My wife is an avid blog reader, and she sends me great links all the time. This article inspired me to write a blog post. This article argues that textbooks written in English for Germanic language learners should be replaced by a modified version of English called Anglish. It suggests that if English can be used more closely to its Germanic counterparts, it will be easier to understand the languages.
What is Anglish, you ask? You may have seen the link above and realized that Anglish is essentially English without any influences from other languages. Imagine what English sounds like without the Latin and Greek word-stock that was inherited by Christianity, the Norman Invasion of 1066, and all the time spent with them. You now have a better idea of what Anglish consists of.
Blog author says that textbooks using Anglish for the facilitation text (that’s, the language of instruction, translation, and instruction) would be more effective because of the large amount of Germanic vocabulary. This is a benefit the author claims English-speaking learners used to have. Through Anglish explanations, the learner would be introduced first to Anglish.
There were several stages to my reaction to this proposal. First, I thought “Gee, you want a language such as German but you must learn this type of English first?” I don’t see the point in that. “Wouldn’t this be overwhelming for the average learner of a language?” I have learned that it is better to avoid translations, at least for advanced and intermediate students. Why build a learning base almost entirely on a system for translation? After rereading the article, and getting past my initial reactions, I realized that I like historical linguistics. I can see Anglish being a great way for me to learn a second language and study language history.
After spending a lot of time thinking about Anglish, and doing research on the topic, I’m not convinced it’s a useful strategy to bridge the gap between English speakers and those who speak Germanic languages. It could, however, be a fun lesson or unit that shows the relationship between the languages. This could also encourage students to study historical linguistics and how languages have changed over time.
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