At any rate, learning languages is super fun and empowering. I can only recommend it to anyone. Even if you never get to a fluent level. You'll learn a lot more about your own language too, when understanding another's structure
I find the first one more intriguing on an academic level. Which would be the easiest to learn and become fluent in on a global scale, no matter what your native language is.
I guess both questions are interesting. Which would be the ideal lingua franca on a clean slate, and which would be the best one considering the state of the world.
I get the Imperialist connotation, but I still think English would be best because it’s just so widespread. I’ve traveled quite a bit and it seems most everywhere people speak at least a little bit of English. It also has far more
Coming back to mz's initial take, though, I also often think about this. Just the idea of being able to communicate with everyone in a language you're fluent in, no matter where you are in the world is so sexy.