English speaking

English
Pronunciation	/ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ/
Region	Originally England now worldwide (see Geographical distribution, below)
Native speakers	360–400 million (2006) L2 speakers: 400 million; as a foreign language: 600–700 million
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic Anglo-Frisian Anglic English
Early forms	Old English Middle English Early Modern English
Writing system	Latin script (English alphabet) English Braille, Unified English Braille
Signed forms	Manually coded English (multiple systems)
Official status
Official language in	67 countries 27 non-sovereign entities Various organisations United Nations European Union Commonwealth of Nations Council of Europe ICC IOC ISO NATO WTO NAFTA OAS OECD OIC OPEC GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development* PIF UKUSA Agreement ASEAN ASEAN Economic Community SAARC Turkic Council ECO
Language codes
ISO 639-1	en
ISO 639-2
ISO 639-3
Glottolog	stan1293
Linguasphere	52-ABA
Countries of the world where English is a majority native language   Countries where English is official but not a majority native language
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English ⁱ/ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ/ is a West Germanic language that was first spoken in early medieval England and is now the global lingua franca. Named after the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes that migrated to England, it ultimately derives its name from the Anglia (Angeln) peninsula in the Baltic Sea. It is most closely related to the Frisian languages, although its vocabulary has been significantly influenced by other Germanic languages in the early medieval period, and later by Romance languages, particularly French. English is either the official language or one of the official languages in almost 60 sovereign states. 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 learned second language and an official language of the United Nations, of the European Union, and of many other world and regional international organisations. It is the most widely spoken Germanic language, accounting for at least 70% of speakers of this Indo-European branch.