It is not about "according" a status, it is about checking what sphere of influence can have such and such language in determined environments. But even if you choose to exchange "culturally neutralized" goods chances are the amount of translation involved is not going to be small. Besides, the newly expanded EC has certainly given German a huge boost, and probably not English.
> The practical solution, of course, which is totally politically
> incorrect but is already in operation, is to use English as the basic
> world language. Completely unfair, I would
Already in operation ? Where ? Basic world language ? For what ? Is it because the only language you use on LBO is a dialect of English that you propose that ?
> If China continues to grow in world economic importance, that, plus
> its population and its historical/cultural prestige, will make it a
> contender for the world language status presently held by English. But
> its great lack of resemblance to the Indo-European languages, which
> are spoken by most of the economically advanced and advancing nations
> (including Russia and India), is a considerably handicap.
As I wrote about Japan it probably is not a factor of "world economic importance". Chinese has already a sphere of economic and cultural influence, something that Japan never had and your "Indo-European" centered opinion fails to see that the "world basic english" you mention is a 200 words sub dialect that has not much to do with what is needed to actually transfer complex information.
JC Helary