The English language is commonly spoken.
English [ ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ ] is a West Germanic language that was first spoken in early medieval England and is now the global lingua franca . It is the most commonly spoken language in the United Kingdom , the United States , Canada , Australia , Ireland , and New Zealand , and is widely spoken in some areas of the Caribbean , Africa , and South Asia . It is the third most common native language in the world , after Mandarin and Spanish . It is the most widely spoken Germanic language , accounting for at least 70 % of speakers of this Indo-European branch .