“English is the nearest thing there has ever been to a global language. Its worldwide reach is much greater than anything achieved historically by Latin or French, and there has never been a language as widely spoken as English. Many would reasonably claim that, in the fields of business, academics, science, computing, education, transportation, politics and entertainment, English is already established as the de facto lingua franca.”
Fonte: http://www.thehistoryofenglish.com/issues_global.html
Pay attention to the next video focusing on the impact of the globalization in the English language.