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Mind your language 2

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September 21, 2007

I have lived in Spain for 26 years and, like Michael Bulley in France (Letters, September 14), have no desire to hear my family and friends talking to me in "English Spanish". But in criticising Jennifer Jenkins he confuses two separate communication contexts. He uses his French as a foreign language to communicate primarily with its native speakers. But Jenkins refers to English as a lingua franca (ELF), a different type of communication context and one in which it is the non-native speakers who should determine the norms of the English they use.

Of course, Bulley is not alone in confusing English as a foreign language and ELF; a number of illustrious academics have done so before him.

Robin Walker
Escuela Universitaria de Turismo de Asturias, Spain

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