In many European countries, you cannot get a good job (like one with an international company) unless you can communicate in English at CEFRL B1 proficiency [1].
China may very well become the largest economy in the world, and there is no way that Chinese, as a multi-toned, symbolic language, will ever become the Lingua franca, as it is near impossible for most adults to learn, in contrast to English [2].
It can be argued that the European Union has failed/is failing, at least partially, because of a lack of a common language. In the peak periods of the Roman Empire, Latin was the Lingua franca that enabled business transactions, along with Roman law, the precursors of civil law as a framework.
In many states in India, people speak many languages just to navigate life on a daily basis.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_European_Framework_of_R...
[2]
http://pinyin.info/readings/texts/moser.html
China may very well become the largest economy in the world, and there is no way that Chinese, as a multi-toned, symbolic language, will ever become the Lingua franca, as it is near impossible for most adults to learn, in contrast to English [2].
It can be argued that the European Union has failed/is failing, at least partially, because of a lack of a common language. In the peak periods of the Roman Empire, Latin was the Lingua franca that enabled business transactions, along with Roman law, the precursors of civil law as a framework.
In many states in India, people speak many languages just to navigate life on a daily basis.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_European_Framework_of_R...
[2] http://pinyin.info/readings/texts/moser.html