Unit 8

8.1
1 350 million people speak English as a first language.
2 300 million speak Spanish as a first language.
3 There are 1.5 billion speakers of English as a first, second, or foreign language.
4 1.2 billion people speak Chinese as a first language.
5 43,000 are learning Chinese as a foreign language.
8.2
I=Interviewer, L=Professor Lucas
I Professor Lucas. Thank you for joining us in our first programme about the world’s
most important languages. Can we talk about Chinese first? A lot of people today
think Chinese will be the next world language. What do you think?
L Well, as we all know, China has the world’s biggest population – 1.2 billion, and this
number is increasing, but in my opinion, Chinese won’t be the next world language. I
think a lot more people will learn Chinese, to do business with China, but millions of
Chinese people are now learning English. In fact, there are more people learning
English in China today than there are people living in America.
I Really? So the Chinese think English will be the world’s future language?
L Yes, I think they do.
I Right. Let’s talk about Spanish, then. It’s an important language today. In your
opinion will it continue to be important?
L Oh, yes, definitely. 300 million people speak Spanish as a first language and I’m sure
it’ll always be important for people who do business with South America and Spain.
It’s important in the US, too – 50% of the population of Los Angeles are Spanish
speakers, and in the US there are 300 Spanish TV channels and 200 Spanish
newspapers.
I Really? So Spanish will continue to be important?
L Oh, I think so. Yes, definitely.
I Could we talk about computers now? Many people say language learning won’t be
necessary in the future because computers will translate everything for us. What do you
think?
L Maybe. I’m not sure. I think computer translations will get better, but I don’t think
computers will make translators unnecessary because people understand language
better than computers.
I So people will still need to learn English to communicate internationally?
L Oh, yes, I’m sure they will. Today 1.5 billion people speak English – that’s more than
the population of China, and it’s the international language of business, travel, science,
technology and medicine. It’s difficult to imagine Chinese in that role. And of course
English is important because of the economic and political importance of the US. So,
for all these reasons, I think English will continue to be the world’s international
language.
I Thank you, Professor Lucas. And with that prediction we come to the end of today’s
programme.
8.3
1 He’ll come later.
2 You’ll feel better soon.
3 She’ll be here on Friday.
4 We’ll get the news tomorrow.
5 It won’t rain today.
6 You won’t have any problems.
7 They won’t be at the meeting.
8 I won’t leave this evening.
8.4
address E cardphone H
envelope D fax machine M
postbox/mailbox B mobile phone/cell phone G
postcard A phone with answerphone L
postcode/zipcode F payphone J
stamp C phone card I
phone book K
CD ROM U
disk T
disk drive P
email address X
keyboard Q
laptop Y
8.5
1 The website is www dot freeserve dot net, that’s freeserve, all one word, dot n-e-t
all lower case.
2 My email address is: j dot ellis, that’s e-double l-i-s at dialstart, that’s d-i-a-l-s-t-a-
r-t dot co dot uk, all lower case.
3 My email address is: timflan, that’s all one word, t-i-m-f-l-a-n at a-o-l dot com.
8.6
1 The website is www.cnn.com.
2 The website is www.healthnet.org.uk, that’s h-e-a-l-t-h-n-e-t dot o-r-g dot u-k.
3 My email address is russelg@clara.net, that’s all lower case, russel r-u-s-s-e-l, g,
at clara, that’s c-l-a-r-a dot net.
4 My email address is p.pezzini@rol.com, that’s all lower case, p dot pezzini, that’s
p-e-z-z-i-n-i at r-o-l dot com.
5 My email address is roychapman@altavista.net, r-o-y-c-h-a-p-m-a-n all one word
and altavisita is a-l-t-a-v-i-s-t-a.