No one person or country owns the English language; it's a global phenomenon belonging to its over 1.75 billion users, with no single authority dictating its use, though traditional centers like the UK and US remain influential, World Englishes (varieties from India, Nigeria, etc.) are growing, and Klingon/Tolkien's invented languages have copyright. The concept of ownership is debated, with some seeing it as collective (liberal view) and others as tied to powerful social actors or traditional native speakers, but the reality is a diverse, evolving language shaped by its non-native speakers.
English originated in England and is the dominant language of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and various island nations in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
In the paper that follows, still one of the most widely and frequently quoted papers in the eld, Henry Widdowson argues in the strongest terms that native speakers of English no longer 'own' English or have the right to determine how it is, or should be, spoken around the world.
English is a pluricentric language, which means that no one national authority sets the standard for use of the language. Spoken English, including English used in broadcasting, generally follows national pronunciation standards that are established by custom rather than by regulation.
A language all of our own
Australian English is a legitimate, formally recognised variety of World English, with its own vocabulary, grammatical rules and pronunciation that distinguish it from the original British version.
No, Australia is not 90% white; while a large majority identify with European ancestry (around 76-80% in recent years), a significant and growing portion identifies as Asian, African, Middle Eastern, or Indigenous, making it a highly multicultural nation with diverse ethnic backgrounds, not overwhelmingly white. Recent census data shows European ancestry (English, Irish, etc.) makes up a large chunk, but Asian ancestries are also substantial, with over 17% Asian population and around 3.8% identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, per the 2021 census data from Wikipedia.
"Oy oy oy" in Australia is most famously part of the patriotic chant "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi!" used at sporting events to show national pride, but "Oi" also functions as a general Australian informal interjection, like "hey" or "excuse me," to get someone's attention. The chant itself comes from the British "Oggy Oggy Oggy" cheer for Cornish pasties and became popular in Australia after the 2000 Olympics.
Does English Have a Language Regulator? English is a major language spoken by hundreds of millions of native and non-native speakers around the world. Yet, the English language does not have an official regulatory body to control it. For that reason, English could be a described as a language of controlled anarchy.
Executive Order 14224, titled Designating English as the Official Language of the United States, is an executive order signed by Donald Trump on March 1, 2025, declaring English the official language of the United States. The order does not include specific rights and is largely symbolic.
English is a West Germanic language that originated from Ingvaeonic languages brought to Britain in the mid-5th to 7th centuries AD by Anglo-Saxon migrants from what is now northwest Germany, southern Denmark and the Netherlands.
In AD 43 the Roman conquest of Britain began; the Romans maintained control of their province of Britannia until the early 5th century. The end of Roman rule in Britain facilitated the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, which historians often regard as the origin of England and of the English people.
There's no single "hardest" language, but Mandarin Chinese is consistently ranked #1 for English speakers due to its tonal nature (four tones change word meanings) and complex logographic writing system requiring thousands of characters. Other top contenders often cited include Arabic (right-to-left script, complex sounds, grammar) and Japanese (multiple writing systems like Kanji, Hiragana, Katakana, plus honorifics). The difficulty depends heavily on your native language, with languages like Tibetan, Estonian, and Polish also challenging learners with unique grammar or cases.
English is a hodge-podge language that pulls from many others, so you'll find cognates (words that sound and look similar in two languages) in both. German wins with the number of similarities, though—it shares over half of its words with English!
1. Chinese — 1.3 Billion Native Speakers. Numbers vary widely — Ethnologue puts the number of native speakers at 1.3 billion native speakers, roughly 900 million of whom speak Mandarin — but there's no doubt it's the most spoken language in the world.
Very roughly speaking, Modern English's provenance is predominantly Latin (around 29% of modern English words have a Latin origin), French (around 29%), and Germanic (around 26%), but around 5 to 10% of English words come from beyond those three main roots.
They estimated that the ancestry of the present-day English ranges between 25% and 47% Continental North European (similar to historical northern Germans and Danish), 11% to 57% similar to the British Late Iron Age, and 14% to 43% IA-like (similar to France, Belgium and neighbouring parts of Germany).
Van Buren, who died in 1862, was born on Dec. 5 1782. He grew up speaking Dutch, which made him the first president who did not speak English as his first language.
English. More than 75% of Americans speak only English, making it the most widely spoken language in the country. While there is no official U.S. language, more than half of all U.S. states have designated English as their official language.
Whereas British dictionary compilers opted merely to record established usage (which tended to favour French-looking words, hence the superfluous 'u'), early American dictionary compilers, notably Noah Webster, felt that simplifying the spelling - such as 'color' or 'meter' - would aid literacy and create a distinct ...
The history of the English language really started with the arrival of three Germanic tribes who invaded Britain during the 5th century AD. These tribes, the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes, crossed the North Sea from what today is Denmark and northern Germany.
The English language has never had a formal regulator in any country.
Another classic case of Australians shortening everything. Meaning 'thank you', ta is usually used for the times when you are in a rush or want to send a quick text to show your appreciation for something.
Common Australian slang for a girl includes "Sheila" (older, sometimes dated or slightly derogatory), "chick," or just using general terms like "mate," "gal," or "lass," with context and tone being important, but "girl" is still widely used; some slang, like "moll," can refer to a girlfriend or a promiscuous woman, while "bogan" describes an unsophisticated person.
The most Australian thing to say often involves casual abbreviations, laid-back optimism like "She'll be right" or "No worries," and unique slang for everyday items, such as "Arvo" (afternoon) or "Barbie" (barbecue), often delivered with "mate," making phrases like "G'day, mate, chuck us a coldie at the barbie this arvo?" quintessentially Aussie.