Globish: A New Worldwide Dialect(1837-6)

　　精简到1500个单词的词汇表，抛弃所有习语，简化再简化的句法……“全球语(Globish)”让沟通变得更容易。

　　Globish: A New Worldwide Dialect

　　Isay “tomato” ... you say “red, round fruit.” Increasingly, people across the world use some sort of English, but it is not the Queen’s*. It’s Globish — a mixture of English and other languages.

　　The term Globish is a blend of “Global” and “English.” It was coined in 1995 by Jean-Paul Nerriere, a Frenchman. While serving as vice president of international marketing at IBM, Jean-Paul Nerriere noticed the patterns of English that non-native English speakers used to communicate with each other at international conferences. He later wrote two books to help non-native English speakers better communicate with each other by using Globish as a lingua franca. But Globish is not a language in and of itself. Nerriere called it “a tool.” “A language is the vehicle of a culture. Globish doesn’t want to be that at all. It is a means of communication,” he said.

　　The main principles of Globish are a vocabulary of only 1,500 English words, gestures and repetition. It uses short sentences with simple syntax. In Globish, you say “strange,” not “eerie.” All jokes, humor and idioms that are likely to be misunderstood are avoided. It develops from practical use and includes words and sounds from other languages.

　　Robert McCrum, a British writer and newspaper editor, has written a book titled Globish: How the English Language Became the World’s Language (《全球语：英语是如何成为世界性语言的》). In the book, he talks in detail about Globish.

　　According to McCrum, people who want to have a better understanding of Globish need look no further than U.S. President Barack Obama, how he was raised and how the language he uses transcends borders. “He is a classic case. Raised (by a mother from) Kansas, he lived in Hawaii and Indonesia, and he is of Kenyan stock. And when he speaks ... it requires very little adaptation to make it universally intelligible,” he said. “His slogan ‘Yes We Can’ works anywhere in the world.”