It is also certain that English is becoming the

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