http://news.officialwire.com/main.php?action=posted_news&rid=308085#users_commentstexte de l'articleGlobal Speaking – Remodeling The Tower Of Babel For The 21st CenturyPublished on 06 December 2011 Comments (Be the first)by Susan Easton(OfficialWire)SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA (USA)OfficialWire News Bureau Susan Easton"I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)” debuted in a worldwide 1971 television commercial for Coca-Cola. Also known as “the Hilltop Song,” the commercial featured an assembly of multicultural teenagers walking up to the crest at the top of a hill, earnestly raising their voices to say how they would also like to buy the world a Coke. The jingle was so successful that the lyrics to the song were rewritten (minus the Coke ad). The ”de-commercialized” version of I’d Like to Teach the World was then recorded by The New Seekers, a very upbeat, American evangelical sort of group, and the song instantly became a number one hit.Teaching the world to sing let alone work together in harmony is a persistent utopian vision which has met, especially in the past few centuries, with marginal success. Utopian communities – many based on religious principles of one sort or another - have been so numerous that they rate their own lengthy Wikipedia entry. Then there are the obvious experiments like theUnited Nations which, like its predecessor the League of Nations, was designed to prevent future wars, and the European Union which is being reinvented (again) this very week. Apart from religious or cultural practices, there has been until recently only one utopian ideal which involved building a universal language. That was Esperanto, a “nation-free” tongue created in 1877 by Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof. Zamenhof was born in Bialystok, once part of the Russian Empire, now a part of modern Poland. His Father spoke Russian, as did his Mother. She also spoke Yiddish. Yiddish derives from a blend of High German dialects, Hebrew, Aramaic, Slavic and a smattering of other romance languages. The creation of Yiddish is credited to the Ashkenazi Jews. Written Yiddish uses the Hebrew alphabet. Zamenhof’s Father taught German. The family learned and spoke Polish. Zamenhof also acquired fluencies in French, Latin, Greek, Hebrew and English. He dabbled in Italian, Lithuanian andSpanish. He was a self contained embodiment of the Tower of Babel.Zamenhof chose the name Esperanto for his new language: it translates as “one who hopes.” His goal was simple and yet incredibly complex. He wanted to teach the world to speak in a politically neutral language not tied to any nation. His utopian dream was that Esperanto would bring peace and international understanding as soon as enough people learned how to speak it well enough to sit down and broker the end to wars. Esperanto was not meant to function, therefore, as a means of conducting commercial enterprises. It was meant to promote peace on earth.What Zamenhof could not have seen coming is the 21st century’s state of globalization around the world, fueled by international trade, jet transportation, the internet and its quirky features known as emailing and texting.Nor could the founder of Esperanto - which still has devoted followers here and there - foresee that the economic powerhouse the United States has become, would eventually abandon teaching its children at least one living foreign language, much less an invented one. In his own experience, the borders of countries frequently moved and languages changed along with them. Learning to speak many languages was required. An estimated 6,700 recognized languages are spoken around the world today, although many are used by fewer than a thousand people. Currently over 45 countries recognize English as an official language, if not their native tongue. One out of five people can speak English, although fluency varies a great deal. But in this globalized world, despite the perceived dominance of English as the lingua franca, it is estimated that less than 10 percent of face-to-face or telecoms-based business transactions are conducted between participants who both use English as their principal language.The statistics on emailing and messaging are even more fascinating barometers of the way business is conducted in the 21st century. A recent global communications technology study reports that North Americans and Europeans are much more likely to use email as their primary form of communication. In the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, instant messaging is more popular. Cell phone texting and Twitter are limited to 160 characters per message. As a result a shorthand language of emoticons has sprung up. Epsilon’s Global Consumer Email Study found that respondents in 13 key countries use various communication tools based on their country of origin. What the world needed was a new utopian language designed to facilitate and encourage successful business transactions using a short universally understood vocabulary: Enter GLOBISH.Created in 2004, ago by Frenchman Jean-Paul Nerrière, Globish uses a subset of Standard English grammar, and a list of 1500 English words using a subset of established rules. It is the opposite of Babel. The goal of Globish is to create a new linguistic foundation for getting the job done in international business. Its unique advantage, unlike Esperanto, is that it is not an invented vocabulary. The underlying principle was to create a level playing field for non-primary English speakers to facilitate communicating with primary English speakers. It’s like playing soccer with people from other countries where you might not speak the language fluently, but you all know the same basic words and the rules of the game.To make Globish a reality Nerrière faced a significant challenge. For a start, there are over 260,000 words in the English language. Nerrière had to whittle these down to just 1500. (Note: ‘whittle’ is not one of them). For more information, take a look at the free introduction to Globish, hosted on the net by Jean-Paul Nerrière himself. The complete list of the 1500 word Globish lexicon and information on courses and conference is available at www.globish.com. Or for a more scholarly venture into the world of “speaking in tongues,” purchase a copy of Globish: How the English Language Became the World’s Language.The book’s author, Robert McCrum, is an Associate Editor of The (UK) Observer and collaborated with Robert MacNeil, retired co-founder and host of the MacNeil Lehrer Report (PBS), on the televised version of MacNeil’s book, “The Story of English.” Teaching the world to speak in any kind of harmony would strike a thinking person as a capital idea, especially in the global village which we all now inhabit. Globish was not invented to make native English speakers feel superior to others, but to communicate with others more graciously and efficiently.It’s close to Christmas, the time when we are supposed to encourage Peace on Earth to men (and women) of good will. Communicating with others in the spirit of harmony – and getting the job done - might be something brilliant enough to set atop the tree as opposed to under it in a box.Think Globish. ContactOfficialWireSusan EastonTel: +1 6235517365 MEDIA CONTACT

Distinction exceptionnelle pour le "globish" au Japon.

Le livre international sur le « globish », intitulé « Globish the World Over » a été traduit en japonais par la Société Global Human Development Japan, et lancé sur ce marché par l’éditeur Toyo Keizai le 18 Mars 2011.  

 

A fin Août, les ventes excédaient cinquante mille exemplaires.

 

Le 28 Octobre 2011, "l’Agence pour les Affaires Culturelles » du

Ministère de l’Education, de la Culture, des Sports, de la Science et de la Technologiedu Japon

(MEXT), attribuait à cet ouvrage

 

Le trophée du "meilleur livre de l’année pour la compréhension internationale"

 

Le processus préalable de « nomination », avait retenu 58 candidats en vue de cette récompense.

Russia Today est une station de télévision émettant en Russie, au profit des Russes comprenant l'anglais. Elle vient de diffuser un long interview Jean-Paul Nerrière en compagnie de deux linguistes lui apportant la contradiction au sujet du globish et de sa diffusion. L'un des deux est David Graddol, auteur du rapport "English next" commandité par le British Council, la plus haute autorité sur la langue anglaise. Graddol y développe des thèses soutenant tout à fait la vision du Globish, et en particulier annonce que seulement 4% de la communication internationale prend place exclusivement entre Anglophones de naissance. 96% de cette communication implique au moins un non Anglophone, et gagnerait dont à être traitée en globish par les Anglophones eux mêmes. C'est un point rappelé par Jean-Paul Nerrière dans l'interview au cours duquel il couvre, dans son anglais exotique, nombre de thèmes qui font le succès du globish. Curieusement, ce programme vient de recevoir une série d'encouragements d'Anglophones témoignant de ce qu'une communication simplifiée et codifiée à cet effet, était ce dont avaient besoin les interlocuteurs réguliers d'étrangers. Le premier à en faire état est un Officier des douanes britanniques, qui en recommande l'usage dans son métier. A suivre. Emission disponible sur http://www.youtube.com/user/RussiaToday#p/u/3/CjXn3lW5wQ4

Elia Pekica est une journaliste pour le magazine "Epoha". Elle y a de bonne heure consacré un article au globish, et est une fervente de cette méthode. Elle vient de publier dans son pays un ouvrage d'interviews offrant au lecteur le point de vue de multiples personnalités sur la "globalisation", phénomène souvent appelé "mondialisation" en France. Titre "en suivant les empreintes de Diogène".  Jean-Paul Nerrière fait partie des personnes retenues pour cet exercice, dont une version en anglais est en cours de préparation.

Elia Patricia Pekica's new book titled

Following In The Footsteps of Diogenes

 

The amazing book of interviews titled Following In The Footsteps of  Diogenes, written by prominent Croatian writer and journalist Elia Patricia Pekica Pagon has recently been published in Croatia. This is her fifth book. The themes of this book are many, but the main topic is globalization, business philosophy of multinational corporations, neoliberal capitalism and the analyses of contemporary social scene. It also talks about the relationship between ethics and the destructive materialism of postmodern world. This book contains interviews with numerous Croatian and international scientists, authors, practitioners and theoreticians from the wide range of human activities (history, sociology, politology, economy, linguistics, public relations, marketing, theology, ecology, architecture, film, music, caricature, photography, theatre, design,…).

Together with numerous Croatian authors such as Stanko Abadžić, Ivan Balić, Boris  Bućan, Ante Gavranović, Elizabeta Gojan, Ivan Grdešić, Damir Kalogjera, Slavko  Kulić, Bruno Krajcar, Josip Kregar, Slaven Letica, Boris Ljubičić, Anđelko Milardović, Ivo Pervan, Otto  Reisinger, Fedor Rocco, Josip Sudar, Bojana Šćitaroci, Mladen Šćitaroci, Mirko Valentić and many others, we can also read the interviews with prominent international authors, scientists and practitioners, such as Noam Chomsky, Michael Coyne, Jan Currie, Livio De Marchi, Don George, Milton Glaser, Jean Haner, Isha Judd, Burton Morris, Jean-Paul Nerriere, Jacques Séguéla, Leslie Sklair, Kevin Roberts, Roland Robertson, Segio Zyman and many others.

We are sure that every reader of this interesting book will enjoy reading it. The book will be in bookstores some time this week.

Juste un merci vibrant : je suis une "vieille religieuse de 68 ans", rétive en anglais depuis ma scolarité ( j'ai cumulé les bonnes notes en écrit et les zéros à l'oral !!!). Grâce à votre méthode, je prends "plaisir" (mais oui !!) à prononcer l'anglais et à l'apprendre petit à petit (je ne dispose pas d'un temps fou : dans un cloître, on ne connaît pas la retraite à 67 ans, mais on connaît bien le travail des "seniors".
Ayant enseigné durant 12 années la lecture en CP avec la méthode de Maria Montessori, je trouve une véritable similitude entre votre méthode et la sienne. Sérier les sons, sérier les difficultés, partir sur la "musique" des phonèmes : toutes choses que je retrouve dans le globish.
Evidemment, chanter "Strangers in the night", à 50 reprises durant quelques 5 ou 6 jours, conduit à des choses un peu amusantes : on se surprend à l'avoir en tête pendant les moments de prière silencieuse !!!
Je ne suis pas encore bien loin, puisque j'en suis à l'étape C, C2...
mais "chi va piano, va sano".
Simplement, un grand merci à vous qui m'aidez à me réconcilier avec l'anglais.
Soeur Marie Emmanuelle
Je suis clarisse à Millau