How many people can speak English in the world?

English is the most widely spoken language in the world, but not with the most native speakers; Mandarin is. English has over 2 billion speakers, and only about 400 million native speakers.

Answer:

It is very difficult to establish the number of people in the world who can speak English. If English language accounts only for the native speakers it would be restricted to native speakers in England.The politicization of the English language by the Imperial power during the colonial era has led to a language mix in pidgin, Hindish, Americanization, and so on.

A distinction must be made between native speakers and speakers of the language.

Answer:

Well, I'm amazed at how people consider 'English' as American English. I'll have you know that English is derived from a Germanic language, and has slowly adapted into the modern English we know today. For the last time it is ENGLISH as in ENGLAND. Seriously, America has nothing to do with it, they just couldn't be bothered to conjure up their own language so removed the U's (added apostrophe for distinction) in several Words to claim it as their own. Yes, even more people in China and India have more English speakers than in the US, so where does America stand in this?

Answer:

Language continually changes, no matter what country it is located in. People who believe that Americans changed English and Brits kept it "the same" are in error. It evolved in England since the 17th Century just as it evolved in America, or the British would speak the English of Shakespeare. Furthermore, this answer cites spelling as a change, which is not technically a significant part of language.]

Answer:

328-350 million native speakers, in the UK, US, Canada, Australia etc. (those numbers are not right. America is 310 million, the UK is 70 million, Canada is 37 million, and there alone is 417 million)

Up to 500 million total speakers and has by far the most countries with English as an official language.

These are the countries that have English as an official language:

Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia (Australian English), Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Belize, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Canada (Canadian English), Cayman Islands, Dominica, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Grenada, Guernsey (Guernsey English), Guyana, Ireland (Hiberno-English), Isle of Man (Manx English), Jamaica (Jamaican English), Jersey, Montserrat, Nauru, New Zealand (New Zealand English), Pitcairn Islands, Saint Helena, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Singapore, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, United Kingdom, U.S. Virgin Islands, United States. [English is not an official language of the United States]

Answer:

English is the second most commonly spoken language, and the most commonly spoken second language.