Learn English

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England. Approximately 375 million people speak English as their first language. English today is the second largest language by number of native speakers, after Mandarin Chinese. However, when combining native and non-native speakers it is the most commonly spoken language in the world. It is claimed that non-native speakers now outnumber native speakers by a ratio of 3 to 1.

English in the world

Countries in the world where English is an official or de facto official language, or national language, in dark blue Countries where English is an official/non-official but not primary language in light blue

Why learn English?

Because:

• it is the first global "lingua franca" - Modern English, sometimes described as the first world language, is the dominant international language in communications, science, business, aviation, entertainment, radio and diplomacy.
• nowadays it is essential for your job - having English on your CV in many cases is a perquisite to get a job
• most pages on the Web are in English -that's over a billion (1,000,000,000) pages of information!
• about 1,500,000,000 people in the world speak English. Another 1,000,000,000 are learning it.
• it is vital in the world of science - over 95% of science articles are written in English.
• you can travel more easily - English is spoken in more than 100 countries.

How can I learn English on busuu.com?

With busuu.com you can learn English online, directly from native speakers around the world. In addition to learning directly from other users, you can use our highly interactive language learning material in the form of learning units. A learning unit contains the most important vocabulary and phrases of a certain topic.

What can I do within my learning units?

Within each unit, you can practice your language skills in the following areas:

	Vocabulary: Firstly you will find the important phrases and vocabulary that you need to know. All the vocabularies are represented by a picture and supported by the voice of a professional voice artist. If you are a Premium Member , you can also listen to the key phrases.
	Dialogue: Then you can do a reading comprehension in the form of a dialogue and answer questions to check your understanding. If you are a Premium Member , you can also listen to the audio of the dialogue.
	Writing exercise: You then write a short text and let other users correct you.
	busuu-talk: You can practice your language skills by connecting with native speakers of our community. We offer an integrated video-chat-application which allows you to chat or even speak with other users. If you access the busuu-talk from a learning unit you will find a question related to the unit which you can discuss with your busuu-talk partner.
	Review: Finally, do a short quiz to check what you have learned.
	PDF: You can print out a PDF-transcript of all the grammar and learning units to study even while you are not online.This function is only available if you are a Premium Member
	Podcast: You can listen to podcasts (audio-files) of all the vocabulary, example sentences and dialogues of all the grammar and learning units. This function is only available if you are a Premium Member