@Micheleyee@neurodifferent.me @thor I don't think any language has the capability to dethrone English after it has already become the de facto international standard. And surely not because of economic advantage, that mattered before when they were still competing on which will become that standard and there was not the absolutely insane inertia of having to convince everyone in the world who already learned it to switch.

IMO the only way English can be replaced is when automatic translators reach the level where two people can just speak different languages and communicate, at which point it's as likely that the dominant one will become some artificial language that makes sense like Esperanto than simply the native language of the current economically strongest empire.