English language: its origin and significance

As we know, many people in the world are supposed to be English speakers. Because, it is internationally or globally accepted language for the majority. So more and more people are learning or at least aspiring to learn English as the second language, (if not native) or the first language.
Let's focus on how it originated and developed over the period of time:
                   
  English Language: its origin and significance

English is a West Germanic language that was first spoken in early medieval England. It is named after the ‘Angles’, one of the Germanic tribes that migrated to the area of ‘Great Britain’ that later took their name as ‘England’. Both names derive from ‘Anglia’, a peninsula in the ‘Baltic Sea’.
The vocabulary of English language has been significantly influenced by other Germanic languages and to a greater extent by 'Latin' and 'French'.

English has developed over the course of more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a group of West Germanic dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the 5th century are collectively called Old English. 

Middle English began in the 11th century with the Norman conquest of England and in this period the language was influenced by French.

Early Modern English began in the late 15th century with the introduction of the printing press to London.


Through the worldwide influence of the British Empire, and later the United States, Modern English has been spreading around the world since the 17th century. Through all types of printed and electronic media and the United States emerging as a global super power, English has been the leading language of international discourse in many regions and professional contexts such as 'science', 'navigation' and 'law'.
English is the largest language by number of speakers, and the third most-spoken native language in the world after standard Chinese and Spanish. It is the most widely learned second language and is either the official language or one of the official languages in almost  60 sovereign states. There are more people who have learned English as a second language than there are native speakers. It is estimated that there are over 2 billion speakers of English. English is the most commonly spoken language in the United States, the United kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Republic of Ireland, and is widely spoken in some areas of the Caribbean, Africa and South Asia. It is the co-official language of the United Nations, the European Union and many other world and regional international organizations. English has a vast vocabulary. English speakers are called "Anglophones".

Modern English relies more on auxiliary verbs and word order for the expression of complex tenses, aspect and mood, as well as passive constructions, interrogatives and some negation. The variation among the accents and dialects of English used in different countries and regions- in terms of phonetics and phonology and sometimes also vocabulary, grammar and spelling- can often be understood by speakers of different dialects, but in extreme cases can lead to confusion or even mutual unintelligibility between English speakers.