The world's second language?

The discussions on how to save the euro were, bizarrely conducted in English, though there were not a Briton in sight. The Sunday Times 14/02/10

According to David Graddol's extensive survey for the British Council, the number of non-native or second language speakers of English now outnumbers those of primary or native speakers. At the same time there is an ever increasing need for speakers of different languages to communicate with each other:

International tourism is growing, but the  proportion of encounters involving a native English speaker is declining (1.9). There were around 763 million international travellers in 2004, but nearly three-quarters of visits involved visitors from a non-English-speaking country travelling to a non-English speaking  destination. This demonstrates the scale of need for face-to-face international communi-
cation and a growing role for global English.

English: Global Language FAQ