Men have always had the need to communicate but the diversity of languages have not

helped much. The myth of the Tower of Babel which appears in Genesis reminds us of
an imaginary past where everybody spoke the same tongue. This dream of sharing a
universal language is present along history. There have been many examples of “bridge
languagues” among different speaking communities which served as lingua franca.

Each historical period has had a specific lingua franca which has been used as a sort of
international tongue. During the Hellenistic civilization and the Roman Empire Greek
and Latin were the lingua francas. Although Latin is considered a “dead language”
many scientist still wrote their books and articles in Latin until the XIX century.

German was also a lingua franca in large portions of Europe from 1200 to 1600 during
the Holy Roman Empire and French was the language of diplomacy in Europe from the
17th century and it was also the lingua franca of European literature in the 18th century.
Nowadays English is the current lingua franca of international business, science,
technology and aviation. The rise of English in diplomacy began in 1919, in the
aftermath of World War I, when the Treaty of Versailles was written in English as well
as in French, the dominant language used in diplomacy until that time.

By the end of the 20th century a French-speaking retired IBM executive made a very
interesting observation about the role of English. In a posting in Japan in the 1990s,
Nerriere noticed that, in meetings, non-native English speakers were communicating
far more successfully with their Korean and Japanese clients than British or US
executives, for whom English was the mother tongue. Standard English was all very
well for Anglophone societies, but out there in the wider world, a non-native
"decaffeinated English", declared Nerriere, was becoming the new global phenomenon.
In a moment of inspiration, he named it "Globish". Globish has only 1,500 words and
users must avoid humour, metaphor, abbreviation and anything else that can cause
cross-cultural confusion.
Answer the questions with your own words
1. What are the differences between Globish and English?
2. When did English start to be the language of diplomacy?
3. Why have lingua francas been so important in history?
True or false? Justify your answer copying from the text
4. Nerriere made his discovery of Globish when he was retired
5. The historic event of Babel shows that people spoke a common language in
ancient times
6. French was defeated by English in diplomacy in the 20th century
7. The use of Latin died when the Rome lost its empire
8. Most Europeans spoke German in the past
Lexicon
9. Give an antonym of dead (adj)
10. Give a synonym of executive (noun)
11. Find a synonym of light in the text (adj)
12. Give a synonym of named (verb)