The Tower of Babel: Why So Many Languages?

Learn English Through Story With a Video and a Quiz

The Tower of Babel is a story in the Bible about why people speak many languages.

This page tells the story in easy English for learners, with a video, new words, and a quiz.

Watch the video first. Then read the story, learn the new words, and take the quiz.

English level: A2 (Level 2)

He Asked for Bricks and Got a Fish?! The Tower of Babel in Easy English

Click Here for Step-by-Step Rules, Stories and Exercises to Practice All English Tenses

Next steps:

1. Read the story.

2. Learn the new words.

3. Take the quiz and check your answers.

Story Text

A cartoon builder on a wooden scaffold reaches down for a brick, and his friend hands him a fish; a tall brick tower stands behind them

Why do you have to learn English? The Bible tells a story about that.

Long, long ago, the story says, all the people in the world speak one language. Everybody understands everybody.

They come to a wide, flat land, and they decide to stay.

Then they say to each other, let's build a city, with a tower so tall that it touches the sky! Then everybody will know our name.

There are no stones in this land. So they make bricks from mud, and they bake them hard in the fire.

One young builder works on the tower. Every morning he climbs up, and every day the tower gets taller.

The work is easy, because everybody speaks the same language. He says, bricks, please, and he gets bricks.

The tower goes up, and up, and up. The people are very proud. Nothing can stop us, they say.

But the story says God comes down to see the tower, and decides to stop it. Why? The story doesn't say. But God mixes up their language.

Suddenly, the builder says, bricks, please. And his friend gives him a fish.

He asks for a ladder, and he gets a loaf of bread. He shouts, and nobody understands a word!

Now every group speaks a different language. The boss gives orders, and the workers just look at him.

Nobody can build a tower like this. So the work stops.

The people leave. Each group goes to a different part of the world, and takes its own language.

The tower is never finished. And people call that place Babel.

And today? Today the world has more than seven thousand languages.

So when you don't understand something in English, don't worry. It's a very old problem.

And here is the good news. You can learn a language. Word by word. Brick by brick.

New Words from the Story

a language

the words that the people of one country or group use to speak and write

From the story: Long, long ago, the story says, all the people in the world speak one language.

flat

with no hills; the same height everywhere

From the story: They come to a wide, flat land, and they decide to stay.

a tower

a very tall, narrow building

From the story: let's build a city, with a tower so tall that it touches the sky!

a brick

a hard block used for building walls

From the story: So they make bricks from mud, and they bake them hard in the fire.

mud

soft, wet earth

From the story: So they make bricks from mud, and they bake them hard in the fire.

a builder

a person whose job is to build houses and other buildings

From the story: One young builder works on the tower.

proud

feeling very pleased with yourself or with something you did

From the story: The people are very proud.

to mix up

to put things in the wrong order so that they are not clear

From the story: But God mixes up their language.

a ladder

two long pieces of wood with steps between them, for climbing up and down

From the story: He asks for a ladder, and he gets a loaf of bread.

to shout

to speak very loudly

From the story: He shouts, and nobody understands a word!

Tower of Babel Story Quiz

Choose the right answer. You will see at once if you are right.

1. At the start of the story, how many languages do people speak?

2. What do the people want to build?

3. What do they make the bricks from?

4. The builder asks for bricks. What does he get?

5. Why does the work on the tower stop?

6. How many languages does the world have today?

Talk About It

How many languages do you speak? Which language do you want to learn next?

Tell us in English in the comments under the video.

More stories in easy English

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