At the end of the 16th century, about five to seven million people spoke English.Nea
rly all of them lived in England. Later in the next century,people from England made voyag
es to conquer other parts of the world and because of that,English began to be spoken in m
any other countries. Today,more people speak English as their first, second or foreign lan
guage than ever before.Native English speakers can understand each other even if they don'
t speak the same kindof English.Look at this example:British Betty: Would you like to see
my flat?American Amy: Yes, I'd like to come up to your apartment.So why has English change
d over time? Actually all languages change and develop whencultures meet and communicate w
ith each other. At first the English spoken in Englandbetween about AD 450 and 1150 was ve
ry different from the English spoken today.It was based more on German than the English we
speak at present.Then gradually between about AD 800 and 1150, English became less like G
erman becausethose who ruled England spoken first Danish and later French. These new settl
ers enrichedthe English language and especially its vocabulary. So by the 1600's Shakespea
re was ableto make use of a wider vocabulary than ever before. In 1620 some British settle
rs moved toAmerica. Later in the 18th century some British people were taken to Australia
too.English began to be spoken in both countries.Finally by the 19th century the language
was settled. At that time two big changes in Englishspelling happened: first Samuel Johnso
n wrote his dictionary and later Noah Webster wroteThe American Dictionary of the English
Language.The latter gave a separate identity to American English spelling.English now is a
lso spoken as a foreign or second language in South Asia. For example,India has a very lar
ge number of fluent English speakers because Britain ruled Indiafrom 1765 to 1947. During
that time English became the language for government and education.English is also spoken
in Singapore and Malaysia and countries in Africa such as South Africa.Today the number of
people learning English in China is increasing rapidly.In fact, China may have the larges
t number of English learners.Will Chinese English develop its own identity? Only time will
tell.