globish.pdf

JANUARY 2009

PRINT & TEACH LESSON

SEPTEMBER 2010

GLOBISH

Language Function:

discussing issues; reading comprehension

advanced

upper-intermediate

intermediate

pre-intermediate

Vocabulary/Topic:

Globish; business English: business communication; English language,

Japan

focus on talking

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

focus on reading

Activity 2. Read the text on page 2 and ﬁnd out what the

word “globish” refers to.

www.english-4u.com

page 1

JANUARY 2009

GLOBISH

Japanese execs

learn “globish”

to cope overseas

based on Bloomberg News story - September 2010

Oki Matsumoto, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. partner, now chief executive of online trader Monex

Group Inc, has a solution to Japan’s 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 don’t 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., Japan’s 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 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.

www.english-4u.com

page 2

JANUARY 2009

GLOBISH

Activity 3. Read the article on page 2 again and decide whether these statements are true (T) or false (F).

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 didn’t 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.

focus on talking

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

..........................................................................

www.english-4u.com

page 3

JANUARY 2009

GLOBISH

focus on vocabulary

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.

B. ... help them solve their problem.

3. If the population shrinks , it is ...

A. ... getting smaller.

B. ... growing fast.

4. If a stronger yen swells companies’ buying power, it ...

A. ... makes the companies poorer.

B. ... it makes the company richer.

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

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.

www.english-4u.com

page 4

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