English is a modern lingua franca. It is a leading language in so many areas: from global affairs and science to entertainment. One of the reasons for that lies in the colonial history of the British Crown in the 17th century, when the British Empire became the biggest empire in history. With colonialism, trade relations boomed, following the progress in science, industrial manufacturing and literature. However, there were many other competing languages, such as French, Spanish and German. To know more about how English won the competition against other languages to become a global communication tool, watch this short part of the video, "Why Did English Become the International Language?"
"Why Did English Become the International Language?" starting at 02:40. Watch through at least 05:28.
lingua franca—a language that is adopted as a common language between speakers whose native languages are different.