To maclean: of course Americans speak English; we invented it! It's those people in Great Britain that have trouble with it! :-) One of my business associates when working a GEMed was a Scottsman living in France. He'd been there 24 years, and spoke English with a heavy Scottish accent, but his friends there indicated he spoke French with a Belgium (?) accent. He had no idea why...:-) He and I had a great time discussing Scottish (and not so Scottish) accents in movies. Although I absolutely agree that the Internet is driving much of the global use of English today, the Internet is only 10 to 12 years old. English in global business has been fairly common for 30 years or so.