The Spread of Language and the War of the Words
417 million people speak Spanish. As of 2009, there were more than 1,000,000 words in the English language. Portuguese has been around for more than 2,000 years. And 12 per cent of the French language is made up of words from English, Italian, German, Arabic, Dutch, Persian and Sanskrit, among others. The world of languages is immense but, ironically, it's language that's making the world smaller.
Over the last few hundred years, Spain, Britain, Portugal and France have colonised large portions of the world. They left behind a hybrid culture and, of course, their respective languages. Today, this has resulted in Spanish being the second, English the third, and Portuguese the seventh most widely spoken languages in the world. The world has continued to shrink as a result of globalisation. Living in a new country every year is easy when you know how to speak a couple of the ten most spoken languages in the world. No matter where you are, the chances are that one of them will be spoken in the country you're in.
The best place to learn a language is the place it comes from. You can google English school London to find some of the best options for learning British English. For French, you can search for language schools in Paris. Being taught by native speakers and being immersed in the culture of that language will help anyone get fluent. And being multi-lingual opens up career opportunities too. Speaking additional languages can be an advantage in marketing or sales positions as well as in the United Nations.
Just the experience of learning a new language is rewarding enough. It's also fascinating learning about another country’s culture. English schools in Oxford, for example, will take you on tours of the university and introduce you to English traditions and habits that have been around for centuries. This kind of memorable experience is bound to make the lessons stick for longer.
These are not the only places where one can learn the language though. There are many different dialects of French, Spanish, English and Portuguese spoken around the world. French is widely spoken in Canada and Africa, with a few differences. Within Africa as well, the dialect and accent varies between different regions. There are said to be 115 million French-speaking African people. 6.8 million Canadians consider French their mother tongue and it is the sole official language in Quebec.
Half of South America speaks Portuguese, although Brazil is the only Portuguese-speaking nation. The language is almost 2,000 years old and, while it has been influenced by a number of ancient tongues such as Arabic, it has in turn contributed to others as well, such as Japanese. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to enter Japan around the late 15th and early 16th century. For example, the Japanese word for watering can is 'joro', which was derived from the Portuguese word 'jarro'.
As for the differences between British English and North American English that war of words even has a famous song about tomatoes dedicated to it needless to say, it's a battle that's going to last a while. Kipling was wrong when he said that "the East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet." It had met long before his time, and today the distinctions are blurring, even as we speak.