World language

A world language is a language that is spoken internationally and is learned and spoken by a large number of people as a second language. A world language is characterized not only by the total number of speakers (native and second language speakers), but also by its geographical distribution, as well as use in international organizations and diplomatic relations. By these criteria, the major world languages are of Western European origin. The historical reason for this is European colonial expansion.

By far the most widely spoken and fastest spreading world language today is English, which has over 840 million primary and secondary users worldwide. It is also estimated to have as many as 700 million "foreign" learners of the language, including anywhere between 200 and 350 million learners/users in China alone, at varying levels of study and proficiency, though this number is difficult to accurately assess. English is also increasing becoming the dominant language of scientific research and papers worldwide, having even outpaced national languages in Western European countries, including in France where a recent study showed that English has massively displaced French as the language of scientific research in "hard" as well as in applied sciences.