English Accents and Dialects Around The World

English today is claimed to be the third largest language by the number of native speakers, after Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. Combining native and non-native speakers is considered the most commonly spoken language in the world.

Nowadays, about 400 million people use the English vocabulary as a mother tongue, and 700 million people speak English as a foreign language. The United States has the highest number of individuals who speak English as their first language.

Countries by English-speaking population

Country	Total English speakers	Total English speakers (%)	As first language	As first language (%)	As an additional language	As an additional language (%)
United States	283160411	95.46	234171556	79.0	48988855	16.5
India	125344737	12.18	226449	0.02	125118287	12.16
Nigeria	79000000	53.34			79000000	53.34
Philippines	64025890	63.73	36935	0.0037	63988955	63.72
United Kingdom	59600000	97.74	54400000	92.14	5128000	5.60
Germany	45400000	56	272	0.338	45100000	56
Bangladesh	30108031	18	709873		29398158
Canada	29973590	86.21	19460850	52.40	10287415	28.69
Egypt	28101325	35			28101325	35
France	23000000	39			23000000	39
Ghana	18000000	66.67			18000000	66.67
Australia	17357833	97	15013965	70.17	2343868	17
Thailand	17121187	27.16			17121187	27.16
Italy	17000000	34			17000000	34
Pakistan	17000000	11.72			81000000
South Africa	16424417	31	4930510	9.3	11493907	22
Mexico	15686262	12.9			15686262	11.6
Malaysia	15580000	62.57	380	1.4	15200000	61.1
Netherlands	15030000	90			15030000	90
Poland	14300000	37	100		14200000
Turkey	12000000	17			12000000	17
Iraq	11095000	35			11000000
Nepal	10700866	35.8	20	0.067	87672
Sri Lanka	10565600	47	37061	0.2	9680000	47
Brazil	10542000	5	292	0.14	10250000	5
Spain	10400000	22			10400000	22
China	10000000	<1			10000000	<1
Sweden	8200000	86			8200000	86
Kenya	8100000	18.83			7900000
Russia	7574303	5.48	2522		7571787
Cameroon	7500000	38			7500000	38
Ukraine	7207962	18.0
Belgium	6250000	60			6250000	60
Israel	6205000	84.97	100	1.37	6105000
Austria	6150000	73			6150000	73
Romania	5900000	31			5900000	31
Zimbabwe	5550000	41.58	250	1.87	5300000
Greece	5500000	51			5500000	51
Sierra Leone	4900000	83.53	500	8.52	4400000
Denmark	4770000	86			4770000	86
Switzerland	4680000	61.28	734	0.96	4606600
Morocco	4587926	14			4587926	14
Ireland	4350000	98.37	4122100	93.21	2379
Singapore	4218737	83.1	1873302	36.9	2345435
Madagascar	4147614	18			4147614	18
Tanzania	4000000	9.89			4000000	9.89
Hong Kong	3903063	53.2	300417	4.3	3587590
Finland	3800000	70			3800000	70
New Zealand	3673623	97.82	3673623	85.93
Papua New Guinea	3150000	49.76	150	2.37	3000000
Liberia	3100000	82.67	600	16	2500000
Jordan	2969370	45			2969370	45
Portugal	2900000	27			2900000	27
Czechia	2850000	27			2850000	27
Argentina	2752681	6.52
Jamaica	2650000	97.64	2600000	95.8	50
Algeria	2516780	7			2516780	7
Uganda	2500000	8.09			2500000	8.09
Myanmar	2400000	4.45			2400000	4.45
Yemen	2232000	9			2232000	9
Croatia	2200000	49			2200000	49
Colombia	2012950	4.22	756		1937350
Hungary	2000000	20			2000000	20
Puerto Rico	1940000	48.61	100		1840000
Zambia	1910000	16.02	110		1800000
Bulgaria	1900000	25	2605		1902605
Kazakhstan	1874583	15.4	602		1873981
Lebanon	1706000	40			1706000	40
Chile	1585027	9.53
Rwanda	1520610	15			1520610	15
Slovakia	1400000	26			1400000	26
Slovenia	1210000	59			1210000	59
Lithuania	1160000	38			1160000	38
Trinidad and Tobago	1145000	87.74	1145000
Malawi	540209	3.88	209		540
Costa Rica	400415	8.2			400415	8.2
Marshall Islands	60000	98.33			60	98.33
American Samoa	45933	80.1	1791		44142
Gibraltar	28875	100	28		875
Andorra	17869	22			17869	22
Latvia	950	46			950	46
Guyana	680	90.55	650		30
Estonia	650	50			650	50
Botswana	630	38.42			630	38.42
Cyprus	610	73			610	73
Lesotho	500	27.86			500	27.86
Suriname	410	87.09	260		150
Malta	400	89	48		352
Namibia	314	17.24	14		300
Luxembourg	290	56			290	56
Bahamas	288	87.13	260		28
Barbados	275	98.57	262		13
Belize	246	81.65	190		56
Mauritius	202	15.97	2		200
Palau	185	92.5	500		18
Vanuatu	180	83.55	60		120
Fiji	176	20.62	6		170
Solomon Islands	175	31.68	10		165
Guam	158	91.09	58		100
Brunei	144	39.07	10		134
Nauru	116	96.67	900		107
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	114	95	114
U.S. Virgin Islands	113	95.97	98		15
Grenada	100	90.91	100
Samoa	94	49.86	1		93
Isle of Man	80	99.93	80
Saint Lucia	71	43.03	31		40
Northern Mariana Islands	70	83.33	5		65
Antigua and Barbuda	68	80	66		2
Federated States of Micronesia	64	57.66	4		60
Bermuda	63	96.92	63
Dominica	63	94.03	3		60
Swaziland	50	4.38			50	4.38
Aruba	44	42.31	9		35
The Gambia	40	2.34			40	2.34
Saint Kitts and Nevis	39	78	39
Cayman Islands	36	76.6	36
Seychelles	33	37.93	3		30
Tonga	30	30			30	30
Kiribati	23	24.21			23	24.21
British Virgin Islands	20	86.96	20
Anguilla	12	92.31	12
Cook Islands	4	19.8	1		3
Montserrat	4	67.8	4

There are several major groups of English dialects, such as British English, American English, Australian English, etc. Within each of these major groups, there are numerous regional and local dialects. It’s estimated that there are hundreds of distinct English dialects worldwide.

According to famous linguist John C. Wells, the primary reason why accents differ is that languages evolve. English pronunciation changes as time passes. The developments that have arisen and become established in different places and other social groups have not been identified. Contemporary pronunciation patterns reflect the changes that have taken place, transforming earlier pronunciation patterns.

English in the British Isles

The British Isles have a remarkably diverse range of English dialects, which often give people a sense of belonging in their local community. Today the British Isles have 13 living dialects.

While dialect encompasses extensive language variations, covering pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and cultural subtleties, often shaped by historical or geographical influences, accent is tied to pronunciation and intonation differences within a language, typically not entailing variations in vocabulary or grammar. While accents usually fit into broad categories like “Northern” or “Cornish,” even places just ten miles apart often have variations.

The map below created by Reddit user bezzleford shows how difficult it is for Londoners to understand other English accents.

The video below, using Scottish and Irish accents as examples, illustrates how different English accents can be.

You can play audio recordings of the accents of other English accents in the British Isles on this interactive map.

English in America

The first settlers were representatives of 30 different communities of English inhabitants, the best-represented community being East Anglia – the eastern part of England comprising Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, and Essex, which could not but influence the evolution of English on the North American continent.

According to John C. Wells, the settling of the American continent then continued to the inland from east to west; therefore, pronunciation isoglosses (geographical borders of a specific pronunciation variety) in the United States can be described as “horizontal bands stretching across the country.” However, the arrival of settlers meant that the language must inevitably undergo some changes, as the new environment was bound to influence the English spoken by the first settlers.

Moreover, according to Peter Trudgill, the newcomers came into contact with Native Americans and their indigenous languages. Their language has reflected this encounter and acquired some new lexical items such as skunk or caucus. Later the inhabitants of the thirteen colonies experienced other European languages in the process of colonization that the British have not, or not in such an extent, such as Spanish or Dutch, and even German and Yiddish, from all of which American English has also borrowed vocabulary.

According to Hana Richterová, the subsequent increasing mobility of people resulted in more settlers from other European countries arriving in America, namely from Ireland, Netherlands, and many others; their language background also considerably influenced American English.

Considering the hundreds of years that American English and British English have developed with limited mutual contact, it seems natural that there are phonetic variations in American English that are not present in British English and vice versa.

There are fourteen major accents and eight English dialect areas in North America.

It’s unsurprising that 36% of Americans claim to have an accent.

New accents of English continue to emerge as English has now become the most commonly spoken international language. Nowadays, non-native speakers outnumber native speakers of English by more than two to one.

To learn more about English language have a look at the following books:

• The Adventure of English: The Biography of a Language
• The Story of English: Third Revised Edition
• Uncovering the Logic of English: A Common-Sense Approach to Reading, Spelling, and Literacy
• Workman Publishing Everything You Need to Ace English Language Arts in One Big Fat Notebook