There are an estimated 1 billion people learning English in the world and about 400 million native English speakers, with a further 1 billion claiming to be able to speak English as a Second Language. Therefore, this makes English the most spoken language on earth. If this fact along isn't enough for somebody to learn English, here are some more reasons why learning English can help people all over the world.
To begin with, the majority of websites, academic journals and most of the world's combined intellectual information is recorded in English. If you are able to understand English, you have access to a lot more information.
Not only do you have access to a lot of information that might not be available to you if you didn't understand English, you can also further your career by understanding what is fast becoming the world's de facto language. If you want to work in a large multinational company or even work abroad, you will need to understand English just to be in with a chance of securing a job. The majority of multinational companies require that their employees can understand English.
Learning English will help if you want to travel and learn about other cultures. You'll find that English is the official language in a number of countries, and even where it isn't, you'll always find somebody that can speak English. Travelling can help you develop your knowledge about foreign cultures and learn to be more tolerant of the world. If you can speak English, it makes travelling a whole lot easier!
If you're interested in science, or you want to be a scientist, then English is very important for your career development. About 95% of the world's articles in the Science Citation Index were written in English, but not all of these came from native English speaking countries. In fact, only about half of these did, meaning that the other half were written by people whose first language isn't English.
Furthermore, you can keep up to date with the news anywhere in the world. Only English speaking News stations and newspapers are published in virtually every country in the whole world. It's important to stay abreast of current affairs for a number of reasons. For example, you will know what's going on in the world, knowing what's happening can improve your knowledge and conversational skills.
Finally, you have access to some of the world's most famous entertainment. A huge number of popular singers, authors, TV and movie producers all create their work in English. Having the ability to understand all of this entertainment can also help you, it might give you inspiration to write your own book, learn how to play music, or even pick up a video camera and start making your first movie!
As you can see, there are many reasons that learning the English language is important for your growth as a person. English is fast becoming the 'lingua franca' around the world and more and more people are learning to speak English than ever before. By not being able to understand English, you are missing out on some great knowledge, job opportunities and communications opportunities with other people. By being able to speak English, you help your self development by giving yourself every opportunity to better yourself in your job, personal life and more.
William Lake is a Lecturer of English. He has been teaching both English as a Second Language and English as a Foreign Language for a number of years. Currently, he enjoys blogging about ESL and you can read his latest ESL blog post right here.