&gt;<i>On a related note: why are we putting up with other languages anyway? I&#x27;ve been asking myself for a long time why we (as in humanity) don&#x27;t try to standardize on a language.</i><p>Because we value our languages and cultures, thank you very much?<p>Especially if you happened to be born a native English speaking, and you propose this from that vantage point, it comes as borderline racist, and reminds me of this except from Bernard Shaw&#x27;s Julius Caesar:<p>&quot;Pardon him, Theodotus: he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature.&quot;<p>English the language of the internet? It is perhaps the language of YOUR internet. The Chinese internet is as big -- and there&#x27;s the Indian internet, the Spanish speaking internet, and tons more besides.<p>Why not just get rid of other cultures too, and just keep anglo-saxon culture?<p>Imagine how easier things could be then, not only we&#x27;ll have one language, but we could all relate to the same stuff...<p>Oh, and about those English -- it&#x27;s dominance in the last centuries is just a historical accident, caused by British and then US power. Even the very term used to describe such a phenomenon, &quot;lingua franca&quot; is not English. The main language used to be Greek, then Latin, then French and English, etc. And that&#x27;s mostly on the Western part of the world (Europe, US etc) -- that westerners tend to think it&#x27;s the whole world, but it&#x27;s hardly 10-20% of the global population. The &quot;lingua franca&quot; could be again very different in 1 or 2 centuries...