81 English as a world language What do you need English for in your daily life? Do you think it will be important for you later in life as well? Discuss your ideas with a partner and share them with the class. Read the article below. Write down the main idea and at least one supporting detail for each paragraph. SPEAKING 3 READING 4 Describing language use Find the correct terms for these definitions in the article above. LANGUAGE 5 Listen to four students talking about the importance of learning a foreign language despite current technological advances. Take notes. Compare your notes with a partner. Which of the reasons do you think is the most important and which is the least important? Why? Then compare your ranking with another pair. Discuss the following questions in your group and write down your answers: 1 Have you ever experimented with an AI program when learning a foreign language? How did it work for you? 2 What do you think about the reliability of AI technology? 3 How could you use an AI program to increase your motivation to learn a foreign language? LISTENING 6a 18 b SPEAKING 7 a a language used to make communication possible between people who speak different languages b the language you learn when you are a small child because your parents speak it c a language you learn when you are older and can already speak another language d the language used by the government of a country, taught in schools and used for laws, etc. Do you speak English? Did you know there are around 7,000 different languages spoken in the world? This means there are an awful lot of people who don’t share a language with you. What do you do when you’re on holiday and don’t speak the local language? Chances are you might use English as a lingua franca (a common language) to communicate with people. There are around 385 million people who speak English as their first language, and nowadays it is almost expected that everyone will know at least some English. Around one billion people speak it as an additional language, but how and why did English become the world’s lingua franca? The British colonised large parts of the world, and in the 1920s, the British Empire reached its peak. At that time, a quarter of the world’s land was under British control. You may have heard the phrase “The sun never sets on the British Empire,” and this was literally true. Britain had colonised so many countries that, at its height, it was always daylight somewhere in the Empire. Colonisation may have spread English around the globe, but it is important to remember that people in the colonised regions were often forced to speak this foreign language. They also had resources taken from them and were controlled in violent and brutal ways. The British Empire was responsible for many injustices, and local people were often forced to work as slaves for the colonisers. As a result of the spread of English, some of these countries still have English as their official language despite speaking other languages too. Colonisation helped make English global, but mass media, digital technology and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) have further increased its influence. Today, English dominates advertising and the internet, from social media to AI-driven tools like virtual assistants and translation services. In addition, English is widely used by travellers and is the universal language for pilots. So, next time you’re on holiday abroad, listen carefully to see who uses English as a lingua franca, and notice how often you do this yourself! Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
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