Languages and Language Diversity

Listening, Reading and Vocabulary

բարի լույս

早安Bonjour

Guten Morgenκαλημέρα

おはようございます

좋은 아침

خیر به صبح

Dzień Dobry

доброе утроGod Morgon

chao buôi sang

ดตอนเชา

Buenos DíasGood Morning

Magandang Umaga

Tagalo

Armenian

Chinese

Greek

French

PolishPersian

Russian

Vietnamese

Spanish

Thai

Swedish

English

Sign Languag

e

Korean

German

Japanese

Warm Up1. How many languages do you think

there are in the world?2. Do you think languages change?3. Do you think English will replace

other languages?4. What other language would you like

to learn?5. What language do you think it would

be difficult for you to learn? Why?

system (n)• a technique, method,

procedure practice

Every person has a system for learning a foreign language.

characters (n)• a single letter or mark used in writing

Do you know how many characters are in the Chinese language?

form (v)• to create, make, shape, construct

The children formed a circle and played a game.

meaningful (adj.)• significant, with meaning, with

sense

Kathy writes meaningful poems which deals with social issues.

Hearing-impaired

hearing-impaired (adj.)• having a reduced or poor ability to

hear

Hearing aids are used by some hearing-impaired senior citizens.

Sign Language

sign language (n)• a system of communicating with

gestures

Peter learned sign language in order to communicate with his deaf parents.

borrow (v)• to copy or take words from

another language

English has borrowed words from French; for example, cinema, souvenir, and petite.

specialist (n)• a person who is an expert on something

Brian’s general doctor sent him to see a heart specialist.

refer to (v) • stand for, suggest, signify,

mean

Poultry refers to the meat from animals that have feathers.

divide (v)• split into parts, separate

The Mississippi river divides the west of Louisiana from the east.

brain (n)• the organ in the head used for

thinking and feeling

Humans have large brains.

bilingual (adj.)• speaking two languages

Steve is bilingual . He speaks Italian and English.

past (n)• the time before the present,

everything that happened previously

Rosie has a mysterious past.

Nobody knows about her background.

rate (n)• speed or pace in which

something moves, the cost of something

Slaves were forced to work at a rapid rate in the cotton fields.

The rate for the trip on that bus is $2.50.

estimate (v) (n)• to calculate something

The government estimates that it would take years before the economy recovers.

linguist (n)• a person who knows several

languages and their structure

Molly wrote a book on the origin of the English language. She is a well-known linguist.

Pronunciation• system• character• form• meaningful• hearing-impaired• sign language• borrow• specialist

• refer to• divide• brain• bilingual• rate• estimate• linguists

Verb Noun Adjective Adverb

instruct instruction instructiveinstructor

dishonesty dishonest dishonestly

imagine imagination unimaginative unimaginatively

invent inventioninventor

inventive inventively

interview interviewinterviewer

characterize characteristic uncharacteristic uncharacteristically

psychologypsychologist

psychological psychologically

beg beggardepend on dependability undependable dependably