Lingua Franca
A Lingua Franca is a pidgin language used by non-native speakers in order to communicate; generally people who speak different langauges will select a lingua franca in order to communicate.
English is the de facto lingua franca of business, the internet, commerce, diplomacy, science, technology and aviation to name but a few; when a Chinese businessman meets a French businessman during a convention in Mexico, they will most likely speak English to each other.
Etymology & Background
The phrase comes from Italian and means Frankish Language. This was originally a mixture of Italian, French, Spanish, Greek, and Arabic spoken around the Mediterranean ports which visitors from different nationalies used to communicate. This pidgin flourished for several hundred years until overtaken by French which became the lingua franca of commerce and diplomacy until it was itself overtaken by English.
