This week we’ll be taking a quick look at just how English became English and a little bit of how it’s also managed to become the go-to language in a variety of fields, including sports.

The beginnings of the English language as we know it probably arrived in Britain with the Angles, Saxons and Jutes around the 5th century AD. Considered the “founders” of England and Wales, these tribes, which had migrated from what is now northern Germany and southern Denmark, brought with them the dialects that eventually formed the foundation of the language that became Old English, or Anglo-Saxon.

The next interlopers into England were the Vikings around 800 AD. The Old Norse language they brought with them helped to simplify Old English a bit as well as provide it with pronouns such as “they,” “them” and “their.”

In 1066, the invasion of William the Conqueror introduced Norman French to England when it became the language of the ruling class. The thousands of words it contributed to the language (especially those having to do with law, government, cuisine and art) contributed greatly to the rise of what we know today as Middle English.

By the late 15th century Early Modern English was emerging thanks to the 1476 introduction into the country of Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press by William Claxton. Not only did the printing press provide much greater access to written material, it also aided greatly in bringing uniformity to the language and introduced many Greek and Latin words to it during the Renaissance.

The invention of the press also allowed the works of William Shakespeare to be widely disseminated. These works included 1,700 or so words that the Bard gets credit for inventing. Along with the writings of Shakespeare, the printing press made possible the King James Bible in 1611, and eventually Samuel Johnson’s “A Dictionary of the English Language” in 1755.

Today English is an official language of 67 countries and 27 non-sovereign entities. While Chinese Mandarin is by far the most spoken language given China’s huge population, English is the world’s language for business, commerce, science, research and more.

More than 1.35 billion people speak English with some degree of fluency, while 360 million people speak it as their native language. “Many countries use English as a lingua franca or a de facto working language to facilitate communication between citizens who speak different languages,” says Berlitz.com.

Since 96% of us 335 million Americans speak English, it’s also our official language, right? Well, until yesterday at least, March 1, no, the United States didn’t have one. “That’s because the USA is a multilingual territory,” says Berlitz, “and has been even before the founding of the republic. Not declaring an official language — despite the fact that English has always been its predominant language — was a way of protecting that linguistic diversity.”

However, the White House announced Friday that President Trump will sign an executive order any day now making English the country’s official language.

In addition to its use as the official language of the world’s commercial airlines, English is also widely used by many of the world’s top sports organizations. Soccer’s governing body, FIFA, claims four official languages (English, Spanish, French, and German), but English is the official language for announcements, minutes, and correspondence.

And much to the dismay of Tour de France organizers, English is now also the default language of cycling’s biggest race. In lieu of French, many riders conduct interviews in English, something unheard of until recently. Over the past decade not speaking English has increasingly been seen as a handicap during the event.

English is also one of the International Olympic Committee’s three official languages, along with French and the chosen language of the host country (unless, of course, they already use French or English).