Basic English

Basic English and Basic English is a created by Charles Kay Ogden simplified form of English with strongly reduced vocabulary. The English version is sometimes referred to as a planned language, as this form of English was once supposed to serve as a universal auxiliary language. It is not to be confused with the formally similar, but created for a very specific application area Simplified English. BASIC is an acronym for British American Scientific International Commercial ( Language), which is also alluded to the English word basic, which means fundamentally.

Origin

Ogden developed Basic English with IA Richards in the 1920s, when he analyzed the vocabulary of English: He found that the vocabulary of English is much simpler than that of French or Latin. Richards then also took Basic English to teach English.

Structure

Basic English has only 850 words, where many terms are formed from multiple words. Basic English is, according to Ogden, in seven weeks to learn, while Esperanto is to be learned in seven months and real English in seven years. According to Ogden one could with the 850 words everything is expressed in ordinary English, say in Basic English. The German standard work to learn the language, written under the guidance of Ogden itself, based on 40 lessons. At 2 hours a week it is not quite the workload for half a year lessons.

This is achieved mainly due to the restriction to a few verbs, a process so only works in English. Furthermore, what is even a word, linguistics arguing anyway. Ogden and Richards include, for example, the forms I, and we be, am, is, are, were, and a number of further than ever just a word. A series of words, about the numbers or the names of the months are treated as special vocabulary and are not included in the 850 words.

Basic English is to Ogden and Richards first a planned language, second a teaching method to teach English and 3 a means of thinking. Accurately documented methods have arisen under their guidance for the first two goals and sufficiently complete in German language available (this is not the case in other European languages ​​).

Criticism

Ogden and Richards ' Basic English has been in consequence highly controversial. What the authors consider as a particular advantage of the planned language, namely, that it is part of a natural language, it passed in the review a special disadvantage:

• Ogden retained the highly irregular spelling of English, and the pronunciation is just as standardized as is the case with the different forms of English.

• Today, Basic English is used mainly as an introduction to the actual English, thus missing one of the goals of universal auxiliary languages ​​, namely to promote a more neutral and simple form of language for communication of all people, without favor a linguistic community unjustified.

• In addition, an association has to inform the English, the British Council, the rights to the language.

• As a teaching method, Basic English has proven effective, already in the 1940s but was officially granted that it is just one of many teaching methods.

Aftereffect

The testing of Basic English could provide strong evidence that people can express with surprisingly few words what they think. According to Ogden and Richards even reach 600 words to express everything you want to say in English, but this results in her own words a Pidgin. Basic English prompted research on the development of basic vocabulary in other languages ​​, as in French (see fr: Français fonda mental).

Basic English as a teaching method

The statement that the debate because of the retained spelling of English was not standardized, is based on ignorance. On the contrary, the limitation of the vocabulary allows a series of simplified rules about the stress, facilitate learning.

The application as a teaching method requires on the part of the teacher a lot of practice, since it is by no means easy, "just so" to the predefined vocabulary being limited.

Many works of literature have been transferred by way of example in Basic English, especially the Bible, so there is a lot of teaching materials.

Other Part languages

Text example: Genesis in Basic English

For a text comparison, four English translations of the Bible are available on the website Bible server.