The Anglosphere

You have heard lots of times that English is very important. It is not only because you have to pass some exams al school or because your parents want you to get crazy with a strange foreign language... Have you ever thought about how many English speakers are there in the world? Do you know in which countries can you communicate in English? These questions (and lots more) are part of the ANGLOSPHERE. This a neologism (a new word) that refers to the group of countries where English is the main native language or even to the countries of the world in which the English language and cultural values predominate. Thus, we know that there are some countries in which English is the official language and also the language of the majority (dark blue countries in the map below). It means 436,574,289 people. However, the most interesting fact is that this language is also official (not the majority one) in other 53 countries all over the world (light blue in the map), and it means lots and lots of millions of English speakers... Is this not the perfect excuse to learn this language?

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The official name of the UK

London is the capital of England. This is a common affirmation which, in fact, is not completely correct. It is true that London is the capital city of England...but England is not the correct name of the whole state. This name, England, stands only for a part of a unitary state: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (known simply as United Kingdom or UK).

England is only one of its four administrative divisions or countries, together with Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Each of them has its own capital city. They even have their own flags, different from the "Union Jack", which is the official one for the state. They all speak English, which is the official language, but they have also have their own languages. In fact, there are four Celtic languages which are still in use in the UK: Welsh, Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Cornish. The four countries have many things in common, but they have lots of specific regional traits which make each one different from the others. Thus, there is an important nationalist feeling amongst the population form each country, specially in Northern Ireland and Scotland. For many British people, except for those from England, it is considered a mistake to call them English. For the inhabitants of the other three countries, we should better call them Scottish, Irish or Welsh. In case of doubts, we can call them British, so this is the adjective including all four countries. Now, we are ready to go back to the initial affirmation: London is the capital city of England, which is one of the four countries in the UK. So, London is the capital city of the United Kingdom. Find out more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom