English Language Day – October 13, 2026

History of English Language Day

The English Project launched the world’s first-ever English Language Day on October 13 in 2009. English Language Day is celebrated to commemorate October 13, 1362, when Parliament was opened for the first time by a speech in English, instead of French. In the same Parliament, a Statute of Pleading was approved that allowed members in debate to use the English language. This made English the official language of law and law-making.

English is a vast language. There are more than 250,000 words in an Oxford Dictionary — minus a lot of technical, scientific, and slang words. English is probably the only language with as many synonyms for many of its words, largely because of its enormous absorbing capacity — borrowing words from as many languages as possible, including German, Greek, Portuguese, French, Latin, and even the language of the colonies where it became widespread. Years of colonialism meant that English now also had words from Asian, the Caribbean, and African cultures. The English language has always been eager to adopt and adapt words and phrases from other languages. The willingness to adapt itself is probably what makes English so different from other languages, such as French.

The English language is easily the most broadly used and spoken language on the planet, and it enjoys a good reputation for adapting words, concepts, and cultural influences from around the world. This adds to the language’s enormous vocabulary, one that is full of odd rules, spellings, and grammar. English Language Day remembers and celebrates the incredible popularity of the language and even its eccentricities!