7 reasons why people are taking online English courses

(In this post: Learn how you can make a 34% higher salary by improving your English)

English has become the world’s "Universal Second Language.” There are over 400 million native speakers of English worldwide, but when you factor in non-native speakers, current estimates state there are over 1.5 billion speakers of English in total.

The sheer number of English speakers worldwide is enough to convince many speakers of other languages to pick up English. And now with the availability of[ online English courses](https:/weaverschool.com/en/online-english-courses/), you can take English lessons without ever leaving your own home or office, making it more easy and convenient than ever.

In case all of that’s not enough, here are seven other reasons.

Everyone uses Social Media in some form to get their news these days. Even if you’re not getting your news from official sources such as BBC or CNN, you’re probably getting it from some form of an online blog. Latest estimates state there are over 150 million blogs on the internet, and most of them are in English.

Whether you want to check out the latest rumors coming out of Apple or follow the latest political developments, the largest and most active blogs and internet news sites are published in English. Knowing what the writers are really saying instead of relying on a watered down translation can be a huge benefit to your knowledge bank.

Did you watch the Eurovision competition this year? I did, and it was awesome. Did you notice what language the entire broadcast was in? Yes, it was English. I watched the program here in the Netherlands so I could hear the Dutch broadcasters translating over the English hosts, but I couldn’t help but think how much that must have taken out of the enjoyment for those Dutch speakers watching at home who don’t understand English.

It’s one thing to have a press conference from a world leader translated for you, but when it comes to live entertainment including jokes, songs or comedy skits, translations really take the life out of their humor or entertainment value.

The biggest movies every year come out of Hollywood, and the largest entertainment events are usually broadcasts with English as the primary language. It’s much more enjoyable to know English when you’re watching an English-based program, just as it’s 100 times better watching a Spanish movie when you speak Spanish.

Almost everyone speaks enough English to help you get by when you’re in a foreign country, and chances are if the place where you are doesn’t have someone who can help you somewhat in English, there’s someone next door who can. Thanks to people all over the world adopting English as their universal second language, people from two different countries that don’t speak English as their first tongue, can help each other with travel directions, food recommendations, and logistics such as problems at the airport or opening a bank account.

One of my favorite things to see when I’m traveling in Europe is people of multiple nationalities having an intelligent conversation together in English. One person is French, another is German, and another is Dutch, and they are all speaking in English and enjoying each other’s company.

We live in a time that’s incredibly exciting for people who want to enjoy our more globalized world. It’s an exciting opportunity for anyone to learn English then be able to connect with people from countries all over the planet.

When I was a kid in school, my teachers used to tell me that if you wanted to get ahead in business in the future you were going to have to learn Mandarin Chinese. The thinking was that there are so many people in China and almost all of them speak Mandarin, that if you want to engage in international business you were going to have to speak Mandarin as well.

I would say that outlook was off-base. The thinking was logical, but when the Chinese government made it a requirement for Chinese school students to take English courses in their studies, the tables completely turned. China realized that the international language of business was already English and that the best thing for them to do to be competitive was to make sure they were able to speak it.

The same situation has been playing out in Spain over the past eight years. Since the global recession hit Spain so hard, they realized they needed to improve the competitiveness of their young students and job candidates. So the Spanish government began putting an emphasis on their population [learning English](https:/weaverschool.com/en/learn-english-online/) that had before been resisted.

Now countries all over Europe, Asia and the rest of the globe are engaging in international business using English as their medium. A Dutch employee of an American company can travel to Texas for a conference and speak to their American co-workers, and actually be able to communicate with them.

That’s a beautiful thing.

When it comes to the Scientific community English is the language of exchange. If you want to study a field of Science in University or just become more familiar with it in general, many of the texts you’ll read, lectures you attend, or videos you wath, will be in English. Learning English will also help you in your networking with Scientists from countries different from your home country. Having that international second language in your back pocket is always a good thing.

The Healthcare industry has boomed in the past decade and it doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. In fact, almost half of my students who were preparing for the IELTS test were employed either as doctors or nurses and were seeking to enhance their career.

Learning English will not only allow you to network with Healthcare professionals from other countries, it will allow you to broaden the types of positions you are qualified for, and the locations in which you can find them.

According to Economic Times of India, those who are nearly fluent in English make on average 34% higher salariesthan those who only speak their native English.

Whoa!!

That means if you’re making 50k euros a year now, you could be making 67k! That’s quite the return on your investment.

After all, with all of the benefits that come with improving your English that I’ve already mentioned; why wouldn’t they want to pay you more? Being a skilled English speaker opens up a lot of doors, and many of those doors lead to incredibly exciting opportunities.