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English was once spoken only by people in a part of Britain. But during the twentieth century, it became a world language—a language used by speakers of many different languages to communicate with each other. 

Although it is called a “world language”, more than five billion people—most of the people on the earth—do not speak English as either their first or second language. However, hundreds of millions of people use it, and hundreds of millions are learning it. 

Because so many people learn and use English, it may be hard to imagine that one day English may not be the world's leading language. Remember that there were other important languages in the past which lost their importance or even disappeared. In Europe, Latin was used as a common language for many centuries before people stopped using it. French was once a language known by all welleducated people, and was more popular than English. But since the nineteenth century, English has become more popular than French. 

Today, many people who want to learn a new language are learning Chinese, Spanish or Arabic. It may be that, one day, instead of English, another language will be used across the world.