BASIC ENGLISH ON A SINGLE SHEET OF PAPER（基礎英語のための2000語）
Last Update 2009.11.13
基礎英単語2000語のシート（"The Gillingham Dictionary"）がミーガン先生から届きました。英語学習に役立てて下さい。
"The Gillingham Dictionary"
THE FULL LANGUAGE at 2000 words!
INTERNATIONAL, BASIC ENGLISH ON A SINGLE SHEET OF PAPER
Dear Student of English,
Accompanying this letter is International Basic English. Can you believe that it all be seen on just one single sheet of standard A4 paper? Just reduce to 9 Point (both sides) and there you have it -- a full version of International Basic English. The vocabulary of a working English Language, and as used in towns throughout England.
It began as a private project and was then introduced as a companion to 'SHIPBOARD ENGLISH for Non-Native Speakers, Kobe University. The students had became sick of using dictionaries containing so very many words, many almost never spoken in such as my English hometown. Gillinham, Kent is sister city to Japan because Will Adams, "founder of the Japanese navy" was born here. So, we decided to simply remove them. By its very nature, however, this dictionary must be "subjective" {This being the only non-Basic term in the dictionary.} Words such as 'ascent' have been cut because we do have (in this letter) 'climb.' Similarly, 'abroad' is replaced because we have 'international'; 'shop' goes because of 'bread-shop' and 'hotdog' removes the need for 'dog.' {English as spelled in England is used throughout.}
Oxford's great OED once estimated that Basic English is made up of about 5,000 words. Our university requires for a doctorate an English vocabulary of 1,300 words. Environmentalist C. W. Nicol told me that many an East Londoner once managed on "about 500 words." In our One Page Dictionary we have 2,000 words {plus this more complex letter.}You probably already know many words in English; just think about: BOOKS and MOVIE titles, FILM-STARS, other NAMES in the news, the famous HI-TEC companies changing the planet; major HOUSEHOLD brands, etc. How many Olympic SPORTS were there in Beijing? There are over 200-plus COUNTRIES in the world; and very many INTERNATIONAL CITIES. The Human BODY and MEDICAL contain many, many words; and how about ANIMALS / FASHION / MONTHS / DAYS / COLOURS / NUMBERS? And add words as you hear them.
NOT appearing here however are these necessary words, those almost always used in sentence making:- 'again any be before between but come down give go here let near only put quite still than though through too up well while why' You may also notice that the words in this Introduction do not appear, but are in fact a part of the Basic English dictionary. (They serve to give example of English usage.) To give a better balance of generation/age, a linguist of Hungary, Norbert Fekata, who learnt English as a second language, kindly advised on this work. {There's a one word joke in here, too!}
At first glance, to climb the mountain of English can seem such an impossible challenge. So, I explain in my classes that Basic English is much, much less, "Indeed, it can entirely fit onto a single sheet of paper!" This they can see as literally true. This piece of paper is held up before them. Morale immediately soars! Let's think of this dictionary as a plateau. Higher peaks, such as TOEIC can be seen in the distance, with Shakespeare a far off kind of Everest. But now - at long last - no longer will students be overwhelmed by these peaks. That the challenge of English is, after all, possible! Students will discover that their journeys can extend over the entire, not so high landscape, where most English speakers actually live. And the map of this exciting new world is of course the Kobe One Page Dictionary. And think - a whole language on a single sheet of Paper!
G. Meegan / 2nd June 2009 / Kobe, Japan
