Actually, they are learning Globish! AKA International English
Welcome to the Globish Blog. English is the number one “second language in the world”. It is not the World’s number one “mother tongue”. That said, it is the language that is most commonly spoken between two non native English speaking people.
Therefore, it is worth knowing, understanding and nurturing. If one goes to:
“Teach English Abroad“, one is really going to “Teach Globish Abroad”.
To Learn Globish contact us.
Globish is understood to be a new international language which is a simplified form of English. According to Wikipedia:
“Globish is a subset of the English language formalized by Jean-Paul Nerriere.[1] It uses a subset of standard English grammar, and a list of 1500 English words. According to Nerriere it is “not a language” in and of itself,[2] but rather it is the common ground that non-native English speakers adopt in the context of international business.”
Watch the following video to understand its origins.
“The fact is that English no longer depends on the U.S. or U.K. It’s now being shaped by a world whose second language is English, and whose cultural reference points are expressed in English but without reference to its British or American origins. Films like the 2009 Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire hasten the spread of Globish—a multilingual, multicultural cast and production team creating a film about the collision of languages and cultures, launched with an eye toward Hollywood. The dialogue may mix English, Hindi, and Arabic, but it always falls back on Globish. When the inspector confronts Amir on suspicion of cheating, he asks in succinct Globish: “So. Were you wired up? A mobile or a pager, correct? Some little hidden gadget? No? A coughing accomplice in the audience? Microchip under the skin, huh?””
The alumni of the vast people’s University of China are typical of the post–Mao Zedong generation. Every Friday evening several hundred gather informally under the pine trees of a little square in Beijing’s Haidian district, in the so-called English Corner, to hold “English conversation.” Chatting together in groups, they discuss football, movies, and celebrities like Victoria Beckham and Paris Hilton in awkward but enthusiastic English. They also like to recite simple slogans such as Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign catchphrases—“Yes, we can” and “Change we can believe in.”
This scene, repeated on campuses across China, demonstrates the dominant aspiration of many contemporary, educated Chinese teenagers: to participate in the global community of English-speaking nations. Indeed, China offers the most dramatic example of a near-global hunger for English that has brought the language to a point of no return as a lingua franca. More vivid and universal than ever, English is now used, in some form, by approximately 4 billion people on earth—perhaps two thirds of the planet—including 400 million native English speakers. As a mother tongue, only Chinese is more prevalent, with 1.8 billion native speakers—350 million of whom also speak some kind of English. Continue reading
SUPPLIED PHOTO
With its stunning views, Jeju Island has long been a popular honeymoon locale for Korean newlyweds.
In the last decade, however, the Korean government decided the UNESCO World Heritage Site should be more than a post-nuptial pit stop. As part of a plan to make the island more competitive, they are making it a destination for students as well, by creating a “Global Education City.”
Twelve international schools will one day create a prestigious English immersion environment for Koreans — including Toronto’s own Branksome Hall, the only Canadian school involved with the project. Continue reading
January 13, 2011
MONTREAL — A Quebec teachers’ union has commissioned a study to probe the question of why so many youngsters are attracted to English for their post-secondary studies.
It views the trend as worrisome.
Results of the study, commissioned by the Institute for Research on French in the Americas at the request of the union, were released Thursday. Continue reading
By Ruth Walker / June 30, 2010
Do you speak Globish – “global English”? Can you stand it when others do?
Globish is a much simplified form of English used, especially in business, where neither party is a native speaker of English. Globish is how a Venezuelan talks to a Chinese, or a Turk to an Algerian.
Unlike “Spanglish,” for instance, it’s not a meld of English and something else. And unlike Basic English or Esperanto, Globish arose naturally.
Its rise would seem to illustrate the saying that Britain and the United States are two countries separated by a common language. Jean-Paul Nerrière, the former IBM executive credited with coining the term “Globish,” noticed that at his company’s international conferences, Americans and Britons would tend to be paralyzed by the endless minor differences between their two brands of English. Meanwhile, people from other parts of the world would plunge ahead into conversation with one another, heedless of their bad grammar and limited vocabulary. Continue reading
June 11, 2010
Vit Wagner
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/Books/article/820966
