1. Read the short text, look at the highlighted words and decide what they mean

Knowledge of a foreign language enables you to develop your communication skills and receive and spread the most useful and necessary information.

A person who does not try to learn a foreign language can divest themselves of the opportunity to read books in the original or watch films without subtitles. They may also feel separated from those people who learn languages and thanks to it become involved in international culture and expand their knowledge.

The dominant language is the one that the majority of people know and use for communication.

When people use a shared language, they are more likely to understand each other better, as this creates a bond between them. This can, in turn, eliminate misunderstandings that can usually break the unity. Also, a better understanding of each other can help people find common ground, which will lead to a reduction of conflicts.

2. Study the definitions and fill in the gaps with the correct words

• common ground
• to break the unity
• to be separated
• to eliminate something
• a dominant language
• a shared language
• to divest somebody/something of something
• to create a bond
• to spread
• to enable somebody/something to do something

1. [ ] — to destroy the feeling of agreement
2. [ ] — to remove or get rid of something
3. [ ] — to cover or reach a wider or increasing area, or to make something do this
4. [ ] — opinions, interests, and aims that you share with somebody, although you may not agree with them about other things
5. [ ] — a language used by a lot of people
6. [ ] — to be divided or split into different parts
7. [ ] — to take something away from somebody/something
8. [ ] — a language that is more important than others
9. [ ] — to form a strong connection
10. [ ] — to make it possible for somebody/something to do something