Roughly 60 percent of today's world population is bilingual or multilingual and it is argued that this is a new phenomenon. Today Spanish and Arabic are widely spoken whilst English is the world's most commonly spoken and written language. However, 500 years ago it was Latin which was the main language of education, religion, commerce and government in the Western World despite this not being most people's first language. In the 17th century, French and Italian gained in importance as languages of international trade.

Which one of the following can be drawn as a conclusion of the above passage?