Just to be clear, I am not advocating not learning a second language. The key here is most definitely not the total number of people who speak a language as their mother tongue. It is the dominance of English as a second language. Clearly, Mandarin is spoken by huge numbers, as is French, Spanish and Portugese. However, I would hazard a guess that English is the choice of the vast majority of Mandarin, French, Spanish and Portugese speakers and has become, by default, the international language. That was my point. The benefits of learning multiple languages in terms of being able to communicate, understand cultural differences and improve social relationships are undoubted.