Voyager One blasted on its historic mission to Jupiter and beyond. On board the scientists who knew that Voyager would one day spin through distant star systems had installed a recorded greeting from the people of the planet Earth. A brief message in fifty-five different languages the people of outer space plays a statement from the Secretary-General of the United Nations an Austrian named Kurt Waldheim, speaking on behalf of 147 member states in English.
The rise of English is a remarkable success story. When Julius Caesar landed in Britain nearly two thousand years ago, English did not exist. Today English is used by at least 750 million people, and barely half of those speak it as a mother tongue.
Some estimates have put that figure closer to one billion. Whatever the total, English today is more widely spoken and written, than any other language has ever been. It has become the language of the planet, the first truly global language.
Voyager One blasted on its historic mission to Jupiter and beyond. On board the scientists who knew that Voyager would one day spin through distant star systems had installed a recorded greeting from the people of the planet Earth. A brief message in fifty-five different languages the people of outer space plays a statement from the Secretary-General of the United Nations an Austrian named Kurt Waldheim, speaking on behalf of 147 member states in English.
The rise of English is a remarkable success story. When Julius Caesar landed in Britain nearly two thousand years ago, English did not exist. Today English is used by at least 750 million people, and barely half of those speak it as a mother tongue.
Some estimates have put that figure closer to one billion. Whatever the total, English today is more widely spoken and written, than any other language has ever been. It has become the language of the planet, the first truly global language.
Three-quarters of the world’s mail, and its t