What 'language & identity' covers: Language & identity is part of the theme Identities. You need vocabulary for mother tongues, being bilingual, minority and indigenous languages, and dialects.
How to use this list
- Say why learning and keeping a language matters, and give your opinion about it.
- These are common English B words. Treat the list as a glossary.
- Learn each term with its meaning.
- Reuse the terms in the reading and writing sections.
- language / tongue
- a system of words a community uses to communicate
- mother tongue / native language
- the first language you grew up speaking
- bilingual / multilingual
- able to speak two / several languages
- speaker
- a person who speaks a particular language
- minority language
- a language spoken by a small group within a country
- indigenous language
- a native language of a region's original people
- dialect
- a regional or social variety of a language
- a sense of belonging
- the feeling of being part of a group or place
- to preserve / protect a language
- to keep a language alive and in use
- to be at risk of dying out
- to be in danger of disappearing completely
- to pass on (from generation to generation)
- to hand something down from parents to children
- to take pride in / be proud of
- to feel pleased and satisfied about something of your own
- fluent — fluency
- able to speak smoothly and easily — the quality of doing so
| Useful expression | What it means |
|---|---|
| My mother tongue is English. | The first language I grew up speaking is English. |
| I speak three languages fluently. | I can use three languages smoothly and easily. |
| A language is part of our identity. | The language we speak helps make us who we are. |
| Many indigenous languages are dying out. | A lot of native languages are slowly disappearing. |
| Learning languages opens your mind. | Studying languages broadens how you see the world. |
Why this matters: This vocabulary turns up in every skill — a reading text on indigenous languages, a listening interview about being bilingual, a Paper 1 blog, or your oral. Reusing precise topic words is how you score Criterion A (Language).
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Have something to say: Examiners reward developed ideas, not just vocabulary. Take a position and back it up.
Common debates on language & identity
- Why learn a foreign language
- The loss of minority and indigenous languages
- The link between the language you speak and who you are
Opinion phrases (use these to introduce a view)
- In my opinion… / From my point of view… — to introduce what you think
- It seems to me that… / I believe that… — a slightly softer way to give a view
- The most important thing is… — to highlight your main point
- On the one hand… on the other hand… — to weigh up two sides
- I (completely) agree that… / I'm not convinced that… — to react to an idea
Risks to languages (drawbacks)
- Many minority languages are disappearing.
- Sometimes young people stop speaking their grandparents' language.
- When a language is lost, culture and history are lost too.
Benefits of learning languages
- Speaking several languages sharpens the mind and memory.
- It opens doors to new jobs and cultures.
- It helps us understand other people better.
A global language
- English as an international language
- Advantages: travel, study, work, the internet
- Disadvantages: smaller languages pushed aside
Languages at risk
- Endangered and Indigenous languages
- Children of migrants losing the home language
- What is lost, and what saves a language
Who you are when you speak
- Feeling like a different person in another language
- Accents, dialects and ethnolects
- Mixing languages: code-switching
- heritage language
- the language of your family's origin, spoken at home
- endangered (language)
- at risk of disappearing because few people still speak it
- lingua franca
- a shared language used by people with different first languages
- an ethnolect
- a way of speaking linked to a community with a migrant background
- to pass a language on
- to teach it to the next generation
- to revive (a language)
- to bring it back into everyday use
Link your ideas: Connectors lift your answer from a list into an argument: moreover (to add), however (to contrast), therefore (to conclude), although (to concede). Use at least two or three in any written answer.
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Read like Paper 2: Here is a short blog post — the kind of text Paper 2 (Reading) gives you. Read it once just for the general idea; don't worry about every word. Then we'll work through one exam question together.
My grandmother's dialect (part 1): My grandmother grew up in a small fishing village where almost everyone spoke the local dialect. When she moved to the city as a teenager, people kept telling her that her way of speaking sounded "old-fashioned", so little by little she stopped using it.
My grandmother's dialect (part 2)
For years she spoke only the standard language, and she never passed the dialect on to me. Recently, though, she began teaching me a few of its words and sayings, and something clicked: a language isn't only a tool for getting your message across — it carries a whole way of seeing the world.
My grandmother's dialect (part 3)
Now we practise together every Sunday. I don't want her dialect to disappear, because when a language dies, a small piece of who we are dies with it.
- old-fashioned
- from an earlier time; no longer in style
- little by little
- gradually, in small steps
- saying
- a well-known short phrase that expresses a common idea
- to get your message across
- to make people understand what you mean
- to die out
- to disappear completely over time
IB-style task — one Paper 2 question
One question, step by step
- The question — "According to the text, what did the writer realise when their grandmother began teaching them the dialect?"
- Find it in the text. Look for the word "clicked": "something clicked: a language isn't only a tool for getting your message across — it carries a whole way of seeing the world."
- The answer — They realised that a language is not only a tool for communication but carries a whole way of seeing the world. The words are right there in the text, so no outside knowledge is needed.
Reading technique: For an "according to the text" question, find the exact line that proves your answer — don't rely on memory or general knowledge.
The task: Your school is marking International Mother Language Day. Write an article for the school magazine: talk about your own language or languages and explain why languages are worth valuing and learning.
Write 450–600 words.
Article structure — 4 steps
1
Headline and standfirst
A headline, then one line that sums up the article. "More than words: why our languages matter"
2
Introduction
Set the scene and present the topic. "At our school, more than twenty languages are spoken…"
3
Body
Develop your ideas with examples, in paragraphs. "I grew up speaking… Now I see it differently."
4
Conclusion
Sum up and leave the reader with a final thought. "In short, the languages we speak carry our history."
Headline → Introduction → Body → Conclusion
Model: the 4 steps in ~100 words
The article, step by step
- More than words: why our languages matter. One student explains why the languages we grow up with are part of who we are.
- At our school, more than twenty languages are spoken at home. Yet many of us hide them as soon as we walk through the school gate.
- I grew up speaking English at school and a regional dialect at home, and for years I felt embarrassed about it. Now I see it differently. Every language is a window on the world, and learning a new one opens your mind. My advice? Never be ashamed of your mother tongue.
- In short, the languages we speak carry our history. This Mother Language Day, let's use them with pride.
Why it works: A strong article does this for each of the three Paper 1 criteria:
A — Language /12
- Range of tenses: past "I grew up", "I felt", present "Now I see"
- Connectors: "yet", "and", "in short"
- Topic vocabulary: mother tongue, dialect, window on the world
B — Message /12
- Task fully done: talks about his languages AND says why they matter
- Ideas move from a fact to a personal story to advice
C — Conceptual /6
- Article conventions: headline + one-line standfirst
- Introduction, body and a conclusion that sums up
- Semi-formal tone for magazine readers
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