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From Globish to Globese

Article · March 2011

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Pasquale Ferrara
LUISS Guido Carli, Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali
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China

From Globish to Globese

by pasquale ferrara

I s language power or culture? A strange

contradictory feature of the global Ba-
bel we live in is, after all, the perception
of a new kind of Koine rather than a con-
fusion of idioms. This is the case of “Glo-
bish,” a cosmopolitan English dialect
with a vocabulary of about 1500 words (a
fraction of the 615,000 in the Oxford Eng-
lish Dictionary), a language spoken all
over the globe by non-native speakers of
English. It is the way a Bolivian talks to a
Russian, or a Japanese talks to an Egypt-
ian. Unlike Spanglish, it’s not a meld of
English and a different language. It arose
naturally and acquired its legitimacy
through reiteration and usage.
The English writer and editor Robert
McCrum has called Globish “the world-
wide dialect of the third millennium.” A
language sometimes compared to open
source software: available for free to any-
body willing to use it for his own pur-
poses. It is commonly believed that lan-
guage and culture go hand in hand. In
the case of Globish, language underwent
a process of deculturation. In a sense,
Globish as a language was “abstracted”
from the Western, English-speaking cul-
ture. It’s a dangerous operation. as Ruth
Walker of the Christian Science Monitor
puts it, “language and culture are so
closely linked that culture-free language
would be like tasteless food or colorless
paint.” However, Globish is at the same
time accessible and democratic. If that is
power, it is the power of anarchy in gram-
mar and pronunciation.
In many cases, language is more a ba-
sic tool for relationships than a weapon of In the jargon of international affairs year celebrating four centuries since the
cultural conquest. The case of immigration and diplomacy, China is currently classi- death of Padre Matteo Ricci (1610-2010),
demonstrates that assumption, some- fied as an “emerging country.” If this is a program financed by Beijing to teach
times in a dramatic way. Language travels correct from a contemporary (economic) the Chinese language in Italian elemen-
with people, but also travels through im- point of view, it is completely misleading tary schools became operational. Per-
material channels. In 2009, for instance, on a historical ground. In the times of haps those children one day will learn
China gained 36 million additional inter- Marco Polo and Matteo Ricci (the only Globish. Would they also speak “Globese”
net users, meaning that there are over 440 two foreigners who appear on the wall of (global Chinese)?
million internet users in the country. Eng- the World Art Museum in Beijing, in
lish is by far the most widely used lan- recognition for their contribution to Chi-
guage on the internet. However, Chinese is nese civilization) Europe was an emerg-
growing fast, and is already one of the ing power, and China a superpower. pasquale ferrara heads the policy planning
dominant languages on the internet. It may sound ironic, but in 2010, the unit of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

116 - longitude #02

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