It is well-known that English is no longer the most-spoken language in the world, beat out only by Mandarin Chinese. English, though, continues to be relevant in the global market.
TalktoCanada is reporting that English continues to be the number one language for international business and succeeding abroad. TalktoCanada was established in 2006 to provide English training courses online. The company has trained students from over 80 countries, including Fortune 500 companies such as Ernst & Young, Novartis and Fidelity Investments.
According to a study by Language Monthly, there are 115 countries that use English as a main language. This number far outperforms French, which ranks second with 35 countries.
The combined population of countries using the English language is nearly 5 billion.
“Companies entering the international business world discover quickly that competition is intense and challenging if your staff do not master English. Whether you are selling to customers abroad, entering a joint venture, or managing foreign staff, it is critical that your staff undergoes some form of English training to succeed,” says Marc Anderson, Managing Director of TalktoCanada.com.
Even China, with its population of 1.1 billion, is embracing English as a necessity to compete internationally. According to Premier Wen Jiabao, more than 300 million Chinese are presently studying English.
There are currently 326 million English-speaking users on the Internet (28.9%), and 166 million Chinese (14.7%). With the evolution of social media and crowd-driven content, the English language is estimated to continue to grow.
