Globish

[JuanTwoThree]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0, ... _1,00.html

Common Sense and the English that many of us are probably already often asked for and try to give? Or something new?


http://www.jpn-globish.com/file/1500motsGlobish.pdf

[lolwhites]

What strikes me as new(-ish) is that as English becomes a medium for communication between people who have another language as their mother tongue, you get a dialect which is distinct from the language community it orginally came from. In the meantime, English continues to evolve in all directions on the streets of London, Glasgow, New York, Sydney, Johannesburg, Jamaica and so on.

I think we may well reach a situation where a variety of English becomes a kind of lingua franca which the Brits, Americans, Australians and South Africans will have to learn if they are to cut it in the global economy, in much the same way as Latin was for educated speakers of Spanish, Catalan, French and so on a few centuries back. It's probably a while off yet, though. I don't think we teachers will need to learn a new language to teach our students just yet. And I'm not sure 1500 words will be enough to draft contracts and other agreements, so English users with a wider vocabulary will still be in demand.

Edit - I see the word contract doesn't appear in the list. How do you do international business without signing contracts?

[JuanTwoThree]

Can anyone think of a word whose international meaning is different from its meaning to native speakers? It would be a first step to an IntEng that NS's would have to learn. I know there are those Eurowords like a camping and go footing but I don't think they count.

[sbourque]

Why would native speakers of English have to "learn" Globish? Isn't it just dumbed-down English? For parents it would be easy...just imagine you're speaking to your 3-year old!

[lolwhites]

NES's probably wouldn't have to learn anything new, though I lot of them could probably use training in how to make themselves understood to NNES's. But as the language continues to evolve I could imagine an international lingua franca that was different enough from the language of most NESs to need learning, in the same way as speakers of Romance languages don't automatically understand Latin (although they do have a distinct advantage when learning it, of course).

[Stephen Jones]

The list doesn't have 'contract' which rather makes a mess of international trade.

At a smaller level unless it has 'factura' you are unlikely to be able to claim back any money from your expense account as no one will furnish you with a receipt, and global homogenity will be seriously hampered by the lack of 'sim -sim',

I hope it has 'good name' or you can forget about checking into a hotel.

[lolwhites]

Invoice, receipt and transfer are also missing. Fine if you're an international mafioso who deals only in used banknotes - maybe that's why cash is included, though suitcase is missing - but I'd imagine it's hard to do legitimate business if you don't have these words.

In fact, the whole thing smacks of Basic English.

[JuanTwoThree]

More issues:

http://www1.ku-eichstaett.de/SLF/EngluV ... ga-061.pdf

Some of this is nitpicking, if you ask me. I'd have thought, for example, that a fit for purpose Global English could rub along without the Present Perfect Continuous.

[metal56]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0, ... _1,00.html

Common Sense and the English that many of us are probably already often asked for and try to give? Or something new?


http://www.jpn-globish.com/file/1500motsGlobish.pdf

There are others:

http://www.clta-gny.org/bizeng.htm

[metal56]

I'd have thought, for example, that a fit for purpose Global English could rub along without the Present Perfect Continuous.

We got along without that aspect for many years.

[metal56]

Why would native speakers of English have to "learn" Globish? Isn't it just dumbed-down English? For parents it would be easy...just imagine you're speaking to your 3-year old!

Many native speakers find it difficult to "dumb down" their English. That's why many NNES find it even more difficult to understand such NES. Many of my students, at intermediate level, prefer doing business with other NNES for the very reason that many NES cannot, or sometimes will not, adjust their usage to fit certain contexts.

Be wise, become bi/tri-dialectal.

"In scenes reminiscent of Lost in Translation, Nerriere noted that his conversation with the Japanese and Koreans was 'much easier and more efficient than what could be observed between them and the British and American (IBM) employees who came with me'."

"Nerriere insists that, for all its simplifications, Globish is not a 'me Tarzan, you Jane' version of English."


http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/s ... 15,00.html

[metal56]

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/s ... 15,00.html

Maybe we should be teaching language such as this: 'This erstwhile buddy of yours is a weird duck who will probably put the kibosh on all our good deeds.' to ESL students, and/or to those EFL students who will work specifically with NES, and this to all students who will focus their business activities on NNES: "'Your old friend is too strange. He would ruin all our efforts.'.

[JuanTwoThree]

Two things:

So we get away from "English is owned by its Native speakers" to find "This new Globish or whatever you want to call it is owned by a handful of people who want us to buy their books". One step forward and one back.

And the example from that Observer article is plain silly:

"Say it in English

I went to my niece and nephew's party the other weekend. I played the piano and we were all singing along when a mouse ran out from behind the sofa with a piece of peach in its mouth.

Say it in Globish

At the party of my children's brother the other day, I played an instrument with black and white keys and we all sang along. Then an animal chased by cats ran out from behind the seat with a piece of fruit in its mouth."

Probably the doing of some slack journalist: "my children's brother"????, "piano" is probably as international as "pizza" and "mouse" is not exactly unknown because of Mickey.

Sound idea though when you cut through all the baloney and misinformation.

[metal56]

Sound idea though...

Inevitable direction also.

[lolwhites]

I can't see a huge difference between Globish and Basic English, and the latter didn't exactly set the world on fire. If we ever get an internationally used dialect of English which is distinct enough to warrant being taught in the UK or the USA as something distinct from the local languages , it will surely happen by evolution, not by someone somewhere creating it. I wouldn't exactly consider Nerriere an independent authority on Globish; he clearly has an interest in declaring it the best thing since sliced bread.