At a tourist information center in Vienna, an Austrian woman, a native German speaker, tries to decipher ( 破译 ) the heavily accented German spoken by a couple inquiring hotel prices. Finally, in fluent English, she asks, "Could you speak in English?" "No problem," the tourists reply. Along Copenhagen Harbor, an American tries to ward off ( 挡开 ) a beggar with a bit of the native tongue: "Foerloev, jeg snakker ille god Dansk" ("Sorry, I don't speak Danish well"). The beggar replies, in English: "It's very nice that you learned a little Danish. It's not an easy language." Such interludes ( 插曲 ) are hardly unusual, for English is moving around the world at a speed without linguistic or historical precedent ( 先例 ). The world's English speakers -- those who speak it natively, as a second language in their own country and as a foreign language entirely -- outnumber the population of China. English is official language in more than 75 countries. An estimated 1 billion humans are studying it, so they can leave home and succeed elsewhere. "As people interact with more people in different ways, they need a language in common," said Caroline Moore, a linguist with the government-funded British Council, which promotes and teaches English around the world. "And in many countries, to be seen as a player, you need English." When Pope ( 教皇 ) John Paul II arrived in the Middle East this spring to retrace Christ's footsteps and addressed Christians, Muslins and Jews, the Pope spoke not Latin, not Arabic, not Hebrew, not his native Polish. He spoke in English. Esperanto( 世界语 ), a synthetic tongue conceived in the 19 th century to become a second language for a global world, never caught on. What made English different -- and why? A language, linguists like to say, is "a dialect with an army and a navy." Beginning in the 18 th century, it was the military that carried English beyond England's shores for good. As European colonizers swept across the globe, the British Empire spread: North America, Australia, India, Southeast Asia, Africa, The Caribbean. English ships carried English passengers to English outposts ( 前哨基地 ), where the tongue of the realm ( 领域 ) was English. British subjects ( 臣民 ) -- more than a quarter of the world's population by 1900 -- had little choice but to learn English to communicate in the countries that formed around them. Then came the 20 th century and its burst of technology. Suddenly people were talking across oceans, flying across continents, hearing broadcasts that reverberated ( 回响 ) around the planet. Language spread faster than ever. The world wars carried American and British soldiers around the world, pollinating ( 传授 ... 花粉 ) English as they went. When World War II ended, the balance shifted. The British Empire was crumbling, its subjects gaining independence -- India, Nigeria, Kenya, Malaysia, Singapore. America, driven by an unheard-of postwar prosperity, was becoming a global force, making it English primary spear-carrier in the second half of the 20 th century. No longer were just king and empire nudging the language ahead. Instead, it was barreling ( 高速行驶 ) forward on the shoulders of American capitalism -- McDonald's and Coca-Cola, Rambo and MTV, munitions ( 军火 ) and computer technology. And now the Internet, where English has been predominant since the beginning. English speakers represented 54 percent of Internet users in 1999, although their dominance is expected to wane ( 缩减 ) a bit, according to Computer Economics, an Internet research firm. Communication across cultures is no longer a goal; it's a mere starting point. In an information age, English has become one of the most crucial commodities of all. They hear it all over the world. The Bangkok man who listens on the way to work. The Japanese homemaker who studies faithfully over her short-wave radio. China. Burma. Cuba. Iraq. All tuning their shortwaves to the Voice of America's 1,500 word-vocabulary Special English program, gobbling ( 贪婪地吞食 ) English lessons. English, and the desire to know it, is rewriting the rule of language and its role in society, transcending ( 超越 ... 的范围 ) governments, maps and cultures. The European Union use English alongside French at its informal gatherings, even though Europe has more native German and Italian speakers. In Japan, Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, reporting his nation's 21 st -century goals, announced that the tongue of one-time enemies should become its second language to "achieve world-class excellence." Almost all scientific organizations use English, partly because most relevant literature and terminology ( 术语 ) is in English and partly because scientists want to spend time on science, not translation. Pilots from sundry countries request clearance to land in Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok Airport, as they do at most international airports, in English. Millions want to speak it; millions more are finding they have to, whether they like it or not. And many don't like it. The Indonesian government said it was being pragmatic ( 实用主义 ) last year when it decreed that some school subjects could be taught in English. Yet the decision annoyed some Indonesians, who thought it a harbinger ( 先锋 ) of Western domination. And in the Dutch-speaking Netherlands last year, some officials proposed switching the language of education to English -- the language of most reference works. "But if they drop Dutch at the university, then the Dutch community will merge into the international English community," warned a linguist at the European Bureau of Lesser-Used Languages. "People are starting to forget about their own languages without really realizing it." Today, apprehensions ( 忧虑 ) abound from Singapore and India, where English is an official language, to France and Iceland, where it isn't. But arguing whether English should spread is as fruitless as trying to force "correct" grammar onto people's tongues. Language can't be controlled by governments, linguists or anyone else. The speakers -- diplomats and gangsters, beggars and bishops, farmers and financiers -- are the ones who make the rules.