Chapter 5: The English Learners’ Problem…Can Be Their Edge

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Some very expert English speakers take pride in speaking what is called “plain” English. They recommend we use simple English words, and to avoid foreign, borrowed words for example. So speaking plain English is not speaking bad English at all, and might even be speaking rather good English. Using unusual or difficult words does not always mean you know what you are talking about. In many cases, “plain” English is far more useful than other English. The term “Plain English” is the name of a small movement, but the term is most often used between native speakers to tell each other that the subject is too difficult. They say: “Just tell me in plain English!”

It is very important, on the other hand, to speak correct English. Correct English means using common English words in sentences that have reasonably good meanings. Of course, everyone makes mistakes now and then, but a good goal is to say things in a correct way using simple words. This makes it easier to say things that are useful.

Of course, we know that we say things well enough if people understand what we say. So we need to observe a level of usage and correctness in English which is “enough” for understanding. Less is not enough. And “more than enough” is too much – too difficult – for many people to understand. Most public messages – such as advertisements use fairly common words and fairly simple English. The messages often cost a lot so it is important everyone understands them. On television, time for messages can cost huge amounts so the English used is chosen very carefully. The American Football Super Bowl in the US has advertisements that are very easy to understand. The advertisers pay $2 000 000 a minute for their advertisements, so they want to be sure people understand!

There is a level of English that is acceptable for most purposes of understanding. This is the level that Globish aims to show. As we will see in greater detail, Globish is a defined subset of English. Because it is limited, everyone can learn the same English words and then they can understand each other. Globish uses simple sentence structures and a small number of words, so that means you have to learn less. And it can be expanded easily when people choose to do this.

The Globish word list has 1500 words. They have been carefully chosen from all the most common words in English. They are listed in the middle of this book. In the Oxford English Dictionary there are about 615000 entries. So how could 1500 words be enough? This book – in Globish – uses those 1500 basic words and their variations.

This list of 1500, of course, will also accept a few other words which are tied to a trade or an industry: call them “technical words.” (Technical is a technical word.) Some technical words are understood everywhere. In the computer industry, words like web and software are usually known by everyone. They are from English or are made up, like Google. And in the cooking industry, many words are French, like “sauté” or “omelette”.
Globish also uses words that are already international. Travelers communicate using words like “pizza”, “hotel”, “police”, “taxi”, “stop”, “restaurant”, “toilets”, and “photo”.
1500 is a lot of words, because English has been a language where words “father” words. The children words of the first 1500 words are easy to learn. For instance, “care” is the father of “careful, carefully, carefulness, careless, carelessly, carelessness, uncaring, caretaker, etc…” It is the same with “use” and hundreds of other words. If you count all the fathers and their children you find over 5,000 Globish words.
Experts say most native English speakers use only about 3,500 words. Well-educated speakers may know many more words but probably only use about 7,500 words. It is demonstrated that even native speakers with high education say 80% of what they have to say with only 20% of their word-wealth. This is only one good example of a universal law called the “Pareto Principle”, named after its Paris-born inventor. The Pareto Principle states: For all things that happen, 80% of the results come from 20% of the causes. So, 20% of the educated native speaker’s 7500 word wealth is….1500. So with 1500 words, you may communicate better than the average native English speaker , and perhaps as well as the highly-educated one – for 80% of the ideas. For the 20% left over, in Globish you can use a definition instead. You will not say “my nephew”, as this could be too difficult in many non-English speaking countries. You will say instead: “the son of my brother”. It will be all right.

But where did the 1500 words come from?

Various lists of most-commonly-used English words have suggested the 1500 basic words of Globish. However, the value of a set of words should not be by the place they come from but how well we use them.

On January 20, 2009, Barack Obama made his Presidential Inauguration Speech. Now, in the Appendix of this book, you can see the words he used – alongside Globish words. Take a look at Obama’s original speech side-by-side with a version with shorter sentences and only the words of Globish. The non-Globish words that Obama used are marked. You can read the speech in Globish, and decide if Globish can be used to say important things.

Obama’s speech in Globish shows that Globish is not poor English. Globish is correct English and it can communicate with the greatest number of people all over the world. Of course, native English speakers can understand it very quickly because it is English. And even better: they usually do not notice that it is Globish. But non-native English speakers do see the difference: they understand the Globish better than the English they usually hear from native English speakers.

Technical Words

Technical
with a scientific basis, or used by a profession

International Words

Pizza
an Italian food found most places in the world
Hotel
a place to stay which rents many rooms by the night
Police
men or women who make certain you follow the law.
Taxi
a car and driver you rent to take you individual places
Restaurant
a place to eat where you buy single meals
Toilets
places to wash hands and do other necessary things
Photo
a picture taken with a camera
Piano
a large box with many keys to make music with
Sauté
French way of cooking; makes meat or vegetables soft
Omelette
a way of cooking meals with eggs

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