SCHOOL NAME....

AW RLD

RAL
Members of the group:

The
I
 WELC☺ME TO THE WORLD OF MANY
LANGUAGES!

1. All the words below mean “welcome”. Can you identify the languages?
A) Match the words with the languages.
a) WELCOME
b) BEM-VINDO
1. Turkish c) HOS GELDINIZ
2. Italian d)
3. Afrikaans 4. German BIENVENUE
5. Spanish e) MIRESEVINI
6. French 7. Esperanto f) VERWELKOMEN
8. Nigerian g) BIENVENIDO
9. Creole 10. Albanian h) VITEJTE
11. Polish i) BENVENUTI
12. Czech 13. English j) BYENVENI
14. Dutch k) BONVENON
15. Portuguese l) WITAMY
m) WILLKOMMEN
n) BARKA DA ZUWA
o) WELKOM

1 point each

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

B) One of the languages mentioned above was created to facilitate communication amongst
people from different countries. It was launched in 1887 and it is a mixture of several
European languages, with a very simple grammar structure. 4 points
Which language are we talking about?

2. Of the 6,700 different languages that are spoken around the world today, perhaps only
2,000 will survive the coming century.
Here are the world’s major languages ranked according to the number of people
who have each as their mother tongue.

millions millions

800 160
Chinese Arabic

2
 370 160
English Portuguese
290 155
Spanish Bengali
275 130
Russian German
250 120
Hindustani Japanese

2 points each
A) Look at the tables and say whether these sentences are True or False.

True False

1. Arabic has the same number of first language speakers as Portuguese. ❒(a) ❒(e)
2. Chinese has the largest number of first language speakers. ❒(r) ❒(c)
3. English is the third most spoken language in the world. ❒(i) ❒(a)
4. More people have Russian as their first language than German and ❒(b) ❒(n)
Japanese together.

5. Less people speak Japanese than any other language. ❒(i) ❒(h)
6. There aren’t so many people who speak Arabic as Bengali. ❒(o) ❒(c)

B. Now, put the letters in brackets from the right answers in the table below and find
out one language which reads from right to left.

“Learning a foreign language helps to create international understanding.”

II – THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

2 points each
1. In Shakespeare’s time only a few million people spoke English.
Today, one person out of seven in the world speaks perfect English.
A) The main stages of the history of the English language are summarised
below. Order them chronologically.

After the Viking invasion, between 750 and 1050, Scandinavian languages influenced
several dialects of English, especially in the north of England.
Before the Roman invasion of Britain, the language spoken there was Celtic.
3
 The role of English as an international language began with the Industrial Revolution,
which triggered a global restructuring of work and leisure.
The Romans made Latin the official language of culture and government.
The influence of French took place as a result of the Norman Conquest in 1066. The
grammar of English was deeply transformed.
The reign of Queen Elizabeth I was a period during which the role of Church and
Latin declined. During the Renaissance, philosophers and scientists were writing in
English.
The Romans left Britain in the 5th century and the Anglo-Saxon invasion brought the
influence of Germanic dialects from Europe.
2 points each
III – THE ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES

1. There are many countries where English is spoken as a first language.

A) Find eight English speaking countries in the grid below.

J S C A D P F P U A X

A O E U D O G Q B T N

M U G S N J H C S Z E

A T M T A D S E R T W

I H D R F Z F O A I Z

C A N A D A D T T X E

A F A L S T S I R I A

W R L I P D T U Q P L

T I E A E P U A M N A

Z C R T N W I L N I N

H A I U N B E A N S D

Z N H V I Z O R M I R

U N I T E D K I N G D

B) Look at the map below and identify the eight English speaking 1 point each
countries you’ve found in the grid.

1. _______________________________ 5. ______________________________
2. _______________________________ 6. ______________________________
3. _______________________________ 7. ______________________________
4. _______________________________ 8. ______________________________
4
 3
1

4
2

5 6 7

C) Now match the flags to the countries.

1 point each

IV – WORLD ENGLISHES

English is no longer “owned” by its native speakers. Acculturation processes have

produced a remarkable diversification of the English language into many non-native
varieties. As a result, we can no longer say that English is one monolithic, “hegemonic”
voice; it is a diversity of different voices.
1 point each
1. Australians do not always use the same words as the British.

5
 A) Look at the Australian words on the left and circle the British
word with the same meaning.

Gidday
a) Hi b) Good Day
Sunnies
a) Sunglasses b) Suntan
Pom
a) A person of Malaysia b) An English person
Barby
a) A Barbie doll b) A barbecue
Lollies
a) Sweets b) Fruit
Wacko
a) Hell b) Great

B) Find in the bubble below the US equivalents for the British words. 1 point each

British English American English

◉ angry ◉ _______________________
◉ flat ◉ _______________________
◉ trousers ◉ _______________________
◉ lorry ◉ _______________________
◉ sweets ◉ _______________________ ◉
◉ biscuit _______________________
◉ lift ◉ _______________________
◉ autumn ◉ _______________________
◉ break time◉ truck ◉ mad ◉ fall ◉ elevator
◉ _______________________
◉ post ◉ chips ◉ apartment ◉ recess
◉ _______________________
◉ chips ◉ mail ◉ pants ◉ candies ◉ subway
◉ _______________________

The
◉ nasty ◉ French fries ◉ cookie ◉ mean
◉ _______________________
◉ crisps ◉ _______________________
◉ underground ◉ _______________________

Way
SCORE 6
Sources: On-Line and Screen 1; New Aerial;
Global; Timesaver, Vocabulary Activities.