Главная страница «Первого сентября»Главная страница журнала «Английский язык»Содержание №4/2009

The Coconut Radio: Communicating

From earliest times, people have “talked” to each other, even before they had language. The cave man is said to have invented the greeting of a raised hand as a signal to another party that he was bearing no weapon.

The world has come a long way since those days. Today even the most primitive tribes share a common language so that members can share ideas and information with each other. Many of the languages of the world come from one or two that existed thousands of years ago. As the population of the world increased and spread out, the languages were carried to other places, changing with time and place until they became completely separate languages. Some of these are no longer spoken; some have never been written down, while others exist only in writing. Expressions from one language often pop up in others.

Today, jet-speed computers can translate languages as fast as they can be spoken, making communications between nations easier and faster. But in spite of technical progress, a simple raised hand is still a greeting that is understood as a friendly gesture by people everywhere.

By Barbara Seuling and Winnette Glasgow ;
From About People Around the World