Современные языки международного общения.

1.Look at the table below and say:

§ which of the languages are the most widely spread languages in the world;

§ what countries these languages are spoken in;

§ where these countries are situated (continent, region).

Language	The number of people who speak this language as their first one (million)
Chinese/Mandarin
English
Hindi
Spanish
Russian
Arabic
Portuguese
Japanese
French
German

2. Try to answer the following questions.

1. Which of the languages listed above are recognized

nowadays as international languages?

2. Which of the languages are the official languages of

the United Nation Organization?

3. Which of the languages is the language of command

for NATO?

4. Which of the languages are the official languages of

UNESCO?

5. Which of the languages may be recognized as the

first language of international sport, international

aviation and modern pop music?

6. Which of the languages is often used as the language

of business, government, education in the developed

countries?

7. What languages are the official languages of the

European international organizations?

Notes:

NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organization (НАТО – североатлантический союз; союз стран, включающий в себя США и несколько Европейских государств, обеспечивающих военную помощь друг другу).

UNO – United Nations Organization (ООН – Организация Объединенных Наций).

UNESCO – United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ЮНЕСКО – Организация Объединенных Наций по вопросам образования, науки и культуры).

 

3. Now match the following answers with the questions above. Some

answers can be used several times.

a) English;

b) English, French, Russian, Spanish, German, Italian, Arabic;

c) English, French, Russian, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic;

d) English, French;

e) English, French, Russian, Spanish, German, Chinese, Arabic.

4.Read the text and say why English is the top language of

the world.

“THE LINGUA FRANCA OF THE THIRD MILLENNIUM”

Greek and Latin were the languages of culture in the ancient world, and they dropped out of general use with the end of the Roman Empire. French was widely spread in Europe for two hundred years in the 18^th and 19^th centuries but it came into the 20^th as the language of diplomacy.

Two thousand years ago English did not exist. A thousand years ago it was a language used by less than two million people. Now it is the most influential language in the world, spoken by more than a billion people as their first, second or third language. It is now the native language of twelve nations and the official or semi-official language of thirty-three more nations. As a second language English is spoken in more than 60 countries. It became the “new Latin”, the lingua franca of the 20^th century.

In terms of scientific know-how and technological development, one must know English to be a part of the 21^st century. In this context it’s not difficult to see why in Italy, for example, English is a must for many technical jobs. In China and many other countries, English is a main foreign language learned at school.

English today dominates science, business, politics, the mass media, sport and popular culture. It’s the international language of the air and a bad command of English can endanger passenger safety. It is the language of banking and industry: many international firms based in non-English countries conduct their operations throughout the world in English. In commerce, a Japanese salesman sent to Peru will negotiate the contract in English. Articles on computer technology are written in English by Frenchmen for Frenchmen to read. Swedish nuclear physicists talk professionally to each other quite naturally in English.

English is so widely spread that it has become the standard language for all kinds of international communication. At present, 80% of e-mail on the Net are in English, 60% of the world’s telephone calls are made in English, 60% of the world’s radio stations broadcast in English and more than a half of the world’s periodicals are printed in English. But where will English be at the end of the third millennium?

One view is that English is going to become even more important as a global lingua franca, dominating the world’s trade and media while most other languages will become localized or just die out. At present, over half the world’s 6,500 languages are in danger of extinction. Another view is that English is already breaking up, as Latin did, into several separate languages such as Australian English, American English and others, full of words that a British English speaker would not recognize.

Hopefully, neither of these things will happen. Although different varieties of English will continue to develop around the world, standard English will survive for international communication. English will probably stay an international language for a long time, at least while the USA remains the top superpower, but it definitely won’t become the only language in the world.

 

5.Match the following language terms with their definitions and

give Russian equivalents:

1) an official language

2) a foreign language

3) a mother tongue/ a native language

4) an international language

5) a second language

6) a modern language

7) a lingua franca

8) a standard language

a) a language recognized by more than one nation as a means of

communication between countries for solving world

problems;

b) a non-native language that is widely used in a community in

addition to the language you learned as a child;

c) the language spoken in a country and used in government,

language schools, etc.

d) a language that is spoken at the present time;

e) the first and main language that you learned as a child;

f) the form of the language that is considered to be correct

spoken by most native people;

g) a non-native language taught at school;

h) a language used in a multilingual country or between

the countries whose languages are different.

 

6.Fill in the correct word from exercise 4.

1. Travelling abroad is much easier if you know one or more

__________ languages.

2. It’s more useful to learn ____________ languages like

Italian and French than classical languages such as Latin or

Greek.

3. The ___________ languages in Canada are English and

French.

4. My mother tongue is Arabic, and my __________ language

is French. I’ve learnt it at school.

5. Japanese is her ______ ______ but she also speaks German.

6. Esperanto is an artificial _____________ language.

7. About 1000 languages and dialects are spoken in India, so

English often serves as a ___________ for most of its

people.

 

7. Read and learn the following dialogue.

A: How do you think your English is?

B: I think it’s all right.

A: How long have you studied English?

B: I’ve been learning it for ten years.

A: Do you think it’s useful to be able to speak English?

B: Very useful. It’s an international language today.

A: Don’t you think Chinese will be the most popular language

in the future?

B: No, I don’t think so. It’s more difficult than English and it

is only localized in China.

A: Are you going to continue learning English?

B: Yes, I hope so. I need it for my future job, as I’m going to

be an engineer.

 

8. Give your opinions on the statements below. You may use the following expressions to start with: “In my opinion,…”, “I believe, …”, “To my mind,…”, “I agree that…”, “I can’t agree that…”, “I disagree that…”, “Actually I think…”, “I’m sure…”, “I’m not sure…”, “It seems to me…”, “As far as I know…”

1) By the middle of the 21^st century, another language

besides English may become the world’s top

language.

2) English will remain the world’s language for

international communication.

3) It would be fair if people learned an artificial

language as their second language.

4) A good command of English is very important for

many jobs.

 

9. Now make up your own dialogue using the following cues. Add

some more arguments.

Student A

Explain to your partner why you don’t think learning English is a good idea

- very difficult grammar (phonetics);

- boring lessons;

- not necessary in Russia;

- not needed for a job;

- have no gift for languages.

Student B

Convince your partner that English is worth learning

- much more difficult languages such as…

- listen to songs, watch films, read books…

- travel, meet foreigners, surf the Net…

- a must for a good specialist because…

- requires a lot of time, patience and wish.

10. Write a composition (about 100 - 150 words) on one of the

topics:

1)How can people use English in their everyday life?

2) What language would you recommend your friend to

learn? Why?

You should use the following plan:

1. Make an introduction (state your general opinion).

2. Write two or three paragraphs with different arguments

to support your opinion.

3. Make a conclusion, expressing your opinion in other words.

 

11. Language problems. Learn the following phrases by heart,

then make up short dialogues with your partner, using them.

1. I’m sorry, I don’t understand. 2. What’s this in English?

3. Could you repeat that, please? 4. How do you say

торговля in English?

5. Could you speak more slowly? 6. How do you spell

government?

7. What does mass media mean? 8. What is the English

for государство?

12. Learn about some differences in British and American variants

of English.

American British

apartment квартира flat

bar бар pub

battery (automobile) аккумулятор accumulator

can консервы tin

candies конфеты sweets

cookie печенье biscuit

druggist аптекарь chemist

elevator лифт lift

flashlight фонарик torch

french fries жареный картофель chips

gas бензин petrol

mailman почтальон postman

private school частная школа public school

raincoat плащ mackintosh

second floor второй этаж first floor

subway метрополитен tube

truck грузовик lorry

vacation отпуск, каникулы holiday

 

Vocabulary

an artificial language искусственный язык

break up, v распадаться

a command of a language владение языком

conduct, v вести, проводить

development, n развитие

dominate, v главенствовать

drop out, v выйти, исчезнуть

exist, v существовать

extinction, n вымирание

foreign, adj иностранный

a gift for languages способности к языкам

localize, v ограничивать

распространение

multilingual, adj многоязычный

a must, n необходимость

negotiate, v вести переговоры,

договариваться

to negotiate a contract заключать контракт

recognize, v признавать

remain, v оставаться, сохраняться

scientific, adj научный

to surf the Internet «бродить» по Интернету

survive, v выжить

widely spread широко распространенный

 

Keys to ex. 3: 1b, 2c, 3a, 4e, 5a, 6a, 7d.

Keys to ex. 5: 1c; 2g; 3e; 4a; 5b; 6d; 7h; 8f.

Keys to ex. 6: 1-2), 2-6), 3-1), 4-5), 5-3), 6-4), 7-7).