English is a widely-spoken language derived from spoken language in Great Britain. Early Angles and Saxons migrated to Britain during and after the Roman empire, and these Germanic peoples shaped the language we call Old English. A second wave of immigrants, the Normans came the eleventh century, and spoke Norman - a language related to French, and also had an impact on the language.
For about 300 years following the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, a large number of Norman words worked their way into the lexicon. The Norman influence strongly affected the evolution of the language resulting in what is now referred to as Middle English.
During the 15th century, Middle English was changed by the spread of a standardized London-based dialect used in government, and the standardizing effect of printing. Thus modern English can be traced back to around the time of William Shakespeare.
English has since become the language of the United States of America, and spoken throughout Australia and much of Canada. Much as the printing revolution standardized Middle English in 15th century England, the Internet has transformed the language again.
Because of worldwide Internet usage English has incorporated new technical jargon that is simply appended onto most existing langauges "as is". More importantly English has assumed the role of "Lingua Franca" for Internet users, and some basic level of comprehension is near ubiquitous among young Internet users worldwide.
English became the international language of business and commerce in the twentieth century, as the American economy grew and the American marketplace became the most sought after place to sell goods and services. Much of the technological development in the latter twentieth century took place in America as well, leading to large amounts of new vocabulary adopted almost instantly around the globe.
Due to England's colonial reign in centuries past, and Americas cultural and economic might in the twentieth century billions of people can speak some English as a primary or secondary language. It is the principal academic language in Universities worldwide, and large countries like India have huge numbers of educated English speakers.
