It's a pity that many people feel possessive about their own language and take objective comments as if they were personal criticisms. To some extent language equates to national identity, and the link between national language and national culture is very strong. Therefore it is not surprising that purely scientific and linguistic arguments get submerged in political and cultural contentions.
However, I maintain that objective and practical arguments can be put forward for and against particular languages becoming global means of communication.
One of the most important considerations must surely be the ease with which the writing system can be acquired. Objective statistics can easily prove that the length of time it takes, for example, a Spanish or Russian child to acquire competence in reading and writing is quite different from the length of time it takes a Chinese child to reach the same level of literacy.
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