Bruschetti, Diego

English [] seems to be one of the most flexible

languages, thus ensuring (so far!) its survival,
though not, of course, in an unaltered form.
(Keith & Shuttlewoorth: 2000 p238)

0. Introduction
According to the Darwinian theory of language, languages are in constant evolution
and change in order to adapt to the environment just like living organisms. Only the
fittest and the one which adapts more to the environment will survive. English, as
Keith and Shuttlewoorth (2000) state, is flexible enough to adapt to the changing
circumstances of the world. Crystal claims that English has established as a global
language because it was at the right moment in the right place:
In the 17th and 18th centuries, English was the language of the colonial nation
Britain. In the 18th and 19th centuries, it was the language of the leader of the
Industrial Revolution also Britain. In the late 19 th and 20th centuries, it was the
language of the leading economic power the US. As a result, when new
technologies brought new linguistic opportunities, English emerged as a first-rank
language in industries that affected all aspects of society the press, advertising,
broadcasting, motion pictures, sound recording, transport and communications. []
The development of computers has been almost entirely an American affair. The
biggest setback to English as a global language, it has been said with more than a
little irony, would have been if Bill Gates [] had grown up speaking Chinese.
(Crystal: 1997 p14)

The need to learn a simpler language as a communication tool lead Jean Paul Nerrire,
a retired marketing executive of IBM, to create a new variety of English called Globish.
It could be said to be the latest adaptation English has gone through: an extreme
simplification of its vocabulary and structures that goes hand in hand with its current
use as an international language.

1. What is Globish?

Bruschetti, Diego
Globish is a reduced variety of English whose primary means is the transaction of
information. Nerrire has taken English and stripped it of its cultural meanings,
therefore creating a variety only focused on the effective passing on of information.
Globish is correct English without the English culture It is English that is just a tool
and not a whole way of life and we demonstrate that this level of English is enough1.
He sought to create a communication tool as simple as possible. It has only 1500
words, very simple grammar structures and it forbids any kind of non-literal
expressions, like idioms, as well as any kind of exploitation of the Grice's Maxims, jokes
or irony for instance. By restraining the use of language to only the literal meaning, it
is more likely that cultural interferences do not appear between the interlocutors and
therefore a smoother communication can take place.
According to Nerrire, Globish is useful to communicate with both non-native and
native speakers in international situations. It is not aimed at mastering Shakespeare
or reading Dickens but as a tool of communication, as a lingua franca. The simple goal
of Globish is to reach only a level a common ground where everyone understands
everyone else, everywhere in the world 2. Globish does not intend to replace English in
any way; in fact, Nerrire insists that Globish should be confined to international
exchanges. Other languages French, German, Italian as well as orthodox English
should be preserved as vehicles of culture3.
This is a decaffeinated or lite variety of English, as its creator says in his official
website, not broken English. From the examples that he provides, we can see that
Globish is not ungrammatical English, it is simpler. However, the very few numbers of
vocabulary items renders it sometimes impractical, for example (see Figure 1) the
equivalent of piano in Globish is a musical instrument with black and white keys.
2
1
2
3

Nerrire, J.P. Globish The World Over- Videoscript of a youtube video both available in www.globish.com
From Globish.com website http://globish.com/?page=about_globish. Accesed 7/10/2010
From Globish.com website http://globish.com/?page=about_globish. Accessed 7/10/2010

Bruschetti, Diego

Figure 1. An English sentence translated into Globish.4

Curiously enough, most English sentences that Nerrire presents are utterly complex
and full of terms which are not usually used in everyday speech, even between native
speakers. This gives future English learners the feeling that they will never learn
traditional English and that Globish is the perfect solution for its simplicity (see
Figure 2).

Examples extracted from McCrum, R. So, what's this Globish revolution?, 3/12/2006 The Observer
online available in http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2006/dec/03/features.review37

Bruschetti, Diego

Figure 2. Sentence in English and in Globish5.

2. Is it a variety?
According to Crystal:
a variety of language is a system of linguistic expressions whose use is governed by
situational factors. In its broadest sense, the notion includes speech and writing,
regional and class dialects, occupational genres [], creative linguistic expression
and a wide range of other styles of expression. Varieties are in principle, systematic
and predictable. It is possible to say, with some degree of certainty in a given
language, how people from a particular region will speak, how lawyers will write, or
how television commentators will present a type of sport. (Crystal: 2001 pp 6-7)

With this definition in mind, Globish can be considered an English variety which is
only used in international business or travel transactions with a limited and known
number of words (lexical feature) and grammatical features clearly defined. If we take
into account Not quite Shakespeare ( a set of 9 short, one-act plays for use in GlobishEnglish Conversation Classes, for students to read in groups and even perform) and
everything written in Globish on the internet, Globish can be classified as a standard.

Ibdem.

Bruschetti, Diego
Together with literature, it has dictionaries6 and grammars7.
There are similarities between Globish and other Englishes. They have a common
origin and they are mutually intelligible (up to a certain extent). Most probably,
Globish speakers will have to make a terrible effort to understand a speaker with
another variety because they would not understand many words and they would have to
constantly ask for rephrasing. On the other hand, speakers of other varieties will have
to be extremely imaginative to understand the long paraphrases that Globish users use
to refer to entities that have no equivalents in their variety (e.g. an animal chased by
cats to mean mouse).
Globish and other varieties have more differences than similarities though. One of
them is that the latter tend to complex and engross their structures and vocabulary. At
the same time, regional varieties have a local flavour due to the fact that people
appropriate the language and merge it with the local culture. Globish, on the other
hand, goes in the opposite direction: instead of complexing the language, it tends to
simplify it; and people instead of making it part of their culture, use it without
intentions of appropriation. If culture is involved in Globish it is the user's culture, not
the language's culture (if it is possible to divide the culture from the language and the
speaker). If the speaker's culture is transmitted through Globish it is so because of the
speaker's desire and not because there is a specific culture behind Globish. Therefore
the speaker will colour Globish according to their own background culture.
Another difference between Globish and other English varieties is their origin. Whereas
Globish was born in a laboratory, the other varieties were born in natural
environments, either as a result of contact with another language or of their own
development.
6

Globish-English, Globish-Spanish, Globish-Italian, Globish-German and Globish-Hungarian, all of them available for free in
http://globish.com/?page=globish_scanner
7

Don't Speak English, Parlez Globish (2004) and Globish: The World Over (2005), which can be purchased through the internet.

Bruschetti, Diego
An undeniable fact is that the main focus behind Globish is business, and not
necessarily because it is aimed at businesspeople. Money is behind this new variety
from the very beginning. Nerrire, in fact, is thinking about those intensive 2-weeks
courses for travellers that help them achieve a basic English ground so they can eat,
buy clothes, make reservations, check-in at hotels, rent cars and ask for information in
almost every part of the world without any need for a translator. He has also broadened
his potential customers by including in his variety another widely use of English as a
lingua franca: business and trade. Therefore, Nerrire included in his three-to-sixmonth course most of the domains in which English is used as a lingua franca leaving
the academic field aside (see Figure 3).
Domain

Number of

Wordcount

Speech Events

Percent of

Included in

Words

Globish?

ED (educational)

35

260,935

25.51

No

LE (leisure)

26

101,218

9.89

Yes

PB (professional

23

203,407

19.88

Yes

41

354,545

34.66

Yes

26

102,938

10.06

No

90

659170

64.43

business)
PO (professional
organizational)
PR (professional
research and science)
Total in Globish

Figure 3. Domains in which English is used as a lingua franca. 8

3. Conclusion
After analysing different Globish's aspects we come to the conclusion that Globish can
8

Figure taken from VOICE. 2009. The Vienna-Oxford International Corpus of English (version 1.0
online). Director: Barbara Seidlhofer; Researchers: Angelika Breiteneder, Theresa Klimpfinger, Stefan
Majewski, Marie-Luise Pitzl.http://www.univie.ac.at/voice/stats/domains_spets#spets (7/10/2010).

Bruschetti, Diego
be considered a variety of English on its own, for it has lexical, grammatical and
discourse features that makes it unique. Nevertheless it is just a new, fancy and
effective way to sell an English course for travellers . It is not that different from
elementary or beginners courses for people who want to manage some basic skills to
travel and do business across the global village. The main difference is that Globish is
sold through the internet to the whole world in an attractive package. After all, selling
products is what Nerrire, former marketing executive of IBM USA, knows best.

Bruschetti, Diego

Bibliography

Crystal, D. The language that took over the world., The Guardian, 22 February 1997,
p21. Reprinted in Spotlight (Germany), Number 7, 1997, p12-16. Available in
http://www.davidcrystal.com/DC_articles/English39.pdf

Crystal, D. (2001) The Language and the Internet. CUP

Keith, G. & Shuttlewoorth, J. (2000) Living Language. Hodder & Stoughton.

McCrum So, what's this Globish revolution?, 3/12/2006 The Observer online
available in
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2006/dec/03/features.review37.
Accesed 7/10/2010.

VOICE. 2009. The Vienna-Oxford International Corpus of English (version 1.0

online). Director: Barbara Seidlhofer; Researchers: Angelika Breiteneder,
Theresa Klimpfinger, Stefan Majewski, Marie-Luise
Pitzl.http://www.univie.ac.at/voice/stats/domains_spets#spets (7/10/2010).

www.globish.com Main Globish website.