世界通用语言是指在国际交往中充当会话媒介的语言，并不是指统一全世界的语言。截止2019年，完全通用的语言还不存在，只存在具有一定的通用程度的语言。

The universal language refers to the language that acts as a medium of communication in international interactions, and it does not refer to the language that the whole world is using. By 2019, a completely universal language does not exist, there are only languages with a certain degree of generality.

相对而言，英语较大程度的起到了会话媒介的作用，但是，还有相当大的国际交往不使用英语做会话媒介，英语的通用性也不是占绝对的地位;通用程度较大的语言还有法语、汉语、西班牙语、俄语、阿拉伯语，汉语的使用人数目前为止是最多的，但是主要的使用范围在中国、新加坡、马来西亚、文莱，世界通用性小。

Relatively speaking, English plays a big role as the conversation medium in international communication. However, there is still a large international exchange that does not use English as a conversation medium. The versatility of English is not an absolute status; French, Chinese, Spanish, Russian, and Arabic are the most used. Chinese has the biggest number of speakers in globe, but its main areas of use are in China, Singapore, Malaysia, and Brunei, which means it is not a world-wide-used language.

由于英国过去在世界各地有许多殖民地的缘故，因此在现代，英语在许多国家与地区，都是通用语言或官方语言之一：

Since Britain used to have many colonies around the world, in modern times, English is one of the common or official languages in many countries and regions:

英语在下列国家和地区是第一语言：英国、美国、澳大利亚、巴哈马、爱尔兰、巴巴多斯、百慕大、圭亚那、牙买加、新西兰、圣克里斯多福及尼维斯和特立尼达和多巴哥。目前世界上把英语作为第一语言(本族语)的人口约有 3亿。

English is the first language in the following countries: the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Bahamas, Ireland, Barbados, Bermuda, Guyana, Jamaica, New Zealand, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Trinidad and Tobago. At present, there are about 300 million people in the world who use English as their first language (native language).

英语在下列国家和地区中是通用语言，这些国家地区包括香港(连同粤语)、加拿大(连同法语)、多米尼克、圣路西亚和圣文森及格瑞那丁(连同法语)、密克罗尼西亚联邦、爱尔兰(连同爱尔兰语)、利比里亚(连同非洲语言)、新加坡(连同华语)、马来西亚(连同华语和马来语)和南非(连同南非荷兰语和其他非洲语言)。作为第二语言(即不是母语，但为所在国通用语)使用的人口约有2.5亿。

English is the common language in the following countries and regions. These countries and regions include Hong Kong (together with Cantonese), Canada (together with French), Dominica, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and Grenadine (together with French), Microrony West Asian Federation, Ireland (together with Irish), Liberia (together with African languages), Singapore (together with Chinese), Malaysia (together with Chinese and Malay) and South Africa (together with Afrikaans and other African languages). The population used as a second language (ie not a native language but a common language for the host country) is approximately 250 million people.

英语是下列国家和地区的官方语言(之一)，但不是本地语言和通用语言：斐济、加纳、冈比亚、印度、基里巴斯、莱索托、肯尼亚、纳米比亚、尼日利亚、马耳他、马绍尔群岛、巴基斯坦、巴布亚新几内亚、菲律宾、所罗门群岛、萨摩亚群岛、塞拉利昂、斯威士兰、博茨瓦纳、坦桑尼亚、赞比亚和津巴布韦。

English is (one of) the official language of the following countries and regions, but not the local language or common language: Fiji, Ghana, Gambia, India, Kiribati, Lesotho, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Malta, Marshall Islands, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea , the Philippines, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Botswana, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

责编：周杨

来源：新东方双语新闻