I was thinking about the standardization of language recently, and was wondering if there was ever an attempt to found a central academy to standardize and preserve the English language? I know that such institutions exist for French and Swedish, but can only think of dictionary-compilers for English.
Well, the British Empire would frequently teach English and British social constructs to the indigenous peoples' of every locale they occupied. This would be the closest thing to a standardized, multinational English Academy.
They went so far as to set up an English school everywhere they were, but they usually only taught to the trusted locals that helped prop up their empires; basically the indigenous aristocrats putting it plainly. They did this to establish standard forms of communication between the British Empire and the locals within each occupied locale, which would monopolize the region since the people would only know how to speak English, and thus only work/trade with the British.
British India is a great example of this, with Britain renewing the British East India Charter in 1813, which included a mandate that stated British missionaries employed by the British East India Company were to establish a standardized English educational system in India to first teach Indians English and then to teach them British social constructs and modern skills. Thomas Macaulay, a British historian and influencer was the key figure who established English schools in India at the time and he pushed so hard for Britain to establish formal English schools in India and other Eastern regions, that Britain caved and passed the English Education Act of 1835, which mandated all British East India funds, that were allocated for education, must be spent on formally teaching English in India and teaching it through a standardized method built upon British social constructs. Here is a link to one of Macaulay's most famous writings, a letter to the British govt stating why he believed English should be formally taught to Indians and other Eastern nations in a standardized fashion. It is believed that this letter was what finally pushed Britain to institute that Education Act of 1835.
The British Empire had planned to carry this out in China as well, but China was too far away from Britain to solidly enforce British rule, so their efforts failed there.