Lingua franca

Okay kiddo, do you know what language is? It’s the way people talk and communicate with each other. But imagine if you wanted to talk to someone who spoke a different language than you, like you speak English but they speak Spanish. It might be hard to understand each other, right?

That’s where something called a “lingua franca” comes in. Think of it as a language that lots of people use to communicate with each other, even if they don’t speak the same native language. Kind of like a secret code that everyone knows!

A long time ago, traders, travelers and explorers would use a lingua franca to talk to each other. They didn’t have smartphones or Google Translate, so they had to use a shared language to trade goods, share news, and make friends.

These days, there are still lingua francas used all over the world, like English, French, and Spanish. If you want to travel to a country where they speak a different language, it’s always helpful to know the local language, but having a lingua franca in your pocket can make things a lot easier!

So that’s what a lingua franca is - a language that lots of people use to communicate with each other, even if they don’t speak the same native language. It’s like a secret code that people who want to talk to each other in different languages can use. Cool, huh?