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Spoken English and Broken English Summary.

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2K views1 page

Spoken English and Broken English Summary.

Uploaded by

wocafi9110
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Spoken English and Broken English.

- George Bernard Shaw.

Summary:-

'Spoken English and Broken English' is an essay by George Bernard Shaw which is a
transcript of a radio talk recorded in 1927. Thus essay gives some instructions regarding
how to speak English to a foreign student of English when they travel in the British
Commonwealth or in America or when they meet a native. It even says that the native may
even speak in a provincial or cockney dialect of which he is a little ashamed and this may
even prevent him from obtaining some employment which is open only to those speaking
correct English.
The essay he's been divided into three sections. The first part rightly stresses on the fact that
there is no single model of correct speech in English. The first thing everyone (native or
foreigner) must remember is that there lies no ideally correct English. Shaw discusses that
the notion of "correct English", which is the proper way in which English should be spoken.
According to him, no two British subjects speak exactly alike. Though they all speak
differently, they all speak presentably which makes them understandable and thus
acceptable as a person of good social standing. The second part talks about how everyone
irrespective of whether they are educated or uneducated , speaks differently in public and in
private. A person's speech in public needs to be a careful one, measuring each word before
he speaks, to create an impact and make it understandable. But in private a man is less
bothered about the speech, the grammar, articulation,etc .. This section is particularly the
most amusing and Shaw presents himself as a guinea pig.
Now in the last section Shaw advises foreigners on how to speak while traveling in English
speaking country and here he gives another warning of quite a different kind. The first thing
that a person who is a foreigner should do is to speak with strong foreign stress and use
broken English without grammar. Then every native to whom he speaks would understand
he is a foreigner and would try to understand and be ready to help him. He shouldn't expect
everyone to be polite and use elaborate grammatical phrases. But now this advice is flawed
as it is outdated for now that many people not only visit many English speaking countries but
also reside in countries like America and Britain.
With globalization taking its hold on the world and the need of learning multiple global
languages out of which English stands at the very helm, has led people to seek out the
'correct' form of the English language.

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