Global English Prevalence

Discussions challenge assumptions about universal English proficiency, emphasizing that it is not native for most people worldwide, especially in Europe and non-Western regions, while acknowledging its role as a lingua franca.

➡️ Stable 0.6x Politics & Society
4,992
Comments
20
Years Active
5
Top Authors
#1311
Topic ID

Activity Over Time

2007
3
2008
24
2009
67
2010
112
2011
123
2012
145
2013
171
2014
158
2015
206
2016
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2017
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2018
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2019
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2020
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2021
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2022
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2023
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2024
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2025
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2026
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Keywords

US GP WW2 PG medium.com UK USA theguardian.com EU wikipedia.org english language speak english second language speak spanish native language countries speaking native

Sample Comments

English is not everyone's native language.

huimang Jan 30, 2023 View on HN

Not everyone speaks English as their native language.

adrianN Aug 19, 2019 View on HN

More than with the current defacto lingua franca, English?

mbid Dec 19, 2017 View on HN

You realize there are parts of the world where English is not the main language?

uitgewis Dec 2, 2016 View on HN

You seem to be making the assumption that English is as popular and widely used as C. I would like to remind you that it is only the case in western parts of the world, which is by far, not the majority.

thefz Dec 11, 2023 View on HN

It's easier for an European to already know English, rather than the opposite.

walterstucco Jul 31, 2016 View on HN

isn't it normal? most of the world does not speak english as first language, especially in Europe, where each country, even the smallest, use its own language.

bigfoot Feb 3, 2012 View on HN

You're being overly pessimistic on the percentage of Europeans speaking English (though not necessarily as their native language). This language has worked as a common means to communicate for a long time and definitely won't leave this web site end up being "UK/US centric".

jhamburger Feb 22, 2011 View on HN

One that came to mind is certain languages being more popular in english vs. non-english speaking countries.

AA-BA-94-2A-56 Aug 13, 2022 View on HN

Even people from non-English speaking countries can speak English.