BROKEN ENGLISH

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BROKEN ENGLISH. An informal and usually dismissive term for English when considered badly spoken or imperfectly learned: ‘Breake thy mind to me in broken English’ ( Shakespeare, Henry V, 5.2); ‘English is the international language. Or, I should say, broken English is the international language’ ( Akira Nambara, quoted in the International Herald Tribune, 28 Sept. 1987). The term has often been used to describe the English used by foreigners, aboriginal peoples, refugees, street traders, servants, and slaves See BROKEN, FOREIGNER TALK, FRACTURED ENGLISH, JARGON, PATOIS, PIDGIN.