Although Mandarin is the world’s number one language in terms of the number of native language speakers (almost 900 million, incidentally...), English is the most widely spoken language in terms of the number of overall speakers, estimated to be somewhere in the region of 1.5 billion people.

And the English language is also expected to meet a magic milestone soon – its one millionth word! That’s right, English will officially reach that special landmark figure sometime in June, meaning the language will have double the number of words as Cantonese - the next most dense language; and ten times as many as French.

It really is quite a staggering amount of words, however, it’s unlikely most people will use even a fraction of the words – it’s estimated that the average person uses no more than 14,000 words, with the wordiest of wordsmiths using no more than 70,000.

As a translation company, we’re fully aware of the richness of the English vernacular and how it’s possible to say the same thing in countless different ways. And sometimes the difference in meaning between seemingly identical texts can be very hard to articulate to non-native English speakers.

Of course, all languages will have similar nuances in meaning, requiring the expertise and local knowledge of a qualified, ‘in-country’ native translator. But as a language that is about to reach double the density of its closest rival, it’s probably safe to say that English has a richness and depth no other language can match.