Quote Originally Posted by Centurio Nixalsverdrus View Post
4. The rise of the internet.
There are more Chinese internet users than American ones :P

But as for English it's got to be the British Empire, it did cover a quarter of the surface of the Earth after all...

North America and Australia are obvious first thoughts, but the Empire also brought English to much of Africa, and also the Indian subcontinent which has a population heading towards 2 billion. There are more people in the world who speak English as a second language than those who speak it as their first - and this is from the Empire. The language continues to grow from the cultural influences of these (relatively) new English speakers - not just from the US :)