At English Trackers we are always keen to keep abreast of interesting news in the field of language, so when Bridget Rooth, Director of English
Trackers, sent me a link to an article in The Economist about a book written by Robert McCrum detailing the rise of English and the emergence of Globish, entitled Globish: How the English Language Became the World’s Language, I was keen to find out more.
The book charts the history of the English language and how it has risen and spread all over the globe to become the ‘world’s language’. Aided by the legacy of the British Empire and the growth of the economic might that is America, English has conquered all other languages to become the most commonly used language in global communication, particularly in the corporate world.
However, McCrum suggests that this language that is spreading to all corners of the globe is in fact not English as we know it, but ‘Globish’, a simple, broken version of English used by non-native speakers.
The brainchild of Frenchman Jean-Paul Nerriere, Globish is now being marketed as a new language for global business communication. Nerriere developed the concept after witnessing the kind of simple, broken English used by businessmen to communicate with each other in international business meetings and has written three books on the subject (Don’t Speak English: Parlez Globish, Decouvrez le Globish and Globish The World Over). The Frenchman noted through his own experiences in the corporate world that native English speakers were often left out of ‘Globish’ conversations between international businessmen, unable to make themselves understood because the English they used was just too complex and subtle for others to understand.
So, if we are to believe McCrum and Nerriere it would appear that the rapid diffusion of English across the globe has taken on a new trend of its own, which native speakers seem unable to control. Nerriere comments that “Anglophones no longer own English” and now advises native English speakers to learn and speak Globish themselves. During the 3 minute long explanation of the language provided especially for English speakers on the website, native speakers are told that “If you are an English speaker speaking Globish…..you are to blame if others don’t understand. They are not stupid and you are not so intelligent just because you speak English…… If you do business with Globish speakers, more of the world will like you”. Well in that case we’d all better get learning!
As for the rules of Globish, it has a total of 1,500 words and users must avoid anything that could potentially cause cross-cultural confusion, such as metaphors, abbreviation and even humour (Nerriere comments on the Globish website “One thing you never do in Globish is tell a joke”). The Frenchman admits that “the language does not aim at cultural understanding…..It is designed for trivial efficiency”. Nerriere emphasises that Globish is not a language in the same way that French, Japanese or other foreign languages are; it is a means to an end and because of its simplicity only requires six months to learn. However the grammar rules are essentially the same as those for the ‘proper’ English language.
I’d be very interested to hear people’s opinion on this one. Do you think that Globish will be helpful in facilitating global business communication and in making English more accessible for a wider audience? Are you of the opinion that it’s all just hype and a product of clever marketing? Do you think that native English speakers will lose out if Globish continues to spread? Or do you think that they will always have the upper hand?
English Trackers Blogger
I’m not really convinced that Globish exists. I think it’s a myth. Bad English is of little use to anyone.
Erh, global + gibberish = Globish
Strange concept and stranger idea that native English speakers would have to learn a simpler version of their own language.
Personally I think it’s a load of rubbish. A French man with somewhat of a chip on his shoulder just trying to spread poor English around the globe under the name of ‘Globish’ and making lots of money in the process.
Globish reminds me of another failed project called “Basic English” which failed, because native English speakers could not remember which words not to use
So it’s time to move forward and adopt a neutral non-national language, taught universally in schools worldwide,in all nations. As a native English speaker, I would prefer Esperanto
Your readers may be interested in the following video at http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_YHALnLV9XU Professor Piron was a translator with the United Nations in Geneva.
A glimpse of Esperanto can be seen at http://www.lernu.net
Hmmm – I’m quite persuaded by the overall idea of Globish. English is a language that people from disparate countries use to talk to one another and when it’s used in such a context (which could be anything from business to politics to tourism or just chatting in a bar), the important thing is often to communicate practical information or have a basic ease of interaction rather than to convey nuance. English seems also to be reasonably practical for such a purpose given its lack of surface grammar, the presence of which in other languages such as German can be a barrier to getting to even a basic level of proficiency.
As a native English speaker who has lived abroad for the last 5 years, I’ve found that I’ve involuntarily become a speaker of a stripped down simple English in order to be understood by all. While that’s pretty useful, even in my home city of London, which has become brilliantly international during my lifetime, it has also made me think that I need to take care not to lose the habit of enjoying the subtler usages of the language, so I can understand why Brian Barker might prefer Esperanto over English as an international lingua franca (even though this will never happen).
96 percent of people living around the globe, are NOT native English.
So for those people,English will always be a second language…and ,sadly , they will never be able to joke and to count numbers using this second language.
But if you have to do buisness with one of those 96 percent of the people, then Globish is the perfect tool…
…and more than that, if you have to do buisness with one of the 4% native English…you will be able to do it,exept you will do it with no jokes.
Globish is a tool for communication.
Actually, if you want to communicate,…you are already speaking Globish.
I have observed many times native English people,most of them from England,speaking very good genuine Oxford English,…but they did’nt want to communicate,…they just wanted to show that you belong to a part of the society that can’t even understand perfect genuine Oxford English!
That is not communication…that is looking atthe rest of the word very differently!
[...] to encounter English speakers from all over the world, perhaps using a form of English known as “Globish”, particularly now that most economic growth is taking place outside the [...]
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