Which country will have the most English language speakers? It will be China with the Financial Times reporting that China is about to get more English-language speakers than India. Whereas an estimated 55 million speak English in India, China is increasing its English language speakers by 20 million a year.

Why English? Because that's the language of commerce and it's all part of a broader goal to encourage greater use of English to help boost China internationally.

The deeply ironic part is that will keep the US from fading. As reported in this foreign policy journal , the world is about to go from a 7000-language planet to a couple of hundred languages at the most. That means English will be the major medium of communication in many countries and the second-most prevalent in China, Japan, Korea, and much of Africa and Latin America. And that will shore up the strength of the US which has taken quite a hammering over the past two years

"Whether it's Latin during the first century or French in the 18th, great powers and global lingua francas tend to go together. So while the unipolar moment may be over, the growing influence of English will ensure that the United States doesn't fade into the sunset anytime soon."