Throughout the twenty-first century the emergence of globalization has encouraged the appearance of a Global Language. International English or “Globlish” is the concept of English as a global means of communication. A considerable number of non-native English speakers interact with it in their daily life mainly throughout the media. Can we actually talk about Global English as a proper language in itself? If we can, it would mean that people learning and speaking Global English all around the world share common features and common uses of this language. Just as two Americans speaking English in different parts of the world would share.
Moreover, the main issue concerning language is the one of variety: It seems difficult to talk about a variety when we have to do with one single language; an
...d even more when we talk about Globalization, that is to say standardization. More than the globalization of a language, we can wonder if the world is living a cultural standardization in the same time. If we consider the major influence and power of the USA today, we tend to think that Global English is associated with American English. * “If the whole world speaks English, will it still be English? ” The concepts of Global English and “Globish” do not convey the exact same sense.
The first objective is to define properly each one of them. The term “Globish” itself: The term itself is a combination between “Global” and “English”. “Globish” is a simplified version of English. The word itself and the concept behind it are the brain child of Jean-Paul Nerriere, a French business man who speaks English, an
his own version of it, Globish, as additional languages. Everyone in the world who wanted to speak English learned this simplified form of it so that they would all learn much faster and be more effective. He assumed that “Globish” is made of 1500 words.
Are 1500 words enough to be considered a complete understanding of a language? On http://www. globish. com/, Nerriere allows every single person who wishes to learn Globish to do it for a few dollars a month, as a sort of shortened version of English. Jean Paul Nerriere claims that in learning 1500 common words, anybody would be able to have a casual conversation in English. It is a completely new way to learn a language. Here are the reasons to learn Globish according to the official website: “Globish allows you to: *Communicate in English, using only 1500 words *Employ simple, but standard grammatical structure.
Learn enough pronunciation and spelling for 1500 words only. *Provide a tool for leading a conversation in business or as a tourist anywhere in the world. ” The main concept seems interesting and attractive, as Jean Paul Nerriere says: “Less work always sounds attractive to language learners desperate to gain fluency. ” Nevertheless, Globish language does not appear to be the solution: It does matter how many words a speaker knows to gain fluency. For example, a considerable number of students know more than 5000 words and do not know how to speak English at all. What seems more important is the ability to form the English speech.
An adult learner who knows 1500 words, and actually uses it, will probably have natural
fluency, whereas a learner who knows 5000 words as literal translation of his native tongue would not be able to speak at all. People learn English for different reasons and “Globish” is a tool for communication in international business more than it functions as an actual daily use: “"Globish" is not quite the same as global English. The term was coined by Jean-Paul Nerriere, a French former I. B. M. executive, who noted that non-native English speakers were able to communicate with a minimal, "utilitarian" vocabulary of English words. David McCrum also gives a definition of Globish: “McCrum, a British author and editor who has co-written several editions of "The Story of English," explains that Globish is an overwhelmingly economic phenomenon […].
He offers a journalistic account of its worldwide use in tandem with a historical one of the development of English as it made its way around the world. This history shows the depth and complexity of the role of English in the political and cultural evolution of the societies to which it spread. Globish's influence is unlikely to be as revolutionary or as lasting. To Paul Nerriere and Mccrum, Globish is different from “Global English”. ” Globish” seems to be used in more economic terms. The emergence of Globalization had encouraged the necessity of a language that could be used in exchanges between countries. Moreover, in the last part of the quotation we can notice that Globish is not predicted to last. We will discuss this aspect in the third part of this paper. The term “Global English” itself: Today we are living in a "Global Village". As the Internet explosively grows,
even more people are becoming aware of this "Global Village" on a personal level.
People correspond with others from around the globe on a daily basis; products are bought and sold with an increasing ease from all over the word and "real time" coverage of major news events is taken for granted. English plays a central role in this "globalization" and it has become the language of choice for communication between the various peoples of the Earth. Many English speakers do not speak English as their first language. In fact, they often use English as a lingua franca in order to communicate with other people who also speak English as a foreign language.
At this point students often wonder what kind of English they are learning. Are they learning English as it spoken in Britain? Or, are they learning English as it is spoken in the United States, or Australia? One of the most important questions is left out. Do all students really need to learn English as it is spoken in any one country? Would it not be better to strive towards global English? Let’s take a random example: If a business person from China wants to close a deal with a business person from Germany, what difference does it make if they speak either US or UK English?
In this situation, it does not matter whether they are familiar with UK or US idiomatic usage. Learning English in the end is a matter of a choice: I can say after only two months spent in Georgia that my use of English has changed. Not only regarding the progresses that I
made, comparing my experience here with several French friends, in exchange in various universities in the USA or in Europe, we are already using different expressions and have different accents and this without getting rid of some French features.
Moreover, I’m often facing awkward moments with my roommates and American friends when using words like “lift” or “corridor” for example, or not being able to pronounce some long words in my daily interactions with them. In conclusion, even if we were certainly all influenced by our travels, our readings, our teachers and all of our daily interactions with English, we were not able to give an accurate identity to the English we were using. It was a mix between all our influences, a unique and individual version.
The process that we all began is a long one and being fluent in English in Georgia is certainly not the same that being fluent in English in Dublin for example. The only thing we can assert, not considering any personal experiences is that, Global English and “Globish” are consequences of a change in mentalities. The term “language varieties” covers “language” and “dialect”. These dialects are existent in British English as well as in American, Australian and Canadian English. The relationship between language and social groups reflects present day and historical factors that are unique to a community.
These rules apply to what we can call “General English”, depending on the country where the speakers are using the language and also within this country depending on the community. One community is defined by social rules such as wealth, professions, political views… Moreover, if we consider
Global English as a proper language, these rules also apply to it: Even if new English speakers are prone to learn the same basic grammatical rules and daily life vocabulary, they both consciously and unconsciously making choices depending where they are living. * The cultural expansion – Are we living in a Global Village?
The term “Global Village” is closely associated with Marshall McLuhan. He described how the globe has been contracted in a village by electric technology and the instantaneous movement of information from every quarter to every point at the same time. Today the term “Global Village” is more used to describe the Internet though. On the Internet, physical distance is ignored and social spheres are greatly expanded. Moreover, travels have been largely democratized, and it is today more accessible to get in touch with diverse cultures. In addition to travels, countries now have to deal with expatriate communities.
Big communities have been established all over the world, and several examples can prove this expansion. Is it not easy for example today to have access to all kind of food? Japanese, Chinese? What about Chinatowns? There are today a lot of these Chinese enclaves everywhere in the world: In East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, Australia, and Europe. Chinatowns have long constituted one of the most visible social indicators of overseas Chinese communities.
Their origins owe as much to the enforcement of segregation by majority groups and colonial governments as they do to the desire of Chinese mmigrants to maintain their cultural links to the homeland and develop their own economy. Nevertheless, the 2010 census showed the population of New
York’s Chinatown dropping by “9 percent – the first decline in recent memory”. As the article “The End of Chinatown”, article published in December 2011 in The Atlantic , assets these communities today tend to disappear: “Smaller Chinatowns have been fading for years—just look at Washington, D. C, where Chinatown is down to a few blocks marked by an ornate welcome gate and populated mostly by chains like Starbucks and Hooters, with signs in Chinese.
After several generations of Chinese expatriates, groups are clearly Americanized: “The exodus from Chinatown is happening partly because the working class is getting priced out of this traditional community and heading to the "ethnoburbs"; development continues to push residents out of the neighborhood and into other, secondary enclaves like Flushing, Queens, in New York. ” Or they are following the opposite tendency: “But if China continues to boom, Chinatowns will lose their reason for being, as vital ports of entry for working-class immigrants.
These workers will have better things to do than come to America. ” In fact, now fortune can be found at home. If we consider this single example, it would mean that we are today following at the same time two different tendencies. As the process of immigration has begun several generations ago, descendants of immigrates tend to identify themselves more with the country they grew up in than the country of their origins. That is the reason why they settle in this country, as citizens of this country, so that they are technically not immigrants anymore.
On the contrary, groups tend also to come back home realizing that their country is developing and
becoming powerful, and this example is particularly valid with China. Does the Global Language have to be the language of power? It is hard to go a day now without some news event reminding us of China’s dominance as a world power. But there is at least one area where there does not yet appear to be a threat: language. English, which not coincidentally is the language of the two most recent dominant world powers, has been the lingua franca of business, diplomacy, science, and technology for more than half a century.
Coming back to David McCrum, he divides English’s rise into five key historical eras. In the first, “Founders,” he examines the language’s development from its birth with the Anglo-Saxons into the late period of the second millennium. Key figures include William the Conqueror, Chaucer or Shakespeare. This period also saw the introduction of French and German influences and the spread of English by… the English. “Pioneers” follows the development of the language in the Americas, while “Popularisers” returns to Europe for the period stretching from the Napoleonic wars through both world wars as English takes over as the language of diplomacy.
Modernisers” returns once again to the United States during the “American Century” to look at how everything from our cold war tactics to text messaging has spread English throughout the world. McCrum turns finally to “Globalisers,” examining how China and India are now playing a large role in fixing English’s hold on the world. His conclusion is this: “With its current status as the world’s default common tongue, English is poised to be significantly transformed over the next few generations”
by nonnative speakers such as the Chinese.
With the apparition of Global English, along with the expatriate’s communities, we can see the creation of dialects such as “Spanglish” for example. It refers to the blend of Spanish and English, in the speech of people who speaks parts of the two languages or whose normal language is different from that of the country they are leaving in. What is interesting about this process is that this language is not fixed, it is a total informal language, and there are not hard and fast rules. There is no clear demarcation between Spanglish and simple bad Spanish or English.
For example, in the USA, we can today find a lot of very strong Hispanic communities, especially for example in Florida. Here, some examples of Spanglish found in the text of Daniel Enrique Perez, “Ode to Spanglish”: “I don't espeak your language. ?Gan you translate, por favor? Pienso que I misunderstood you. At least, I hope. ?Are you sitting there? Telling me Que yo no soy legitimate Porque I don't espeak espanol Or English Or any other estandard lengua? ” He qualifies the tongue, as a “Savage Tongue”.
