How English Took over the World | Otherwords

English is the most widely spoken language on the planet. Research estimates that there are upwards of 1.5 billion English speakers worldwide. But, how did English become the most widely spoken language in the world? And why are there so many different kinds of Englishes? That’s easy. There are so many different World Englishes because there are just so many English speakers with diverse cultural and societal influences impacting their language use. But the real question is why English, and why not some other language?