I think that language diversity is important - the more the merrier as far as I am concerned. I am a Brit. You might know a bit about where I live - a set of

I think that language diversity is important - the more the merrier as far as I am concerned. I am a Brit. You might know a bit about where I live - a set of islands to the left of mainland Europe, one of which Britain (UK) shares with the Republic of Ireland. We generally speak one of several varieties of English around here along with roughly 100 other languages - our rather complicated history means that this is a very diverse society nowadays. Brythonic/Pretonic etc are the languages from before the Angles/Saxons/Vikings rocked up - that's where the modern word Briton ultimately comes from. A greek bloke called Pytheas who circumnavigated these isles called the natives here Pretanike - ie Pretish/British peoples. We have Welsh, Scottish, Irish and the rest in rude health. Cornish is being gradually resurrected. Cumbric is nigh on dead as are loads of other old languages. This discussion about a lingua franca (French) is mostly carried out in English for a good reason. English is extremely malleable and not too fussy. It can be complicated or not as required. There are loads of pidgins too. There are no diacritics in English (a few French borrow words perhaps, and that weird double dot over naive that I've left out here). It is also accepted that vowels can wander a bit and consonants can also trot around and find some greener grass.