Ответить на вопросы по тексту.
1.How many people speak English?
2.Where is English an official language?
3.Whu are millions of people learning English today?
4.In what careers can languages be a tremendous advantage?
5.What is your mother tonguc?


At the present time foreign languages are socially demanded and needed as the main and the most efficient means of information exchange of the people of our planet. The question of learning foreign languages is very important today.

English is just one of 3,000 languages in the world. One billion people speak English. That’s 20 per cent of the world population. It’s also one of the leading languages in the world. About 400 million people speak English as their first language. About the same number use it as the second language. It is the language of aviation, international sport and pop music.

English is the official language in 44 countries, where it is used in education and administration. It is spoken as the mother tongue in Great Britain, the United States of America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. A lot of people speak English in China, Japan, India and Africa. In many countries it is the language of business, commerce and technology. English is the language of modern computing. It is one of 6 official languages of the United Nations Organization.

Nearly 50 per cent of all the companies in Europe communicate with each other in English. 75 per cent of the world’s mail is in English, too. Standard English is not completely uniform. There are differences between the national standards in Britain, the USA, Canada and Australia.

Russia is integrating into the world community now and the problem of learning English for the purpose of communication is very urgent today. English is especially popular in international business of Russia. It is studied at schools, colleges and universities.​