Wednesday, January 08, 2003

ENGLISH, who speaks it?

(There is great potential for spreading Christianity through good books and CD's in English when one recognizes the size of the English speaking population in the world.)

In the world there are 193 independent nations and of these 56 use English as their official language.

English is the sole official language of 30 nations - Antigua & Barbuda; Australia; Bahamas; Barbados; Belize; Dominica; Fiji; The Gambia; Ghana; Grenada; Guyana; Jamaica; Kiribati; Liberia; Mauritius; Micronesia; Namibia; Nigeria; Papua New Guinea; St Kitts & Nevis; St Lucia; St Vincent & the Grenadines; Sierra Leone; Solomon Islands; Trinidad & Tobago; Uganda; United Kingdom; United States of America; Zambia; Zimbabwe.

English is one official language alongside one or more other languages in 26 nations - Botswana; Cameroon; Canada; Cyprus; India; Ireland; Kenya; Lesotho; Malawi; Malta; Marshall Islands; New Zealand; Pakistan; Palau; Philippines; Seychelles; Singapore; South Africa; Sri Lanka; Surinam; Swaziland; Tanzania; Tonga; Tuvalu; Vanuatu; Western Samoa.

Of course, some countries that have English as an official language may have many citizens who do not speak English, as in India, for example. On the other hand many countries where English is not an official language have many English speakers, as in the Netherlands, Scandinavia and Malaysia. The number of people speaking English as the mother tongue or as a first language is about 330 million. Many more are able to understand it for conversational purposes.

The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon

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