N° 100 - june 2010

DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH OR GLOBISH?

By Jean-Paul NERRIERE,
former vice-président of Digital Equipment Europe,  sales manager of Peugeot automobiles, vice-president of IBM-USA

Article translated from French by Noal Mellott (CNRS, Paris, France)
Article published in French in Gérer et Comprendre [March 2003] http://www.annales.org/

English-speakers, who make up only 11,3 % of humanity, are proud to speak the language supposedly used by the global village. However, many other people seem to speak an odd version of English, called Globish by the author. Non-English-speakers are often fluent in it, whereas English-speakers pain to speak and understand it. Might it not be time to recognize Globish as the world village’s official language? This would free non-English-speakers from their complexes and force English-speakers to recognize how much effort they should make to be understood. And French would have a chance to thrive, along with many other national tongues that have difficulty maintaining a presence.

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