a lingua inglesa no mundo

A LÍNGUA INGLESA NO MUNDO - ENGLISH AROUND THE WORLD
* Após o texto em inglês, confira abaixo a versão em português.
Useful terms for types of languages:
- Native - the language you learned at home with your family when you were small.
- Official - the language that is used in official documents, spoken on the radio and on television.
- Second language - language you learn because you have to live in the country where the language is spoken.
- Foreign language - languages spoken abroad, a language you can choose to study at school.

Some facts about the Language
Non native-speakers of the language now outnumber native speakers 3 to 1. English is spoken as first language by more than 370 million people throughout the world, and is used as a second language by as many, if not more. One in five of the world's population speaks English with some degree of competence. It is an official or semi-official language in over 70 countries, and it plays a significant role in many more. English is not just one standard language, but can be thought of as a "family", which includes many different varieties. The map below shows where English and its varieties are spoken nowadays:

countries with significant concentrations of native speakers of English (in all of these countries English is an official or de facto language of administration)

other countries in which English is an official or important administrative language
Source: Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page) Within a decade, 2 billion people will be studying English and about half the world — about 3 million people — will speak it. Non-native speakers of the language now outnumber native speakers 3 to 1, according to English language expert David Crystal. He recognizes that there is never before been a language that's been spoken by more people as a second language than a first. In Asia alone, the number of English-users has topped 350 million