English as the Dominant Language: is it good or bad?

Without a doubt, English is the language of commerce and politics.  My experience studying abroad at the business school of Pforzheim, Germany gave me first hand exposure to how wide-spread the English is.  I was blown away by the German students' ability to speak and write the English language fluently.  In many ways, their knowledge of the language surpasses mine.  The issue here is, is it really a good thing that English is such as dominant language around world?

Personally, I do not believe in having a dominant language to the point where many other languages are forgotten.  The rate at which these languages are disappearing is happening rapidly.  "One world language is lost every two weeks when the last speaking member of the particular linguistic group dies" (Burton 127).  I am in favor of the doubling process discussed in Rob Burton's book, Artists of the Floating World.  This is a process that allows for languages to co-exist.  It has been done in South Africa in which English is used mainly for commerce and politics while the generation population still maintains their unique languages.  A major requirement for this process is that it takes a strong commitment to develop it.  The commitment is well worth it if it will prevent languages from being lost.

Being an English Speaker in Germany, it made it harder to learn the German language because many students are capable of English.  That was a disadvantage for myself.  I almost wished English wasn't so dominant.