Which countries speak English?

Countries and regions where English is the first language are Australia, Bahamas, Ireland, Barbados, Bermuda, Guyana, Jamaica, New Zealand, St. Christopher and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago, Britain and the United States.

Countries and regions where English is listed as the main language are Brazil, Canada, Dominica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Grenada, Micronesia (Federated States of), Ireland, Liberia, Singapore, Malaysia and South Africa.

Countries and regions that list English as one of the official languages are Fiji, Ghana, Gambia, Hong Kong, India, Kiribati, Lesotho, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Malta, Marshall Islands, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

English belongs to the West Germanic branch of the Germanic family of Indo-European languages, which evolved from the languages spoken by the Germanic tribes of Anglo-Saxon and Jute tribes who immigrated to the island of Great Britain in ancient times, and spread to all parts of the world through active British colonization.

According to the number of native speakers, English is the official language of the most used countries, the most widely used second language in the world, and one of the official languages of the European Union, most international organizations and Commonwealth countries. But it has only the third mother tongue in the world, less than Chinese, Mandarin and Spanish. The leading position of Britain and America in culture, economy, military, politics and science in the last two centuries has made English an international language.

Nowadays, English is used as a medium of communication in many international situations. English is also the language most closely related to computers. Most programming languages are related to English. With the use of the Internet, English is more widely used. English is one of the working languages of the United Nations.