GLOBISH (editable version)

September 2010

Globish
Activity 1. Discuss these questions in pairs or small groups.
1. Do you use English in your profession? How often do you speak English at work? 2. What level of English language knowledge is needed to perform your current job? 3. Do you find it easier to communicate with native or non-native speakers of English. Why? 4. How fluent in English should someone be in order to successfully do business with foreigners? 5. Would you agree with the opinion that English native speakers have the upper hand* in business because they communicate in their own language?
* to have the upper hand - idiom If someone has the upper hand, they have power and control over someone or a situation

Activity 2. Read the text below and find out what the word globish refers to.

Japanese execs learn globish to cope overseas

Oki Matsumoto, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. partner, now chief executive of online trader Monex Group Inc, has a solution to Japans stagnant domestic economy: Learn globish. Matsumoto holds regular parties at the Tokyo-based company where employees must speak globish, or global English, a language for non-native speakers using basic grammar and a vocabulary of 1,500 words. My English is totally globish, admits Matsumoto. I dont feel any inconvenience in speaking with various people from around the world, even if my pronunciation has a Japanese accent. As the population shrinks and a stronger yen swells companies buying power for overseas acquisitions, the need for better international communication is growing in Japan. Asahi Breweries Ltd., Japans second-largest beer maker, is sending 10 employees to overseas subsidiaries for a year to learn local languages, culture and business rules, President Naoki Izumiya said on Aug. 26. He forced all executives to take the Test of
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English for International Communication, or TOEIC, a standardized business English test. At Rakuten, chief executive Hiroshi Mikitani, a Harvard Business School graduate, is pushing for the use of English in internal documents and meetings. He spoke English at a press conference for mostly Japanese reporters on Aug. 5, when the company announced its first-quarter earnings. The company also displays English menus at staff cafeterias. English conversation schools in Japan are recording spikes in enrolments. The number of new corporate clients jumped 50 per cent in the three months through June 30 from a year earlier, said Jun Nakagawa, a spokesperson at Berlitz Japan Inc.

Activity 3. Read the article again and decide whether these statements are true (T) or false (F).
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

According to Oki Matsumoto the knowledge of globish can help improve the economic situation in Japan. Matsumoto is a leader of a Tokyo-based party whose members must speak globish. Matsumoto wishes he didnt have a Japanese accent. Japanese businesses need to expand overseas partly because the population of Japan is getting smaller. Hiroshi Mikitani has banned his employees from using English in internal documents and meetings. More and more new corporate clients enrol for English language courses in Japan.

Activity 4. List all the possible advantages and disadvantages of globish becoming the language of international communication. Compare your list with the ones prepared by other students.
ADVANTAGES:

DISADVANTAGES:

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GLOBISH (editable version)

September 2010

Activity 5. Complete the sentence beginnings with appropriate endings.

1. A stagnant economy is an economy which is ... A. ... developing very fast. B. ... not growing.

2. If you put somebody to inconvenience, you ... A. ... you make them suffer discomfort or difficulties. 3. If the population shrinks, it is ... A. ... getting smaller. B. ... growing fast. B. ... help them solve their problem.

4. If a stronger yen swells companies buying power, it ... A. ... makes the companies poorer. 5. A subsidiary is ... A. ... a company which is owned and controlled by another company. B. ... money paid by a government to help a company stay in business B. ... it makes the company richer.

6. If someone is pushing for the use of English in internal documents, he or she ... A. ... is trying to use English in internal documents. B. .. is making requests for the use of English in internal documents.

7. If schools are recording spikes in enrolments, they have ... A. ... fewer students than before. B. ... have a lot of new students.

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