I am feeling humbled and honored by a reaction to my remarks about the two version of the Globish wordlist:
Christian Jud
Woont in Vancouver
Werkt bij Globish
25 jun 2020 18:48
Verzonden door Christian: 25 juni
This is the reply from Jean-Paul NERRIERE, the inventor of the “Globish” concept, and author of the first book on the subject, in France.
“Dear Pite, thank you for your interest in Globish, and compliments on your observation: you are the first person who identified this slight discrepancy, and my French website has enjoyed more than two million connections so far, and nobody ever underlined what you spotted.
Yes, indeed, the earliest list of words deserved some attention, and success generated comments and suggestions from readers, which were very often valid. I revisited the list, and replaced by other very frequent words, some which were derived from other words that had to belong to the list. For instance, “treat” had to be recommended as a Globish word, but “treatment” (part of the first day list) could be discarded, as it is a legitimate child of “treat”. One of the beauties of English is that words father words, and, when I recommend 1500 words, with their children, they lead to an easy list of more than 3500.
I think the list has now been stable for more than ten years, and we do not intend to change it. It would be an endless debate, and what we have is enough, as we have demonstrated by books entirely written in Globish, or famous and complex documents transposed into Globish versions (eg President Obama’s inauguration speech, much more understandable for many more readers in our version than in his original one)
In addition you must keep in mind that there is no religion here, and that nobody will send you to jail for not complying entirely with our recommendations. It is like Cholesterol: my results would be better if I were lest addicted to chocolate, but, nonetheless, I love chocolate, I indulge, and I am still alive with no special warning that I should stop. Same with Globish, the more you stick to it, the better you will be understood in Cairo, Valparaiso or Moscow. If you still decide you need to use “ulotrichous” and “leiotrichous”, this is your choice: nobody (let alone me…) will bridle (not a Globish word, I should write “take offense”) , but very few people would understand what you mean. , by chance, they are native English speakers , some would reply “what the hell does that mean?”, and you would explain. But if they are Japanese, or French, or whatever else, they would most probably not react, lest they would look stupid and ignorant of a legitimate English word, and hoping the next sentence would clarify: your communication would still have been immaculate, but you would not have communicated with them.
We also say that, inside a given trade, the words of that trade have to be added: they are usually a legitimate and worldwide understood jargon. You cannot communicate in the finance world without many words I have a separate list of, like “ratio” in the first place. In the sea environment, you cannot avoid “bow”, “stern”, “shackle”, “capstan”, “bosun”… all English words that are known by all sailors around the world whatever their mother tongue, as soon as they start communicating in English. They cannot be rejected by Globish, even though explaining what they mean the first time you use it would be a good idea. But they cannot be part of the official list intended for “the world over”.
I hope this helps. If not, you can reach me at jpn@globish.com.
Warmest regards.
Jean-Paul NERRIERE “
