English Language Facts

• English is the first language of about 375 million people. Probably, as many people speak and understand English as a second language.
  In more than 75 countries English has official or special status.
  
  
• About 80% of the world's electronically stored information is stored in English language.
  2/3 of scientists world wide read and publish in English.

Some characteristics of English

• Varieties of English:
  Due to its historic importance and the high number of English speakers regional dialects (American English, British English, Australian English), social and educational varieties are numerous, though not so strong that understanding is endangered.
  
  
• Formal / informal address:
  Deference and politeness is expressed by the choice of vocabulary, rather than by a grammatical concept of formal or informal address.
  
  
• Grammatical gender:
  English does not assign grammatical gender to its nouns.