English is the current lingua franca of international business, education, science, technology, diplomacy, entertainment, radio, seafaring, and aviation.
Why did English gain this prominence & not another language like Icelandic, Danish, Hindi, Khmer, Thai, for instance? Why do countries where the official language isn't English find it important to learn English?
hi! more information is welcome, but fyi you can get started on this in the FAQ
Will English stay the "ultimate lingua franca"?
Note that speculation is not permitted in this sub. If you'd like to pursue that question, it would do better in another sub.
The mod FAQ link gives all the details, so I'll just give the TL;DR and you can go there:
It's probably not very surprising, but there is of course no global language institution deciding what language becomes the lingua franca. It is really a result of lots of non-native speakers asking themselves the same question: "What language other than my native language is most advantages for me to learn?"
How do you decided what is most advantages? Well, it will differ from person to person, but in general learning the language of the richest and most powerful people in the known world, that will often win out. French became the original lingua franca because France was the richest and most powerful nation in Europe.
The British Empire, as the first nation to industrialise, was the richest and most powerful nation throughout the 19th century. When the Brits waned in the 20th century, America picked up the slack by becoming the new superpower. Those two are the core of why English gained that status it has.
But I'll add two caveats:
Nations under British colonial control will have had a different history than nations outside British control. You can find more details on this in the FAQ responses.
There are still many people who learn languages other than English for their global presence. French and Spanish is still widely spoken in areas that used to be under their respective colonial rules. Chinese is of course gaining popularity. English is the general lingua franca, but it is not as all-pervasive as it might seem from an English speaker's perspective (there's a real selection bias there).