You may well be thinking 'What a silly question, the answer is obvious!' But like most obvious questions we would probably be surprised by how meagre and inadequate our response would actually be if put to the test. I challenge you now to spend a couple of minutes framing an answer as if it had been posed by a curious and challenging young student of English. By Geoff Mills

Done it? How did you do? I bet few of you were able to adorn your reply with the facts and figures that really make an argument stand up in court. In this article I attempt to give an amplified response to the question by turning some of the more sweeping generalities into specifics. A few of the details may even surprise you. Unsurprisingly most of the points here are concerned with the sheer prevalence of the language. 

1. English is widely accepted to be the universal lingua franca, the common language of the international community. Though it is not the language spoken by the highest number of native speakers, English is the most widespread language in the world – its status as a primary language stretching from Australasia, through to parts of Africa, Europe, Canada as well as of course the United States. According to one estimate, 380 million speak English as their first language, 4 million speak it as a second language (i.e. on a day to day basis) and 750 million speak it as a foreign language (i.e. for pleasure or business). It is further estimated that a record 2 billion people will be learning English within the next 10 – 15 years. English is the official language of about 45 nations and it is claimed that between 20 to 25 per cent of the world's population speak English to some level of competence.
2. The number of people who can speak the language is perhaps not so important as how it is used. It is the most commonly used medium for the communication of information and news, in fact 80 per cent of computer data is processed and stored in English. More than half the newspapers published in the world are in English.
3. English is by far the most dominant language of international business, diplomacy, science and the professions. This is reflected in its status as an official language of numerous international organizations – including the United Nations, the European Union and the International Olympic Committee, as well as the medium for aerial and maritime communications. Written in English are: 80 per cent of international business communications; three quarters of the world's mail and 95 percent of articles published in the leading scientific journals.
4. English is disseminated via popular culture all over the world, including American and English pop music, literature and video games. But perhaps the most prolific and influential disseminator of the language is the Internet, a meeting ground for millions by virtue of its democratic nature, immediacy, cost efficiency and limitless space capabilities. Here, arguably, is the cutting edge of the English language, where you and I could coin a word or phrase and have it sent across the world within minutes. It may not enter common currency, but according to Paul Payack, thousands of new words do each month. Where traditional lexicographers like to think that they can to some extent contain and control the expansion of the language, and only acknowledge the existence of around 300, 000 English words, Paul Payack, who runs the Global Language Monitor, has claimed to have identified close to a million. Where did he find these additional few hundred thousand words? On the Internet of course, indicating it is a fertile breeding ground for new, variant or specialist uses of the English Language. And to be part of the Internet revolution you are better off speaking English, for calculations suggest that this language makes up 80 per cent of online content.
   
5. English is used to powerful political and diplomatic effect. It is used by governments across the world, often because it is neutral and serves as a bridging point between conflicting tribes or language communities. Governments that use English include India, Singapore and no less than sixteen African countries.

Its origins as an international language are of course rooted in the British Empire, but since its decline we can look to the USA and its massive media, military, economic and technological influence for its continued prevalence. We should think of this language not as a rigid, immoveable object but as a living, breathing organism that shifts its shape and form to suit an ever-changing environment. It is a highly adaptable but surprisingly compliant creature that is controlled not solely by the indigenous speaker but also by those who speak it as a foreign language. Some estimates suggest that non-native speakers outnumber the native speaker 3 to 1, so it might be argued that the future of the English Language lies predominantly in the hands of those who consider themselves to be its humble and passive customer. But English is forever responding to the demands of its consumer, absorbing elements of disparate cultures, morphing and expanding into a giant, hybridised monster that feeds on the languages of many nations. In short, English is the language not of the English but of us all.

Geoff Mills has taught English to both native and foreign speakers in a range of contexts, including secondary schools, summer camps, FE colleges, asylum centres, as well as at Abbey International College. He has also published reviews, articles and short fiction