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English language
English is one of the most commonly spoken in the world. It is impossible to tell exactly how many people speak English, but it is believed that at least 500 million speak it as their main language, and a billion more know how to speak it. It is a West Germanic language that arised among Anglo-Saxon immigrant communities to Britain during the Migrations period. The language went through a creolization process through contact with Old Norse, and later incorperated much Norman French due to the take-over of England by William the Conqueror in 1066. The language also has many Latinate roots, due to a propensity for borrowing from Latin for the construction of new words rather than deriving them from native Germanic roots. Because Britain colonized many places such as parts of North America and the whole of Australia, and enforced their rule on native peoples in Africa and India, among others, English was spread very far. Though not every country that was part of this British Empire adopted English, the two largest areas that where colonized by English speaking British peoples, the United States and Australia, now have a majority of English speakers and it is the official language in those countries.
Many hope that eventually everyone in the world will learn to speak English which will result in better understanding among the people of the world. Others, however, believe that the dominance of English is oppressing peoples who wish to maintain their own languages and is a form of eurocentrism.
