Everyone is speaking English, except the Brits and the Americans, of course

Imagine the meeting room of an international company with speakers from all over the world talking together in English. It may not be their first language but they all manage to communicate effectively. Then the Brit or American walks in and starts talking…

For years, English has been the language of business. If you wanted to get ahead in the world, you had to study English. So native speakers always had a natural advantage. They didn’t need to study, they could go anywhere in the world and start speaking. But is this still the case?

In today’s world of international communications, the simpler form of English spoken by speakers of other languages is becoming the preference. Free from humour, wordplay, cultural references and speaking too fast, international English is easier to understand.

So what is international English?

This stripped down form of English, known as Globish consists of about 1,500 words and simple standardised grammar. It was devised by Frenchman, Jean-Paul Nerriere, a former international marketing executive at IBM, in 2004, and since then has sold more than 200,000 textbooks in over 18 languages.

Why is Globish becoming successful?

In the world of international business, the subtle nuances of a language aren’t as important as clear communication. Take for example, the case of the South Korean company which decided to work with a French company rather than a British one as communication, in English, was simpler.

Who should study Globish?

As a student of English, you’ve probably aspired for years to talk like a native speaker and learn the ins and outs of the present perfect. But if you say "I am working for my company since three years", what difference does it really make? Grammatically speaking it’s a mistake and will hurt the ears of any British or American listener (including your teacher), but as long as everyone knows exactly what you mean, where’s the problem?

So why is it so hard to understand native speakers?

Native English speakers are notoriously bad at learning foreign languages, and this is for two reasons. One is that schools in Britain and America just don’t teach grammar. The second is that for years, native English speakers have developed the opinion that they don’t need to learn a second language. Why should they when the rest of the world is learning English?

Well, now it looks like the rest of the world is starting to learn a different language.

So, why can’t I understand the Brits and Americans?

Not learning a second language means Brits and Americans don’t know what it’s like to have communication problems. They never experience the problems that language learners go through and so they never think to moderate their language. They continue to use idioms (barking up the wrong tree), synonyms (complimentary/gratis/free), colloquialisms (I wasn’t born yesterday), and phrasal verbs (just get on with it!) without thinking of the impact they have on their language.

As everyone does in their native language, the Brits and Americans use humour, cultural references and slang when they speak, these things all make language more fascinating and the speaker more engaging, but also harder for non-native speakers to understand.

Learning to grade your language is a skill which any language student or teacher learns quickly. The ability to make yourself understood even by low level speakers comes from being able to empathise with their developing language skills.  

Native speakers often assume that their superior language skills make them easier to understand than non-native speakers - this is hardly ever the case though. It’s the foreign students, with their superior understanding of English grammar and clear pronunciation that can communicate most efficiently.

English courses for native speakers

It is now the native English speakers who are having to adjust their language and simplify the way they speak so that foreign speakers can understand more easily. Companies are now offering Globish, or international English courses to native English employees to help them communicate more effectively.

So what can native-English speakers do?

●      Slow it down - your listener probably needs a fraction longer to catch your words and formulate their response

●      Enunciate - make sure you pronounce your words clearly, separating sounds and reducing contractions

●      Word choice - use simplified language and basic words (I like) not advanced nuances (I just adore) and vocabulary

●      Check for recognition - look to see if your listener is following you. Ask if they caught what you said (not by saying “did you catch that”)

●      Study a language - any will do. Even just the basics. Feel what it’s like to speak another language, what the limits are and how a language works

●      Be informed and respectful - every culture has different speech codes ingrained in their language, what is acceptable or the norm in one place may not be in another

●      Study English - get a grammar book and brush up on your English verbs so you can see their point of view and well, maybe even improve your own English

●      Say goodbye to idioms - I remember when my dad told me that he was leading an international seminar of about 500 people and put up a slide with plastic ducks on it, to symbolise “get your ducks in a row” he looked out into the audience only to see a sea of confused faces that were nowhere near understanding either his humour or what he was trying to communicate.

●      “Cut out” the phrasal verbs - without starting a grammar lesson here, phrasal verbs (cut out) are when you put a verb (get, set, give) together with a preposition or adverb (up, down, in). Choose what we would consider a technical sounding equivalent instead, like tolerate for put up with, or progress for get on with.

●      Remove any cultural references – often we don’t realise that a large part of our communication comes from things we are familiar with. an American may say “hot dog” (sandwich sausage) when something happy happens, but this is going to make no sense to a Japanese person.

Cultural references are often a problem for international communications and an important issue to consider when preparing your business for international markets. It’s a good idea to consider international audiences right from the start to ensure any content is already suited to localisation. You can do this by removing cultural references that could be misunderstood, misconstrued, or simply just considered weird to someone from a different culture.

A recent example I saw was on the instructions for a pressure cooker I bought online. The nine cooking programmes included curry (I can just about cook this in Italy) and congee (I can’t even find the ingredients here). If I were promoting this product in the UK, I would keep the curry recipe (the Brits love it) and cut out the congee (they wouldn’t know what it is). Here in Italy, however, it would be better to leave them both out and instead add a tomato sauce recipe.