[andersonvom]

Languages are not inherently easy or hard. It all depends on where you're coming from: if you happen to already speak languages that are similar, then it can be said English will be easy to learn, otherwise, it's a language like any other. Just ask any Japanese or Chinese speaker how easy/hard it was to learn English.

The reason English got so popular is purely because of the power and wealth English speaking nations have amassed in the recent history.