- 268 English i EnrichYour

lf youcan'tmaster English, try Globish

'{trow eweyyolu dictionariest"is the battle cry as Globishconque$cultureg and continents. Globishmeetsour praotica,lneedfor a unlversal,,othertongue" - a,simple,neufual,intelligible medium for eosscultural communicetion.
metKofiKumaYavoforthefrst T time at Parisairport.Kofr,a I I nativeofthe smallAfricancountry Togo, wason his wayto the USto progamme. attendEFLEducators I too wasonmywayto attendthe four month programme EFLEducators at Washingon D C.Kofi'smothertongue is Kabdye, a subSaharan language, his Second Language is Frenchandhis third luguage is English. MyAfrican friendstartedtalkingto mein a language veryclose to English, but a simplified versionof Engish.Kofiwasspeaki\gclabkh, a simplified versionof An$o-American English. A revolution is moving across the world. It is not a revolution foughtwith gunsandbombs, the revolution is taking placein boardrooms andvisitorhouses peoaround the world,led bybusiness ple andpeople visitingothercountries all wantingto beunderstood in a language that is not their own. fire language spoken all overthe worldby close to eightypercentof the people, for business, travelandeducation is not exactly English asthe Queen spealsit, the language theyaretalkingis Global English, - the latestadditionto the or Globish pluslanguages 6,000 spoken in the world. Deca,Ifeinated Englich It happens all the time:duringan airport delaythe manto the left, a Korean perhaps, startstalkingto the manopposite,whornight beColombian, andsoon theyarechattingaway in whatseems to be English. But the nativeEnglish speaker sittingbetweon themcannot understand a word,firey don'tknowit, but theKorean andtheColombian are speaking Globish. Notthat its inventor, Jean-Paul Nenibre, considers it a proper language, it is a "It ls not a language, tool",he says, is the vehicle "A language of a culture, Oloblsh doesn't wantto be that at all, It is a means of communlcation". Ratherthan duplicating the e:rpressive functions of a mother-tongue, Globish meets ourpractical need for a - a simple, universal "othertongue" neutral,intelli$ble medium for crossculturalcommunication. Andasit spreads, Neridre predicts, it will reduce the international influence of English andeliminatethe advantage long e4ioyed by its nativespeakers. If in futurethe world'sbusiness is conducted in Globish, nativeAn$ophones, like everyone else, will find themselves obliged to learnit. I say'tomato' ...yousay'red, round people fruit'. Increasingly, across the worldusesome sort of English, but it is notthe Queen's. Robert McCrum reports - EnglishJite - is becomonwhyGlobish ing the universal language of boardroom, the internet andpolitics. Globish is not 'pidgin' or 'broken' Engishbut it is highlysimplifiedandunidiomatic. you Nerribreobserves that in Globish couldneversay, buddy of "lhis erstwhile yoursis a weirdduckwhowill probably put the kibosh onall ourgood deeds". llut night makesense in London but it will not playin Buenos Airesor Zurich. youwould In Globish express thisas: 'Yourold friend is too strange. Hewould ruin all our efforts".Globish, sals Nenidre,is "decaffeinated English, or En$ish-lite". Globish uses the same grammar standard asEnglish.Butwhen speaking $obish,it is importantto use shortsentences, andto avoidhumour, metaphor, abbreviation, idiomsand clich6s. A liberaldose of gestures, body language andfacialexpressions should also beused,Globish maybea metaphor, but it is notyet a reality, prizewinners Booker will continue to oxpress themselves in varieties of Britishor Indianor Australian English. Dictionaries will continue to deflne BritishandAmerican, andeven Indian, versions of the language, the beglnnlngs of goblsh fire mostimportantthingaboutglobishis that it started with non-native English speakers. Some English hofesor couldhavesaidl"I will now createGlobish to makeEnglish easy for non-native speakers". firen globish wouldnot be$obal,butjust somo En$ishhofesor's plaything. But the true Globish ideastartedin intrnational meeting with British,Americans, Europeans, Japanese andKorearu. The communication wasclose to excellent between the Britishandthe Americurs. But it wasnot good among the other groups, Thentherewasa big suryrise: the communication between the last threegoups,Europeans, Japanese and Koreans, wasamong the best.lhere seemed to beonegood reason: theywere saying thingswith eachotherthat they wouldhave beena,taidto trywith native speakersfor fearof losingrespect. So all thesenon-native speakers felt comfortableandsafein whatsofndedlike En$ish,but wasfar fromit. There weremanymistakes in the English of non-native speakers, Thepronunciation wasstrange. Words were usedin unusual ways. Mmy native speakers think that English like this is honible.However, non-native speakers weree4ioying their comrnunication. But assoon asoneofthe En$ishor Americans startedspeaking, everything changed in onesecond. Thenon-native speakers stopped talking;mostof them wereafraidof speaking to the ndtive English None speaken. ofthemwanted to saya wordthat wasinconect.It is oftenthat wayacross the world.Nonproblems nativespeakers havemany with En$ish.Some nativespeakers say non-natives speak In "brokenEnglish", truth non-native speakers talk to each othereffectively bocause theyrespect andsharethe same limitations.The ideaof $obishcameftom theselimitations, Socomrnunication between nonnativespealers canbe muchmore efrective whentheyuse$obish. OloblohEngil.h beautiful," the Chinege ssles. "Hello, mancalledout asI walkeddownthe

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nuuket duringrnyvisitto Chinalbwn in Washhgton DC,ulookhere, tryon this Student discount 60%, Jacket, oka6d Ttrie # ' jacket,handmade, You won'tffnd ar\y. thing better," you In China, m{y see W confuslng English translations of every'rNo romping "& dqysigns, in the hall," attmptlng to Eqy nonnndn4 nthe hall. 0r a simple,rftake ;S waterplacen a publicwatersource.All across . above {i the world,it seems that e1rything overseas caters to English in some wqy. i.' Salesmen, such astheoneI encounteredabmad, make surcto ryeaka form 'r:.j ; of En$ish in orderro profit tom will have an ..! tourists;restauranb : i:i English venion of their menus; airlines in English as . . will ofrerannouncrrnents well asthe natire language; stglswill offerEnglish (although translations inaccurat at times);franchises bear andEnglish ;l - Fr8lidt names, slang tricklesin0ootherlanguages. Englishis quick$becomingSpangtish,Chinglish, r' Singlish, HinglishandJapish. Ibdqy aboutoneinfourhumansspeaksat i' leastsome English, according to the BritishCouncil.0fcourse f mostofthese newspeakers don,tspea& proper t . English, - a simfirey speak,,Globish" ple, dull, idiom-free versionof English withasmallvocabulary. i throw awayyour dicdonaries 'Throwareay yourdictionariesl" : is the battle cry as a simplifiedgobal trybritt . i , ofEnglishconquers culturesandconti_ nents. Globish belongs to a newpost_ , I I imperialwave in whichthe storyhas beenreframed to makeit lessanglocen_ , . tric. RobertMcCrum is oneof several recentreriteru whoarguethat the latest ' andgreatest achievement ofEnglishis to havetranscended , the legacy of .- empire. lbd4y its bounds aresetsowide . that it cantruly be saidto belong to the '. world,Some commentatorc evensuggest that it maynowbehappening at their eryense. Thatis the viewof Jean-paul Nerrilre, the ttench businessman who ' coined theterm,,Globish" in lgg6.He hadnoticedthat non-native English speakers in Asiafoundit easier to do . businesswith oneanothor thanwith nativespea.kers. Globish washis name ,, for the kind ofEnglishtheywereusing: a "decaffeinated" vorsion withoutcom, plexityor culturalb-aggage. For Mc0rum,the politicalimplications are in everycountrystrug"Ibday, 1 ' Drofound: gllngto puticipate in democracy, it ie that providee the mainavenue Bloblrh of I ' adrancement".Authoritarlenregimes : whichwantthe capitallsm wlthoutthe democracy wlll not survlve In a world & s

.everyone where,thanksto Globish, has ' gven a modern, fashionable spinby its access to anunlimitodsuppf of data we on musicchannels andin advertis. whichfloats. . , in the inffnite regenob ing,Areyoua',badmash"? Andifyou of cyberspace", hadto getsonewhere in a hurry,would xhSl|rh Bona'nlng youmakean,,airdash"? you Mqybe Englishis rapidlybecoming a lingua shouldbeat yourdeskworldng, irutead francain intemationalcommunication youarereading this aso for commorco andtrade,oducation, sc! areexamples "timepass".These of ence,international relationsand Hingish,inwhich Engtish andHindi tourism.It is the fastestgrowing lanoverlap, with phrases andwordsborguage in the world,with morepeople rowedandre-invented, It is usedon the speaking English than everbefore, Indiansub-continent, with Engish Students in India andChinaarelearnwordsblendingwithPu4iabi, Urduand ing English at a staggering rate asthese Hindi,andalsowithin BritishAsianfamcountries emphasise the importance of ilies to enlivenStandard Engish. Engishasa ticket to participating in Uy nngilrh ls aot your Engtirh the gobal economy. Sowlrythen dowe Languages change constantly and continue to link this evolving interna_ Englishis no exception. firat causes tionalising language with a smallisland confirsion sometimes, andnotjust ifyou in Europe that onceupona time conarelearningEngish asa foreignlantrolled the world?Perhaps it is about guage. With over1.6billion speakers of time we gotrid of the ,,English" and Englisharound the globe, the [nglish of start callingit something else- interna_ England is todaya tiny minoritydialect tional,standard or common language? It of 'World English,, andgettingtinier day is importantto understand that thereis by day. the variations ofEngish which not oneEnglishlanguage; thereare havedeveloped in the USA, Canada and many. Australians useStandard Australiahavebeenaround for some Australian English, whichis not the time.But otherworldre$oru havealso same English that onemightfind in the developed their ownbrandof Engish. UnitedKingdom, the UnitedStates, Thereareregonalvariations of Engish India or China. there arecounfless within the UKitself. Singlish, Hinglish, pidgiru,creoles blends, andmixed Chinglish andothersareall becoming English languages. At the same time morecommonly heard.Thisis the first that English is becoming the lurguage of time in historythatonelanguage like internationalisation, it is alsobecoming Englishis sowidelyusedin the world localised in differentpartsof the world andhasgenerated a numberofvariasmultipleworldEnglishes flourish. eties,Thereason for the development of grows English wild onforeignsoil.Ihere thesevarieties lies in the purpose of its aremorenon-native speakers of English use. In the end, the purpose will deter- l ' than nativespeakers andnearlyfour out minethefutureof World Engtishes. of five English-speaking interactions Thespread of Globish mayeven happen between non-native speakers of anestthe dissemination of En$ish, and Engish. : instead create a space for otherlanBise of Chfuiish and llinglish guages t0 reassert themselves andfor ! En$ishoncewasseen iN an oppresive localidentities to bestrengthened. forcein Asia,but it is nowpart of the Whereas languages remainthevehicles i. mainstrearn andconsidered a pathway ofculture, Globish represents nothing ! t0 prosperity, English is becoming such morethan a communicative tool.In a part of life in some countries, that otherwords, leamEnglish for people in places like China, Koreaand Shakespeare, andlearnGlobish to order . Indiahavestartedblending English a coffee or discuss thepriceof comphrases into their nativetongues, formmodities. I : ing newvarietiessuchasChinglish p.K Jayarql and ; Hingish,Globalization hasalsoled to @ait'com the development of nowrarietiesof ftelerence! English suchasChinglish, Hinglish, AbleyMark:lhe Prodigal Tongue: Konglish, MangishandEngrish. Dispatches from the Futureof Increasingly, nativespeakers Engllsh, of Chinese, Houghton Mifflin, 2008 Hindi,Korean, Malay or Japanese McCrum are Robert: Globish: HowEnglish mbdng their mothertongues with Became theWorld's Language, W W. Engiehto form newlanguages, Norton $lngish & Compaqy,20ll - a trybridof Engltbh andflindi ie the NeniereJeanPaulandHonDavid: language of goballzation in the subconOlobish the world over, International tinent, In southAsla,Hlnglishhasbeen Globish Instltute, 2000

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