english, english language, english lingusitics, english as a second language, english as a foreign language,  english as the world

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE - FACTS AND FIGURES:

How many words does the average native speaker know? The English Language: Facts and Figures What are the world's most widely spoken languages? In which countries is English the language spoken as a first language by the majority of the population? In which countries is English an official language? How many people speak English as a second language? How many people speak English as a foreign language? So how many speak English in total? How many people are learning English worldwide? What percentage of the internet is in English? What percentage of email messages are in English?? Which language has the most words? How many words does the average native speaker use in everyday speech? How many words do you need to learn in order to communicate in most situations? What is the longest word in the English language?

This depends on the speakers level of education, background etc. but somewhere between 12,000 and 20,000. Shakespeare used more than 30,000 words in his works!