English language, West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family that is closely related to Frisian, German, and Dutch (in Belgium called Flemish) languages. English originated in England and is the dominant language of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and various island nations in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
It is also an official language of India, the Philippines, Singapore, and many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including South Africa. English is the first choice of foreign language in most other countries of the world. It is estimated that about a third of the world’s population, some two billion persons, now use English.

English belongs to the Indo-European family of languages and is therefore related to most other languages spoken in Europe and western Asia from Iceland to India. The parent tongue, called Proto-Indo-European, was spoken about 5,000 years ago by nomads believed to have roamed the southeast European plains.
Germanic, one of the language groups descended from this ancestral speech, is usually divided by scholars into three regional groups: East (Burgundian, Vandal, and Gothic, all extinct), North (Icelandic, Faroese, Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish), and West (German, Dutch [and Flemish], Frisian, and English).

It all started when the Germanic tribes arrived in Britain and invaded the country during the 5th century AD. Before the Germanic invasions in Britain, Britain was populated by various Celtic tribes. These Celtic tribes were united by customs, religion, and a common speech. But the Celtic tribes lacked political unity and that made them vulnerable. During the first century, Britain was conquered by Rome. When Britain finally gained independence from Rome in the year 410 AD, the Roman legions had withdrawn from Britain and this left the country vulnerable to invaders.

Inhabitants from the north began attacking the inhabitants of Britain. A lot of different Germanic tribes started to migrate to Britain, but a few stood out amongst the rest, such as the Saxons, the Angles, the Jutes, the Franks, and the Frisians. They came from different parts of what is nowadays northwest Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands.

Old English was the first form of English. It did not look or sound like the English we know today. The native English speakers nowadays would find it very difficult to understand Old English. But still, about half of the most commonly used words in Modern English originate from Old English. Some fun words that are derived from Old English are: axode(asked), habbað (have), rihtlice (rightly), engla (angels), heofonum (heaven), swilcum (such), hu (how) and beon (be). Old English was spoken from 450 AD until around 1100 AD.
In Britain English was the dominant language again, but many French words were added to the vocabulary. This mixture of languages is called Middle English. Middle English opposed to Old English, can be read, but it would still be difficult for modern English-speaking people. The Middle English period ended around 1500 AD with the rise of Modern English.

Right now it has been stated by experts that around one-third of the world’s population has English as their native language and even more study English as a second language. Working knowledge of English has become a necessity in a number of areas. It is the international language of communications, science, technology, business, medicine, aviation, maritime activities, and many more. Because of that over a Billion people speak English to at least a basic level.