What is the international lingua franca

The international lingua franca is English. English is a Germanic language that was first spoken in medieval England and became the most widely spoken language in the world because of its vast colonies. The language is closely related to Frisian and Lower Saxon, and its vocabulary is influenced by other Germanic languages and largely written in Latin and French.

English has been developed over 1400 years. The earliest form of English was a group of West Germanic dialects brought to Britain by Anglo-Saxon immigrants in the 5th century, known collectively as Old English. Middle English began in the late 11th century with the Norman Conquest of England; this was the period when the language was influenced by French. Early Modern English began with the introduction of the printing press to London in the late 15th century, in the printing of the King James Bible and the beginning of the Great Vowel Shift.

English is the most popular language by area of distribution, but the number of native speakers is the third largest in the world, after Chinese and Spanish. It is the most widely learned second language and is the official language or one of the official languages of nearly 60 sovereign states. More people learn it as a second language than English as a native speaker. It is the native language of the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and is widely spoken in the Caribbean, Africa and South Asia. It is one of the official languages of the United Nations, the European Union and many other world and regional international organizations.