Spoken English and Broken English - George Bernard Shaw: Guide notes| Calcutta University

Summary:-

'Spoken English and Broken English' is an essay by George Bernard Shaw which is a transcript of a radio talk recorded in 1927. Thus essay gives some instructions regarding how to speak English to a foreign student of English when they travel in the British Commonwealth or in America or when they meet a native. It even says that the native may even speak in a provincial or cockney dialect of which he is a little ashamed and this may even prevent him from obtaining some employment which is open only to those speaking correct English.
The essay he's been divided into three sections. The first part rightly stresses on the fact that there is no single model of correct speech in English. The first thing everyone (native or foreigner) must remember is that there lies no ideally correct English. Shaw discusses that the notion of "correct English", which is the proper way in which English should be spoken. According to him, no two British subjects speak exactly alike. Though they all speak differently, they all speak presentably which makes them understandable and thus acceptable as a person of good social standing. The second part talks about how everyone irrespective of whether they are educated or uneducated , speaks differently in public and in private. A person's speech in public needs to be a careful one, measuring each word before he speaks, to create an impact and make it understandable. But in private a man is less bothered about the speech, the grammar, articulation,etc .. This section is particularly the most amusing and Shaw presents himself as a guinea pig.
Now in the last section Shaw advises foreigners on how to speak while traveling in English speaking country and here he gives another warning of quite a different kind. The first thing that a person who is a foreigner should do is to speak with strong foreign stress and use broken English without grammar. Then every native to whom he speaks would understand he is a foreigner and would try to understand and be ready to help him. He shouldn't expect everyone to be polite and use elaborate grammatical phrases. But now this advice is flawed as it is outdated for now that many people not only visit many English speaking countries but also reside in countries like America and Britain.
With globalization taking its hold on the world and the need of learning multiple global languages out of which English stands at the very helm, has led people to seek out the 'correct' form of the English language.