The Internet has had a tremendous impact on the spread of the use of the English Language in the international arena and by an increasingly wider number of people who are not native English speakers. This article illustrates the significance of this.More than 80 percent of the information that goes round the Internet is in the English Language. The increasing globalization of information, goods and services has made English the de facto choice of language for communication among the nations of the earth probably due to historical reasons and reasons of practicality. The rise of the Internet has only accelerated this trend manifold.
Due to the obvious necessities of communication, whether the parties are native English speakers or those who speak English as a foreign language or even a second language, the Internet is becoming extensively influential in spreading the use of the language. It is expected that the number of English users or learners will double in the near future largely due to the presence of the Internet.
Specifically, this will be due to the non-English speaking nations going in the path of becoming well-versed in the language. While the Internet is a platform that merely facilitates the exchange of information for English speaking nations, it is an enabling platform for those that do not. It must be realized that educating a nation that has had something other than the English Language as its native communication to adopt a second language for economic and developmental purposes is a huge task. This is because there are limited resources within the educational framework of such nations to say the least.
Hence, a universally available tool such as the Internet which at this point in time has been made accessible in most parts of the world brings opportunities of learning the English Language not available before. This is not just due to being forced to deal with the massive flow of information worldwide to make progress in their daily affairs but also due to specific avenues for learning the language, i.e. written, spoken, audio and visual all on the Internet itself. This can be attributed to two key factors among other lesser factors. One is the proliferation of Internet based social interaction through social media applications. Secondly, it is the formal learning opportunities for the language mostly presented by the English speaking nations as online courses, tests, appraisals, audio-visual aids and structured information that enables an individual to pursue betterment if not mastery of the English Language in their own time and manner suited to them. Furthermore, it is probably not required that they meet the standard of language as in the English speaking nation but a so-called "international standard" that enables smooth communication in whatever arena. Though such may be happening for the spread of other languages too, it is not conceivable that it will happen on a scale nearly as large as for the English Language.
In conclusion, it can easily be seen that the English Language will be highly dominant on the Internet and more so in the future. It may be well for all nations to have some organized effort and goals in this respect.
