List of lingua francas

This is a list of lingua francas. A lingua franca (English plural lingua francas, although the pseudo-Latin form linguae francae is also seen) is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a first language, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both speakers' first languages. Examples of lingua francas are numerous, and exist on every continent. The most obvious modern example is English, which is the current dominant lingua franca of international diplomacy, business, science, technology and aviation. There are many other lingua francas centralized on particular regions, such as Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish.

The popularity of languages changes over time, and there are many lingua francas that are of historical importance. These include French, which was the language of European diplomacy from the 17th until the mid-20th century, and Classical Chinese, which served as both the written lingua franca and the diplomatic language in Far East Asia until the early 20th century. French and Chinese are still significant lingua francas today.

Afrikaans is spoken as a first language by millions of people in South Africa, and as a second language by millions more. During apartheid, the South African government aimed to establish it as the primary 'lingua franca' in South Africa and South African-controlled South-West Africa (now Namibia), although English was also in common use. Since the end of apartheid, English has been widely adopted as the sole lingua franca. Many institutions that had names in English and Afrikaans have since dropped the Afrikaans names. Notable cases are South African Airways and the South African Broadcasting Corporation. Afrikaans is still widely used, especially by the adult population. However, English is becoming more popular among the younger generation. This is having an impact on Afrikaans, with an increase in English loanwords.

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