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Robert McCrum’s Globish Explores How One Language Came to Connect the Entire World
What if the world doesn’t need everyone to speak the same language to communicate but increasingly expects everyone to speak English?
Imagine attending an international business meeting in Singapore, studying at a university in Germany, negotiating a deal in Dubai, or chatting with someone online in Brazil.
The people in the room may come from completely different cultures. They may have grown up speaking different languages, following different traditions, and understanding the world through different histories.
Yet there is a good chance they will communicate in English.
Not necessarily the English spoken in London or New York.
Something more practical.
A simplified, adaptable form of English used by people who may not have it as their first language.
This is the fascinating world Robert McCrum explores in Globish.
The book examines how English developed from a language associated with one particular island into a global means of communication, shaped by trade, empire, migration, technology, business, and cultural influence.
