English as lingua franca

What do Airbus, Nokia and Rwanda have in common? They all regard English as their preferred language, writes Michael Skapinker. As a European aircraft manufacturer with French, German, British and Spanish roots, Airbus has always used English as its common language. Nokia, the mobile phone maker based in Finland, uses the language as its gateway to the world. And Rwanda has adopted English as an official language and promotes its use in its education system.

There have been languages before that have been widely spoken. In his book The Last Lingua Franca, Nicholas Ostler writes that in 100AD a traveller could go from Spain to the Hindu Kush speaking Greek all the way. But no language has ever been spoken in as many places as English is today.