The term INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE can refer to two different languages: ENGLISH and Esperanto. ENGLISH is a West Germanic language that originated in England and is now the most widely spoken language in the world. It is the official language of many countries and is used as a lingua franca in many parts of the world. Esperanto is an artificial language created in 1887 by Polish ophthalmologist L.L. Zamenhof. It was designed to be a universal second language and is now spoken by around two million people worldwide.