作为国际通用语的英语（English as an international lingua franca）.doc

作为国际通用语的英语（English as an international lingua franca） English as an international lingua franca English is becoming the worlds first truly universal language. It is the mother tongue of about 400 million people in 12 countries. That is far fewer than the 800 million Chinese who speak mandarin. However, another 400 million people use English as a second language. And there are hundreds of millions of people who know a little English, because English has official or semi-official language in about sixty countries. Although there may be as many people as English speakers, there is no doubt that English is more widespread. Today, there are about a billion English speakers around the world. By 2000, that number is likely to exceed 1.5 billion. English is the most widely spoken language, but English is not a substitute for other languages, but it supplements them. · more than 250 million Chinese - more than the U.S. population - is learning English; · in eighty-nine countries, English is the second language commonly used; Or being widely studied; · in France, all national secondary schools require students to study English or German for four years, and most -- at least 85 percent -- choose English. · in Japan, high school students must study English for six years before graduation. Delta media and transport English is popular in transportation and media. The travel and exchange language in international airwaves is English. At all international airports, pilots and air traffic crews speak English. Sea traffic usually USES flag and light signals, but if ships need to communicate with each other, they will seek a common language, probably English. Five of the worlds biggest broadcaster - CBS, NBC, ABC, BBC, and CBC jujube through English up to broadcast audience of around three hundred million, the language of English or satellite television. Delta information age The language of the information age is English. Most computers talk in English. There are more than 100 million