In the field of second language acquisition (SLA), terminology and theories have come and gone. But one concept has retained its status in the field: the idea of the existence of an interlanguage. The term "interlanguage" (IL) originated from a description of pidginization in Hawaii and was used to describe the pidgin that was common to the group being studied. As defined by the Random House Webster's dictionary, a pidgin is "an auxiliary language that has developed from the need of speakers of two different languages to communicate and is primarily a simplified form of one of the languages, with a reduced vocabulary and grammatical structure." Now IL is more commonly used to describe what learners produce in between their native language (L1) and the target language (TL). This definition should not lead us to believe that IL is unique to the individual. Although many factors are unique to each student, IL is also a common or shared phenomenon. It can be seen as both what the learners produce, and also the path or continuum along which learners progress in their acquisition of the TL.