Second language

From Freepedia

A second language is any language other than the first, or native, language learned; it is typically used because of geographical or social reasons. The term is to be distinguished from foreign language. In contemporary usage, a "foreign language" is one that is learned in an environment where the language is not spoken outside of the classroom. A "second language" is one that is learned where the language is spoken. However, this distinction is not universally accepted. Linguist Eric Lenneberg uses second language in his critical period hypothesis to mean a language consciously learned or used by its speaker after puberty. In most cases, people never achieve the same level of fluency and comprehension in their second languages as in their first language.

Historically in Europe, the most widely used second language (or lingua franca) was Latin. It was used by the Church; by the Law (as it still is today); in Medicine (starting much later); in Biology (for Horticulture and biological classification of plants, animals, fruits, nuts, etc.).

Latin was used so much across Europe that it was called the vulgar (or common tongue); this is why the Latin version of the Bible is called the Vulgate.

Nowadays, English is considered the world's most widespread second language; it is used in areas as diverse as the internet, television and radio, and international aviation.

The success of English throughout the world stems from two major causes: the far reaching influence of the British Empire, and the 20th century (and continuing) dominance of the United States in the fields of business and entertainment.

French was for a time the lingua franca (the origin of term) in Europe. Following the Norman Conquest, the royal courts of both England and France were ruled by French speakers — in England, English was considered "the peasant's language". Afterwards, as was the case with English, the French empire spread its language through colonization and French became for a time, one of the world's most widely spoken languages. Today however, its share of speakers globally is in a decline and French has largely fallen into disuse in many former colonies and even in Europe to the benefit of English.

Esperanto, designed as a neutral lingua franca for worldwide use, has been taught and learned for over a century, to such an extent that a flourishing oral and written culture is associated with the language. It was nearly the official lingua franca of The League Of Nations (one vote short of the required unanimous quorum), and there is an active movement to use it as the official lingua franca of the European Union.

See also

• Computer-assisted language learning
• English as a second language
• Foreign language influences in English
• ILR scale
• Language education
• Language interference
• Second language acquisition