It’s everywhere and it’s invading the planet! I first stumbled across the term Globish in the Jordan Times when I was in Amman, Jordan and yet again while in Monterrey Mexico, colleague and friend Felipe Dell’Oro pointed out an article in Newsweek about no other than… GLOBISH!!
According to Wikipedia as the term is neither in Cambridge nor the Oxford dictionary, Globish is a subset of the English language formalized by Jean-Paul Nerriere. It uses a subset of Standard English grammar, and a list of 1500 English words. According to Nerriere it is "not a language" in and of itself, but rather it is the common ground that non-native English speakers adopt in the context of international business.
Interestingly enough the term Globish was coined by Jean-Paul Nerriere in 1995, but why the hype all of a sudden you may ask? Its all thanks to McCrum, an editor at the London Observer who claims in his recently published book “Globish: How the English Language Became the World’s Language”, that English has achieved a self-sustaining "supra-national momentum" that is carrying it beyond the reach of the cultures from which it sprang. As the property of all who use it, the language will soon, he predicts, "make its own declaration of independence."
The reality is that we use it and recognize it probably without even knowing “Globish” had a name and that it has actually taken on a life of its own!
As I said to my friend Frank Salazar, Internal Relations Coordinator for the State of Nuevo Leon, Mexico during one of our many discussions “Yes We Can!” A phrase, which he instantly recognized from Obama’s presidential campaign and a stellar example of Globish.
Fun, Sweet & Sticky JAM Facts:
-In 2003 both Chile and Mongolia declared their intention to become bilingual in English
-2006 English was added to the Mexican primary-school curriculum as a compulsory second language
- By 2030 nearly 1/3 of the world’s population will be trying to learn English at the same time
