The former Dutch colony of Suriname is seeking a lingua franca to serve as the primary language among its nearly half a million inhabitants. There are more than ten languages found commonly throughout this South American country including the current official language of Dutch, Chinese, Hindi, Portuguese, English, Javanese and half a dozen original Creoles. While some push for English as the new language of choice, others fancy Sranan Tongo (a Creole developed by slaves in the 17th century). The New York Times has more.
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Well, don’t think too much about it. Spanish is geographically correct, but English is still very useful. Flip the coin and get one of these two mega-languages. Or go for Portuguese, since Brazil is so large and just next door. Creole languages won’t go away, but would exclude surinamians from ther neighbours.