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George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright who gave a speech on "Spoken English and Broken English". He argued that there is no single correct way to speak English, as even educated speakers differ in pronunciation based on where they were born. Shaw admitted that he speaks carefully when addressing large audiences but more casually at home. He advised foreign students of English not to try and speak perfectly, but instead with a strong accent and in broken English, as most native English speakers speak that way and will better understand imperfect speech.

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618 views1 page

George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright who gave a speech on "Spoken English and Broken English". He argued that there is no single correct way to speak English, as even educated speakers differ in pronunciation based on where they were born. Shaw admitted that he speaks carefully when addressing large audiences but more casually at home. He advised foreign students of English not to try and speak perfectly, but instead with a strong accent and in broken English, as most native English speakers speak that way and will better understand imperfect speech.

Uploaded by

AnanyaRoyPratihar
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Date: 16-08-18 George Bernard Shaw: Spoken English

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) was born in Dublin, the son of a civil servant. His
education was irregular, due to his dislike of any organized training. After working in an
estate agent’s office for a while he moved to London as a young man (1876), where he
established himself as a leading music and theatre critic in the eighties and nineties and
became a prominent member of the Fabian Society, for which he composed many pamphlets.
He began his literary career as a novelist; as a fervent advocate of the new theatre of Ibsen
(The Quintessence of Ibsenism, 1891) he decided to write plays in order to illustrate his
criticism of the English stage.

Introduction
            George Bernard Shaw is a well-known writer. He prepared and spoke on the topic
‘Spoken English and Broken English’ on a gramophone recording for the Lingua-phone
institute. In his speech the provocative ideas are couched in a simple but sparkling rhetorical
style.

Advantages in learning to speak well


            Bernard Shaw says that when we travel in the British Commonwealth or in America
or when we meet a native of these countries, we have to speak English well for enough
understanding. If we speak in a provincial or cockney dialect it may prevents us from
obtaining some employment which is open to those only speak what is ‘correct English’.

No such thing ideally correct English


            No two British subjects speak exactly alike. Even educated persons, the Poet Laureate
and trained speakers do not pronounce of some of the simplest commonest words in the
English language exactly alike. Members of the committee who are selected as models of
correct speech speak differently. They differ according to the country in which they were
born.

Confession of Bernard Shaw 


            Bernard Shaw confesses that he himself does not speak English in the same way.
When he speaks to audience, he speaks carefully. If he were to speak carefully to his wife at
home, she would think he was going mad. As a public speaker he has to take care that every
word he says is heard distinctly at far end of large halls containing thousands of people. At
home he speaks to his wife like mumbling. His wife also a little careless and so he sometimes
has to say “What?”

Advice to foreign students of English


             Do not try to speak English perfectly because native speakers of English won’t
understand. In London nine hundred and ninety-nine out of thousand people not only speak
bad English but speak even that very badly. No foreigner can ever stress the syllables and
make the voice rise and fall in questions and answer, assertion and denial, in refusal and
consent, in enquiry or information, exactly as a native does. Therefore, the first thing they
have to do is to speak with a strong foreign accent, and speak broken English.

Conclusion
            Bernard Shaw criticizes that it is an insult to the native speaker of English who cannot
understand his own language when it is too well spoken.

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