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Globish has no desire to be a cultural language like French, or Chinese…or English. People who will use Globish already have their own respected culture and their own language. They will use Globish only as a tool, but it will be the chosen tool of a huge majority of people around the world. When they see ahead to this future many non-native English speakers will decide this is still English. And it is really a form of English, a clear form of that language. They may fear that English is winning over everything they love. They may see this as a threat to their own mother tongue and their culture. So they might decide that they have to fight for the survival of their French, Japanese, Russian or Tagalog – their home and beloved language. Each of them is a respected cultural language for many people.

This threat could be true IF we were advising you to learn English. That would be helping English compete with other cultural languages. A few cultures have already taken extreme steps because they fear that the English culture will replace their own. They feel it brings poor values and takes away the strength of their own culture.

However, advising you to learn Globish does the opposite. Globish cannot have any cultural goals, so it does not threaten anyone’s language or anyone’s culture. It replaces the English competition. Using only Globish could keep all these wonderful cultures safer from the English cultural invasion.

Globish can also protect the English language from being “broken” by other cultures. English is a very special case today. In fact, the non-native English speakers who use English are far more numerous than native English speakers. So the non-native speakers will decide and lead in the future of the English language. They will create and present new words, and will throw away the old words. This will happen unless the Globish idea becomes an accepted tool. If this happens, it will give the English language a chance to survive as a cultural language.

Globish offers the English-speaking countries a chance to say: We have a wonderful language, linked to a wonderful culture, and we would like to save all of that. However, we accept that international communication today is mostly using our language. But we can divide the language in two parts. One form will be for English culture that is ours, and one form will be for global communication, trade, and traveling (and this is Globish, with exact rules.) We will attempt to use this second form - Globish - whenever we are in those other worlds which are not part of the English culture (s). And we are the lucky ones…Learning Globish for us will be much easier than learning a new language for each place.

If you are delivering a speech in front of a large international audience, you have to deal with many different levels of English. You might think they are like one person, but each individual has different abilities. On top of that, someone will be recording you, and your performance will be available in many ways, including on the TV and on the Internet and on DVDs. You need to be understood quickly by the largest possible number. You might think that excellent speakers of two languages are the answer. Interpreters give second-by-second changes to the audience in their languages. But even that method is much better with Globish than with English. The Globish limitations and especially its simpler sentences, shorter and lighter, all ensure better correctness when the speech is changed to another language.

Ask any interpreter: Their worst experience is the long, involved sentences where they get lost. This person needs to listen to all of the words to get the meaning, and if the talk is too long, he or she has lost the beginning when the end finally comes. But those kinds of statements-within-statements are mistakes in Globish.

The other horrible experience of the interpreters is seeing words used differently in a field or subject that they don’t know. In English there is the word “program”, and it means very different things on the TV and on the computer. The interpreter who does not know the field completely will make too many mistakes. On the other hand, if you are talking in Globish, many people in the audience will choose to listen directly to you. The simplest solution is to say things in Globish. You can then use special “technical words” – along with pictures to support them – in a way that people in the industry will quickly understand.

It is very difficult to use Globish guidelines while you are creating your words right there in front of people. But once you are familiar with the idea, practice makes it easier within a short time. The safest way, however, is to give a speech from a written text, and go over that text with Globish software. It will improve the “hit rate” of the speech (a technical term for the percent of people who listen and do understand). Usually it is at least three times better, and ten times with some listeners who are not native English speakers.

A good example is the excellent video tape to the Iranian people by President Obama in 2009. It was in Globish-like language and it could be understood by much of the world without translation. They also listened to Obama’s same words in Jerusalem and Ramallah, in Istanbul and in Seoul. In too many other cases, however, major international speeches are made at a level of English that is too difficult for non-native speakers. Of course those international speakers think they did their job. They are wrong. Their job was to be understood by all their listeners.

If you are a native English speaker, you could argue that things are very different when you write. You know who you are writing to, and you know that his or her English is very good. Perhaps you write to that person with difficult words to show your ability with the language. But this could be another huge mistake. Very often good ideas are passed on as is to others. You should know that whatever you write today is not written just for the person you send it to. It is always written for the whole wide world. And for this reason, it should be in Globish. If it is forwarded through the Internet it can go around the world 4000 times before you finish your next call. The problem is, if they don’t understand it, they will still try to pick up a few words and tell that to their friends. And then what you didn’t say well they will say even more poorly in 5000 other languages. The good news is that now you can talk to the whole world at the speed of light. But the really bad news is that no one will ever tell you they don’t understand. They would be ashamed to show their limitations, so they will all say back to you: “Oh yes, it was very interesting.”

You could be working for a global company, with shares owned by people from 123 different countries. They speak almost as many languages. Look closely at your yearly report, and at all the papers sent to shareholders. It is probably written in wonderful English which non-native English speakers from the 117 non-English speaking countries can almost understand. Or is it written in Globish, using exactly the same numbers and saying exactly the same things, but understandable by many more of those shareholders?

If you work in a government agency in an English speaking country, look at the papers and forms for the citizens. Many people –who are new to the country and to your language – will have to fill in those forms. They should reach the Globish level soon, and that may be fairly easy. But then, they should get papers written only in Globish, which are understandable both by these new ones and by all the English-speaking citizens. It would cost much less than printing every paper and form in many different languages. And new people could perform better and more quickly in the economy if they could read the language. Globish can fill this need, but that nation must make this standard, and demonstrate it in all its important papers.

There will always be a few of the new people who cannot yet operate in Globish, even to read simple writing. They may still need to see something in their languages. From normal English the usual solution would be many translators, one for each language. Their work might be excellent, but it would take a lot of time and a lot of money.

You could also decide to have computer translations to these languages from English. But you must make sure that it works; here is how to do that. Have the computer translate part of your English version into – say – Poldevian. When you have a result, do not show it immediately to the Poldevians. Instead, order the computer to change the Poldevian document back to English. If you think you can understand it – and accept it – then the process is good. In most cases you will be surprised in a bad way. You will decide that computers cannot change languages very well yet. However, Globish has a much better chance of giving good results in computer translation. It has simpler sentence structures, and uses the most common English words. Many times, the computer translation from Globish to Poldevian will give better results, but not perfect results. This is true of most of Globish, where the goal is to create understanding without 100% perfection.

We must remember, however, that Globish is not a holy language. It is an idea, a guidance. The better you keep to it, the more people will understand you. Perhaps it is like a diet. The closer you stay to it, the more weight you lose. But no diet is going to fail if – just a few times – you have a glass of wine, or a beer. Off-limits words in Globish are not wrong; it is just not wise to bring in difficult words too often. You can use a rare word because no other one will do, and many readers will run to their word books. Or you can use two Globish words that are widely understood by your readers or listeners... and mean the same thing. It is up to you. But the more you stay with the guidance, the better chance you have of everyone understanding you.

It is clear also that people who decide to use Globish will possibly master many more words than the list given here. This is clearly true for advanced English students, of course, but also for the other speakers. In many cases the non-native speakers will hear speech or see written material that uses more difficult words. In most cases, non-native speakers will learn these new words, and have them available in case they need to use them again later. This is a good result. We are not suggesting that people close their eyes and their ears to all new words. And there will often be native English speakers who reject the Globish idea completely. With this kind of people, more words will always help the non-native speakers to understand.

But these borders of this Globish “middle ground” are not made to keep people in or out. If all speakers know they can come back and be welcomed into Globish, then communication has a chance.

Technical Words

Interpreter

a person who tells the meaning in one language to those who speak another language.

Translation

Changing of one language to another. Sometimes human translators are called interpreters.

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