where english is spoken in the world?
Canada Australia South Africa Zambia United Kingdom Zimbabwe Uganda New Zealand Turks and Caicos Islands Tanzania
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 Decades , and in some cases centuries , of British rule and emigration have left their mark on the independent nations that arose from the British Empire . The empire established the use of English in regions around the world . Today it is the primary language of up to 400 million people and is spoken by about one and a half billion as a first , second or foreign language . 

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 Although some scholars mention a possibility of future divergence of English dialects into mutually unintelligible languages , most think a more likely outcome is that English will continue to function as a koineised language in which the standard form unifies speakers from around the world . English is used as the language for wider communication in countries around the world . Thus English has grown in worldwide use much more than any constructed language proposed as an international auxiliary language , including Esperanto . 

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 Countries with large communities of native speakers of English ( the inner circle ) include Britain , the United States , Australia , Canada , Ireland , and New Zealand , where the majority speaks English , and South Africa , where a significant minority speaks English . The countries with the most native English speakers are , in descending order , the United States ( at least 231 million ) , the United Kingdom ( 60 million ) , Canada ( 19 million ) , Australia ( at least 17 million ) , South Africa ( 4 @.@ 8 million ) , Ireland ( 4 @.@ 2 million ) , and New Zealand ( 3 @.@ 7 million ) . In these countries , children of native speakers learn English from their parents , and local people who speak other languages or new immigrants learn English to communicate in their neighbourhoods and workplaces . The inner @-@ circle countries provide the base from which English spreads to other countries in the world . 

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 As of 2010 , 359 million people spoke English as their first language . English is probably the third largest language by number of native speakers , after Mandarin and Spanish . However , when combining native and non @-@ native speakers it is probably the most commonly spoken language in the world . English is spoken by communities on every continent and on oceanic islands in all the major oceans . The countries in which English is spoken can be grouped into different categories by how English is used in each country . The " inner circle " countries with many native speakers of English share an international standard of written English and jointly influence speech norms of English around the world . English does not belong to just one country , and it does not belong solely to descendants of English settlers . English is an official language of countries populated by few descendants of native speakers of English . It has also become by far the most important language of international communication when people who share no native language meet anywhere in the world . 

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 English language learning and teaching is an important economic activity , and includes language schooling , tourism spending , and publishing . There is no legislation mandating an official language for England , but English is the only language used for official business . Despite the country 's relatively small size , there are many distinct regional accents , and individuals with particularly strong accents may not be easily understood everywhere in the country . 
