ENGLISH CONTINUES TO BE WORLD’S MOST INFLUENTIAL LANGUAGE

Research shows that English dominates both Internet and international business, making English training a critical component for success

TalktoCanada, the company trusted by Ernst & Young, Novartis and Saudi Telecom for English language training, is reporting that English continues to be the number one language for international business and succeeding abroad.

According to a study by Language Monthly*, there are 115 countries that use English as a main language. This number far outperforms French, which ranks second with 35 countries.

The combined population of countries using the English language is nearly 5 billion.

"Companies entering the international business world discover quickly that competition is intense and challenging if your staff do not master English. Whether you are selling to customers abroad, entering a joint venture, or managing foreign staff, it is critical that your staff undergoes some form of English training to succeed," says Marc Anderson, Managing Director of TalktoCanada.com.

Even China, with its population of 1.1 billion, is embracing English as a necessity to compete internationally. According to Premier Wen Jiabao, more than 300 million Chinese are presently studying English.

There are currently 326 million English-speaking users on the Internet (28.9%), and 166 million Chinese (14.7%)**. With the evolution of Social Media and crowd driven content, the English language is estimated to continue to grow.

TalktoCanada has helped hundreds of individual and corporate students meet their English training objectives since its inception in 2006.

With 100% of students online in locations such as Asia and Middle East, TalktoCanada performs English training online using WebEx or Skype.

For more information, visit http://www.talktocanada.com or if you are interested in a free corporate trial for interested companies.

Sources:

*George Weber, Language Monthly, 3: 12-18, 1997, ISSN 1369-9733

**"Internet World Users by Language," Internet World Stats (20 June 2007)

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

Article 19 - Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Former U.S. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt with the English version of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1949)

Freedom to publish, this fundamental subset of freedom of expression, is a prerequisite for having a thriving publishing industry, which is itself an essential part of a democratic society and a basis for a knowledge economy.

With freedom comes great responsibility. In practice, this right to freedom of speech is not absolute in any country and is commonly subject to limitations, such as on libel, slander, obscenity, incitement to commit a crime, etc.