Part 4: Understanding the text Task 7: What, when and who? Answer these questions about the text in Part 3. 1. What do the following numbers refer to in the text?
a. 7,000 b. 700 c.
90 d. Two billion
2. What do you think lingua franca (line 10) means? 3. Which language has the most native speakers?
Task 8: How? Now answer these ‘how?’ questions about the text in Part 3. 1. How do languages die out?
2. How does the author describe globalization? Why does the author do this?
Task 9: Why? Now answer these ‘why?’ questions about the text in Part 3.
1. Why does the author say “every year around a hundred languages die” rather than giving a specific number?
2. Why are languages dying out? Write your answer in your own words.
3. Why do some people think language death is acceptable? What are the counterarguments?