of these languages , say Latin and Greek nd our own language a and
   er . . . German and er ... French and ... all the others, are
   connected. The reason why you can travel from one Willage to another
   in Switzerland and er . . . from one area to another in England
   and find different dialects, if not different languages spoken,
   is that um ... several hundred years ago communication was by word
   of mouth. Word of mouth meant that people had to move ; if people
   were to move they needed roads and there were no roads.
　
 
MATTHEW:   Do you see any chance for a universal language like Esperanto?
CHRIS:   Not for an artificial er ... language, no ... I suppose the Roman 
   Catholic Church used Latin. but Latin had a ... a particular
   religious basis and this is probably why it was therefore chosen.
   I don't see very much chance for Esperanto; I think it's an awfully
   good idea but I don't believe that language works like that.I think
   people will probably er .. . work towards the most convenient
   language to use.They will not set out to learn a new language. It
   seems to me that er ... either English,. Russian or Chinese, perhaps
   Japanese, will be the language of the future er . . . My bet's on
   English.
　
 
MATTHEW:
   Maggie, why do you think it is that so few English people speak
   a second language?
MAGGIE:   I think when you learn a language at school ...it tends to be
   rather a dead occupation, and it's very difficult to stimulate any
   interest among school children. But when you actually go to the
   country and spend say a month in . . . in an exchange visit when
   you're a schoolgirl, or a schoolboy um ... then you suddenly become
   more interested because you ... you want to communicate with poeple
　
 
   when you're actually abroad, and it's not safe to rely on the fact th
   that most people speak English when um . . . in foreign countries.
   Mm . . . I think English people traditionally thought that . . . that
   foreigners always spoke English, and a lot of foreigners do, but
   there are people that you meet in the street or you want to take a
   bus somewhere,  then you find that you need to speak the language
   and'it's very unnerving to be in a situation where you can't
   communicate with people when you do want to travel around.
　
 
MATTHEW:   Have you ever been abroad and learnt er ... a language in the
   country?
MAGGIE:   Yes , well when I was a secretary I er... went and lived in Geneva  
   for two years, and I learnt French at school but I . . . I really
   didn't speak it at all. I knew it theoretically but I wasn't able to
   communicate with people. But I was in a situation where if I didn't
   speak French , then I would not have been able to do my shopping and
   buy food ,and so I picked the language up and I made friends with
　
 

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