A survey by David Graddol, commissioned by the British Council, on Global English:

Global English is often compared to Latin, a rare historical parallel to English in the way that it flourished as an international language after the decline of the empire which introduced it. The use of Latin was helped by the demise of its native speakers when it became a shared international resource. In organisations where English has become the corporate language, meetings sometimes go more smoothly when no native speakers are present. Globally, the same kind of thing may be happening, on a larger scale.

This is not just because non-native speakers are intimidated by the presence of a native speaker. Increasingly, the problem may be that few native speakers belong to the community of practice which is developing amongst lingua franca users. Their presence hinders communication.

(Via the increasingly enigmatic and occasional Enigmatic Mermaid)

Following the recent entry on adopting German words,
Sonja linked to the Bedrohte Wörter project (via akademie.de/eintrag/1000/bedrohte-woerter-sammlung).

This is a much more sensible project, as it has a list (rote Liste) of specifically threatened words, albeit only one per letter of the alphabet. I am thinking of saving the word Wählscheibe. After all, the verb dial outlived its roundness.

Der Sydney Morning Herald berichtet, dass ein Flüchtling aus Tansania in U-Haft bleiben musste, da bei drei Gerichtsterminen kein Dolmetscher für Swahili gefunden wurde:

bq. A TANZANIAN refugee spent eight days in Silverwater jail last month, failing to win bail at three successive court hearings because he could not speak English and no Swahili interpreter was provided.
The director of the criminal law division of the NSW Legal Aid Commission, Brian Sandland, said Pius Bazigiye’s case was “a stark example of how a lack of interpreter services can impact on a person’s liberty”.
Luke Geary, a solicitor who assisted the man, said Mr Bazigiye had been charged with domestic violence and should have been bailed immediately after being charged. “Because he doesn’t speak English this man has been subjected to an unexplained eight-day period of detention for a summary offence that carries a presumption in favour of bail,” Mr Geary said.

Valentina Keys has just started as a trainee at Freshfields in London. On March 27 she released a single – you can hear it if you click on the link in the Roll on Friday article I got it from (click on the word here).

Following the last entry, I must state that there is a lot of bureaucracy in Germany, and in a few other places too. Spiegel Online, in another article in its inimitable English, helps us to get to the bottom of this:

bq. The average age of students in their very first semester is already a relatively ancient 23, partly due the fact that many students take a few years just to complete the first semester partly due to constant course and university changes and partly due to mandatory military or civil service.

You see that – all Germans have to be in the civil service.

(Thanks to Ekkehard for spotting it)

Spiegel Online is preparing a Germany Survival Bible.

bq. If you’re an expat or someone who has spent time in Germany, we want your help. Why do pedestrians wait for the light to change at 3:00 a.m.? Why are the shops closed on Sunday? Is German beer a stereotype or a reality? Why do toilets have shelves? Why do we have to bag our own groceries at the supermarket — assuming we get to the checkout in the first place? And why are there so many dogs on German streets and naked people on German beaches? Are Germans rude? Why are there so many sex shops?

I might not be tempted to enter, but see here:

bq. If you’re an expat blogger in Germany, we’re also happy to consider republishing any blogs you may have written that are appropriate to the Survival Bible. We’ll give you credit and provide a link back to your site.

The trouble is, I’ve never seen myself as what is called an expat. I think of an expat as someone in the diplomatic service who may or may not speak the language of the country where he or she has landed, and who has an offshore bank account, sends children to public school in Britain and will retire in Surrey. But it’s not impossible that Spiegel Online defines the term expat in a different way from me.

Anyway, Spiegel Online thinks the Germans have a fixation with garden gnomes. Yes, they do. They would be surprised to hear that garden gnomes are not a purely German phenomenon. Anyway, here is a photo I took this week outside a one-euro shop in Fürth: