I’ve been living abroad for years, and now I naturally simplify my spoken English to accomodate whoever may be listening. I filter out complex grammatical structures and choose simple words. Sometimes when I want to say something too complicated to express in simplified language, I stop as if lacking the language. Or I switch to Japanese. The same thing happens in writing if I know the audience are not native English speakers. The difference is more pronounced in Cambodia. The language of Cambodia, Khmer, doesn’t have verb tenses. When speaking to shopkeepers and tuk-tuk drivers, they understand better if I keep all verbs in the present tense. This naturally spills out in more and more conversations in Cambodia.
On my last trip, I discovered it took a conscious effort to speak like a native English speaker. Rather, simplified English is becoming my default.
Now I have a word for what I do: globish (global English). Do you speak it?
Globish is a “decaffeinated English” that is increasingly becoming a widely used international language. (h/t Kottke)
[...] I speak Globish, or global English, do you? Simplified English the … [...]
Globish reminds me of another project called “Basic English” Unfortunately this failed, because native English speakers could not remember which words not to use
So it’s time to move forward and adopt a neutral non-national language, taught universally in schools worldwide,in all nations.
As a native English speaker, I would prefer Esperanto
Your readers may be interested in the following video at http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_YHALnLV9XU Professor Piron was a translator with the United Nations in Geneva.
A glimpse of Esperanto can be seen at http://www.lernu.net
Wow, Khmer sounds like it’ll be easier to learn than Japanese!