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Examples
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At times he even uses "globish" to refer to the language in which G8 leaders give international press conferences – though in fact this is simply English, used by non-native elites in a way that diverges minimally from native norms.
Globish: How the English Language Became the World's Language by Robert McCrum Deborah Cameron 2010
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That is the view of Jean-Paul Nerrière, the French businessman who coined the term "globish" in 1995.
Globish: How the English Language Became the World's Language by Robert McCrum Deborah Cameron 2010
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If in future the world's business is conducted in globish, native anglophones, like everyone else, will find themselves obliged to learn it.
Globish: How the English Language Became the World's Language by Robert McCrum Deborah Cameron 2010
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Authoritarian regimes which want the capitalism without the democracy will not survive in a world where, thanks to globish, "everyone has access to an unlimited supply of data which floats ... in the infinite reservoir of cyberspace".
Globish: How the English Language Became the World's Language by Robert McCrum Deborah Cameron 2010
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For McCrum, the political implications are profound: "Today, in every country struggling to participate in capitalist democracy, it is globish that provides the main avenue of advancement".
Globish: How the English Language Became the World's Language by Robert McCrum Deborah Cameron 2010
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Rather than duplicating the expressive functions of a mother-tongue, globish meets our practical need for a universal "other tongue" – a simple, neutral, intelligible medium for cross-cultural communication.
Globish: How the English Language Became the World's Language by Robert McCrum Deborah Cameron 2010
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In interviews and comments McCrum has insisted that what he means by globish is a reduced auxiliary language with no native speakers, like the version promoted by Nerrière; but many of the examples he uses in the book concern the varieties spoken in postcolonial societies such as India and Nigeria, which do have some native speakers, serve a full range of communicative functions, and are not globally intelligible or culturally neutral.
Globish: How the English Language Became the World's Language by Robert McCrum Deborah Cameron 2010
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The inability to express jokes in globish is probably why, according to the BBC, Nerriere regards the late Yasser Arafat as one of the prime examples of globish in action.
Belmont Club 2009
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Rather than fight it, he has advised Frenchmen (and every other nationality) to learn a subset of English he's codified called globish.
Belmont Club 2009
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In other words, Monsieur Nerriere concluded, a new form of English is developing around the world, used by people for whom it is their second language. globish site asserts that you can say most things using a vocabulary of 1,500 words or less.
Belmont Club 2009
vanishedone commented on the word globish
B.B.C.: 'In a meeting with colleagues from around the world, including an Englishman, a Korean and a Brazilian, he noticed that he and the other non-native English speakers were communicating in a form of English that was completely comprehensible to them, but which left the Englishman nonplussed.
'He, Jean-Paul Nerriere, could talk to the Korean and the Brazilian in this neo-language, and they could understand each other perfectly.
'But the Englishman was left out because his language was too subtle, too full of meaning that could not be grasped by the others.
'In other words, Monsieur Nerriere concluded, a new form of English is developing around the world, used by people for whom it is their second language.
'It may not be the most beautiful of tongues, but in this day and age he says it is indispensible. He calls the language Globish and urges everyone - above all the French - to learn it tout de suite.'
January 25, 2009