English Translations & Professional Translation Services

English is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century, it has become the lingua franca in many parts of the world. It is used extensively as a second language and as an official language in Commonwealth countries and many international organizations.

excerpted from Wikipedia

Modern English is the dominant language or in some cases even the required international language of aviation, business, communications, diplomacy, entertainment and science. A working knowledge of English has become a requirement in a number of fields, occupations and professions, including computing and medicine, so that as a result more than a billion people worldwide speak English to at least a basic level.

Due to its spread beyond the British Isles with the growth of the British Empire, including the British colonization of North America, it became the dominant language in various parts of the world as well as in the United States and Canada, a development which was accelerated with the growing economic influence of the United States and its status as a global superpower since World War II.

At present, approx. 375 million people speak English as their first language, which ranks it third by number of native speakers, after Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. But, when combining both native and non-native speakers, it is likely the most commonly spoken language in the world, even though it might be second to a combination of the Chinese languages. Due to differences in the definition and measurement of literacy and mastery, estimates vary from 470 million to over a billion when including second language speakers.

The countries with the highest populations of native English speakers are:

United States, 215 million
United Kingdom, 61 million
Canada, 18.2 million
Australia, 15.5 million
Nigeria, 4 million
Ireland, 3.8 million
South Africa, 3.7 million
New Zealand, 3.6 million
Philippines, 3.4 million
Jamaica and Nigeria, millions of native speakers

The countries with the highest populations of speaker of English as an additional language are:

Nigeria, 75 million
India, 65 million (as second language)
Philippines, 45 million
United States, 36 million
India, 25 million (as third language)
Canada, 7.5 million
Australia, 2.6 million
United Kingdom, 1.5 million

For a comprehensive list of countries where English is an official language, click here.

Regional accents (which can be of quite some importance in terms of voice-overs as well as for any other form of advertising that includes the spoken word, such as radio or TV commercials) can be categorized as follows:

Great Britain
- England
- Scotland
- Wales
Ireland
- ulster
- Connacht, Leinster and Munster
  - Dublin
  - Cork
  - Kerry
- Irish Travellers
North America
- Canada
- United States
- West Indies and Bermuda
Southern Hemisphere
- Australia
- New Zealand
- South Atlantic
  - Falkland Islands
  - Saint Helena
- Southern Africa
  - South Africa
  - Zimbabwe
  - Namibia
  - Madagascar
Asia
- Philippines
- Hong Kong
- South Asia
- Malaysia and Singapore

Similarly there are variety of dialects to be taken into consideration in both spoken and written communications:

Europe

Great Britain (British English)

Black British English
England (English language in England)
- Northern
  - Cheshire
  - Cumbrian (Cumbria excluding Barrow-in-Furness)
  - Geordie (Newcastle upon Tyne)
  - Lancastrian (Lancashire)
  - Scouse (Merseyside)
  - Mancunian (Manchester)
  - Mackem (Sunderland)
  - Northumbrian (rural Northumberland)
  - Pitmatic (Durham and Northumberland)
  - Yorkshire (also known as Tyke)
  - In the far north, local speech is noticeably Scots in nature.
- East Midlands
- West Midlands
  - Black Country English
  - Brummie (Birmingham)
  - Potteries (north Staffordshire)
- Southern
  - Received Pronunciation
  - Cockney (East London)
  - East Anglian (Norfolk, Suffolk and North Essex)
  - Estuary (Thames Estuary)
  - Kentish (Kent)
  - Multicultural London English (Inner London)
- West Country
Scotland
- Scottish English
  - Highland
  - Glaswegian
  - Cromarty
Wales
- Welsh English

Ireland

Mid Ulster English
Hiberno-English
- Dublin
- Cork

Isle of Man

Manx English

Channel Islands

Guernsey English
Jersey English

Malta

Maltenglish

North America

American English (AmE, AmEng, USEng)
- Cultural
  - African-American Vernacular English (AAVE)
  - Chicano English
  - General American
  - New York Latino English
  - Pennsylvania Dutchified English
  - Yeshivish
  - Yinglish
- Regional
  - Northeastern dialects
    - Boston English
    - Hudson Valley English (Albany)
    - Maine-New Hampshire English
    - New York City Dialect, Northern New Jersey Dialect (New York metropolitan area)
    - Providence-area English
    - Vermont English
    - Philadelphia-area English
    - Pittsburgh English
  - Inland Northern American English (includes western and central upstate New York)
    - Wawarsing English
    - Northeast Pennsylvania English (Scranton, Pennsylvania-area)
  - Mid-Atlantic dialects
    - Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area Accent (D.C. Slang)
    - Baltimorese
    - Tidewater accent
    - Virginia Piedmont
    - Virginia Tidewater
  - Inland North American (Lower peninsula of Michigan, northern Ohio and Indiana, the suburbs of Chicago, part of eastern Wisconsin and upstate New York)
    - The Chicago accent
    - Buffalo English
  - North Central American English (primarily Minnesota, but also most of Wisconsin, the Upper peninsula of Michigan, and parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Iowa)
    - - Yooper dialect (the variety of North Central American English spoken in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and in some neighboring areas)
  - Midland American English
    - North Midlands English (thin swath from Nebraska to Ohio)
    - St. Louis dialect
    - South Midland (thin swath from Oklahoma to Pennsylvania)
    - Appalachian English
  - Southern English
    - Coastal Southeastern (Charleston, South Carolina, Savannah, Georgia area)
    - Cajun English
    - Harkers Island English (North Carolina)
    - Ozark English
    - Piedmont Dialect
    - Southern Highland English
    - Florida Cracker Dialect
    - Gullah or Geechee
    - Tampanian English
    - Texan
    - Yat (New Orleans)
  - Western English
    - California English
    - Utah English
    - Idaho English
    - Boontling
    - Hawaiian English
    - Pacific Northwest English
Canadian English (CanE, CanEng)
- Newfoundland English
- Maritimer English
  - Cape Breton accent
  - Lunenburg English
- West/Central Canadian English
  - Quebec English
  - Ottawa Valley Twang
  - Pacific Northwest English
Bermudian English
Native American Englishes (Amerindian Englishes)
- Mojave English
- Isletan English
- Tsimshian English
- Lumbee English
- Tohono O’odham English
- Inupiaq English

Caribbean

Caribbean English
- Anguillan English
- Bahamian English
- Jamaican English
- Trinidadian English

Central and South America

Belizean English
Falkland Islands English
Guyanese English

Asia

Burmese English
Hong Kong English
Pakistani English
Indian English
- Hinglish
- Punjabi/Delhi English
- U.P/Bihari English
- Bengali/Assamese English
- Oriya English
- Gujarati English
- Maharashtrian English
- Kannadiga English
- Telugu English
- Tamil English
- Malayalee English
Malaysian English (MyE)
- Manglish
Philippine English (PhE)
Singapore English
Sri Lankan English (SLE)

Africa

Cameroon English
Liberian English
Nigerian English
Malawian English
South African English
East African English
- Ugandan English

Oceania

Australian English (AusE, AusEng)
- Cultural
  - Australian Aboriginal English
  - Torres Strait English
- Regional
  - South Australian English
  - Western Australian English
  - Norfuk language
Fijian English
New Zealand English (NZE, NZEng)
Pitkern

Now that you have worked your way through this considerable amount of information, you might understand better the utmost importance of properly targeting your respective language not just on a very generic and general language root level but rather with the necessary amount of localization that makes your target audience feel like they are dealing with “one of their own”.

To order translation or voice-over services, arrange for a consultation or schedule a review of your existing website(s) and document(s) or other material(s), contact us today.