English is the official language of the UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand, as well as one of the two official languages ​​of Canada, Ireland and Malta. It is used as an official in some countries of Asia (India, Pakistan and others) and Africa.

English language belongs to the Germanic languages ​​of Indo-European family of languages. The number of English native speakers is about 335 million (2003). It is the third most spoken language in the world after Chinese and Spanish. Speakers of English as a second language are about 1 billion people (2007). English is one of the six official working languages ​​of the UN.

English grammar is dominated by the analytic pattern with little inflection, a fairly fixed SVO word order and a complex syntax. About 70% of the words in English language are borrowed. English is written in Latin script, it uses Latin alphabet originating from the VII century (in the early Middle Ages additional letters were used, but they are no longer in use). The spelling system, or orthography, of English is multilayered, with elements of French, Latin and Greek spelling on top of the native Germanic system; further complications have arisen through sound changes with which the orthography has not kept pace.

English is the major language of international communication, trade, cooperation and business, due to the colonial policy of the British Empire in the XIX century and the global influence of the United States at present.