I may be in the minority here, but has anyone else noticed the strange things that have been happening to English lately? I don’t mean business speak or management and technical jargon, but the way we are all starting to speak “international.” The lingua franca of the business world has gone global. More people are speaking English today -- but are we all speaking the same language?

I ask this question because recently I have found myself struggling to follow some conversations between executives from different countries. This month I have coached two teams: one comprising Scandinavians, Italians, and Japanese and the other Africans, Dutch, and Lithuanians. They were all capable businesspeople, speaking in a second or third language. Having tried to learn a number of languages myself, I thought they might have had trouble moving beyond a superficial discussion, but this was not so. They managed to discuss a number of business issues and explore different viewpoints. Some were even able to reflect on their own leadership styles and behavioral development.

But on a few occasions it all went wrong. Words and meanings elided, structure and grammar collapsed, critical points were left hanging. Statements turned out to be questions and vice versa. And the words -- where did they come from? I noted "interpretate," "correlise," and "restructurization" in the space of three sentences. No one stopped to correct the speaker and the discussion continued. I wanted to shout: “What are you doing to my language?! These are not real words!” But I was the only one who was getting irritated and lost, which leads me to suspect that these types of conversations are common in business, when everyone seems to know what’s going on yet no one actually has a clear thread. Why let language or points of grammar get in the way of communication?

This is an interesting question. English -- or perhaps American English -- is often criticized for creeping into and taking over other languages. Germany and France have laws to prevent English gaining a foothold in their languages, but other societies have embraced words and expressions from music, TV, and film as well as business. How many people now speak Dunglish (Dutch/English), Denglish (German/English), or Singlish (Singapore Chinese/English) as well as Franglais and Spanglish? Russian, Japanese, Serbian, and Brazilian Portuguese all have hybrid English words and expressions.

According to Braj Kachru, a Kashmiri scholar who is an expert on world English, there are three concentric circles of English, the inner, outer, and expanding circles. The "inner circle" represents English as spoken in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, South Africa, Australia, and the Caribbean (around 380 million speakers); the "outer circle," where English is not an official language but is spoken widely due to an historic connection with the United Kingdom, for example India, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Malaysia (150-300 million speakers); and the “expanding circle” -- where English has had no historic role, but it is emerging as a lingua franca for business, such as China, Russia, Japan, Europe, and parts of Asia (an estimated 100 million to 1 billion speakers).

Kachru believes the inner circle dictates the standards for the outer circle, so in these regions the English language remains relatively pure. The problem for business lies within the expanding circle, where a new form of English is emerging. “International” meets the immediate needs of the speakers, but pays little heed to form or usage. The beauty of International is that it’s simple, fluid, useful, and culturally neutral. The problem, as author Edward Trimnell points out in his book, Why You Need a Foreign Language & How to Learn One, is that “International” is only adequate for communicating basic ideas and concepts. For complex discussions and business or technical situations, English is an unwieldy tool that is daunting for nonnative speakers to learn and use.

Jean-Paul Nerrière, a former vice president of IBM, believes that the benefits to nonnative English speaking managers and leaders of International English outweigh the difficulties. Nerrière invented his own language system, Globish, a sort of “English light” to help for struggling executives. "It is not a language, it is a tool," says Nerrière. "A language is the vehicle of a culture. Globish doesn't want to be that at all. It is a means of communication."

In his book, Parlez Globish, Nerrière sets out the principles of Globish: a simplified vocabulary of 1,500 English words, some useful gestures, and an emphasis on repetition. The point, he says, is to reach the threshold of understanding. "The language spoken worldwide, by 88% of mankind, is not exactly English," he says. "People who think this gives them an edge are [not] right because it's not useful if they cannot be understood by English speakers."

Exactly my thoughts. But what is your experience of this linguistic muddle? Are you having difficulty speaking, listening to, or comprehending traditional or international English? Has Globish been a useful tool in your own business dealings? And have you heard of any new words or phrases to report from the expanding circle of English?

HARVARD BUSINESS ONLINE RECOMMENDS:
Harvard Business Review on Effective Communication (Paperback)
Face-to-Face Communication: Is It Really Necessary in a Digitizing World? (Business Horizons Article)
Building an Effective Global Business Team (SMR Article)