I think your point about cultural dominance, and specifically youth culture, is the key one. I travel a fair bit and it still surprises me how often I hear Eng

I think your point about cultural dominance, and specifically youth culture, is the key one. I travel a fair bit and it still surprises me how often I hear English, usually lyrics, regardless of the local language. English isn't particularly logical. This is partly because it is a hodge-podge of Germanic and Latin roots. I think its also because it's so widely used. It's accepted a ton of vocab from around the world and usage seems to have a "natural selection" effect on grammar. I'm not sure I agree about French. It was the main diplomatic language before American hegemony but I'm not sure it ever really took off much as a second language. I actually think that German was the natural choice if things had turned out differently. The reason is that, in the 20s and 30s, German was the lingua franca of science and technology. Germany was also a pioneer in film. These were only just starting to dominate culture at that time and, without the upheaval of WWII, could easily have spread from there.