English is a West Germanic language spoken by almost a million people worldwide. It is the first language of over four hundred million people, most of whom reside in the United Kingdom, The United States of America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Commonwealth Caribbean. English is an analytic language, therefore quite easy to learn and understand. It makes use of modal verbs and word order for conveying meaning and of auxiliary verbs to construct questions, negative sentences, the passive voice and progressive tenses.Compared to most Indo-European languages, English has a minimal grammar. It lacks grammatical gender as well as adjectival agreement and case marking for nouns.

The colonization process led by the British Empire for several centuries as well as the British economic predominance in the 19th century helped English language spread across the world. The all around influence gained by the United States in the 20th century also contributed to this language becoming the most popular language on the globe - an international language. Nowadays English is the language of communication, trade, business, electronics, diplomacy, media, aviation etc. It became a necessity in the everyday life and therefore it is taught since early age in most European schools. Its extensive use in literature, music and media makes it popular with young people who prefer it to other important European languages like French, German or Spanish.

The demand for translations from and into English has steadily grown over the past thirty years. Many of these translations belong to the literary field, as well as technical and economic. Important documents such as the legislation of the European Union, United Nations or NATO was originally written in English in order to make it more accessible to the public. English is associated with a free, uncomplicated manner of communication but, at the same time, it is considered by many literary critics an expressive, sensitive language that manages to convey thoughts and feeling in a delicate, simple way. Undoubtedly the 'trendiest' language of the past century, it continues to gain more speakers everyday.

Ioana Mihailas works for Lingo24 Translation Agency UK, a leading provider of high quality translation services. http://www.lingo24.com/