a lingua franca

lingua franca

Any language used to bridge the gap between people who do not speak the same language. English is the lingua franca in many foreign tourist destinations.
See also: Franca, lingua
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

a ˌlingua ˈfranca

(from Italian) a shared language that is used for communication by people whose main languages are different: In the middle of the 20th century, English became the lingua franca of the world. The majority of our group being South American, we used Spanish as a lingua franca.
See also: Franca, lingua
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • lingua
  • lingua franca
  • Franca
  • translate (something) from (something) into (something)
  • translate (something) into (something) from (something)
  • language
  • artificial language
  • watch (one's) language
  • mind (one's) language
  • mind/watch your language
References in classic literature
At the mention of Monte Cristo Dantes started with joy; he rose to conceal his emotion, and took a turn around the smoky tavern, where all the languages of the known world were jumbled in a lingua franca. When he again joined the two persons who had been discussing the matter, it had been decided that they should touch at Monte Cristo and set out on the following night.
Linguistics and language specialists from Europe, Australia, Brazil, and Thailand present 14 essays that examine the relationship between English as a lingua franca and pedagogy, teacher education, language development materials, testing, policymaking, English language learners, and other areas, with an emphasis on how English as a foreign language teachers can use English as lingua franca theories and research in classrooms.
The last decade has witnessed the emergence of ELF approaches through dozens of publications, conferences and a dedicated journal, Mouton's Journal of English as a Lingua Franca (2011-present).
English as a lingua franca (ELF) is a necessary trend.
They contend that using the multilevel features of mainstream statistics software facilitates creating a lingua franca for the field, and demonstrate with version 21 of the proprietary SPSS package.
The programme included three plenary lectures and 24 papers distributed across 7 main thematic panels, namely English in the media, Language contact, Attitudes towards English, English in schools, English in higher education, English in scientific discourse and English as a lingua franca.
Teaching the Pronunciation of English as a Lingua Franca Robin Walker Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2010, 223 pages
Bale, 37, used an interpreter to communicate with director Zhang Yimou, and they used gestures and "a good kind of a short-hand, kind of a lingua franca".
Today, every continent has a substantial group of English speakers, and English has gained increasing importance as a lingua franca, a language used among people who do not share the same mother tongue.
Due to the global momentum of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), Anglophones may perceive that there is less urgency for them to learn other languages than for speakers of other languages to learn English.
The development of language training in Finland reflects the rise of the English language as a lingua franca (ELF), a common language.