Last month, English added its 1 millionth word, according to Web 2.0. Interestingly, the average native English speaker uses around 14,000 words, but experts say you can get by using just 400 words and 40 verbs. Only 25% of Modern English is derived from Old English; the rest is from Latin, French, Greek, and 350 other languages, making English very accommodating. English is the official language of more than 50 countries and some estimates put the number of total speakers (native or otherwise) at close to 2 billion.

Given its status, is English on the fast track to becoming the world’s first universal language? Or is a universal language unnecessary?

:: speaking in tongues by Todd Steinberg