Speaking French doesn’t get you far on the international scene, so how good is Ségolène Royal’s English?

Socialist presidential hopeful Ségolène Royal is trying hard to make herself known outside France. Her recent Middle-East trip wasn’t a great diplomatic success (to say the least), but at least in Lebanon she found enough francophone politicians to have a dialog without the need for an interpreter.

Next month, Royal plans to go to the USA. With the exception of John Kerry, she may not find many politicians who understand French.

So, how is Ségolène’s English?

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The answer can be found in this obscure little video, taken from a TV screen in Australia. It’s appalling.

There are still four months until the presidential elections. That may not be enough for Royal to become fluent in English. But she could try an intermediate language: Globish.

Globish is a simple, pragmatic form of English codified by Royal’s compatriote Jean-Paul Nerrière.

It involves a vocabulary limited to 1,500 words, short sentences, basic syntax, an absence of idiomatic expressions and extensive hand gestures to get the point across.

The end result may not be as good as the English spoken by Jacques Chirac, who studied some time in the USA and apparently even had an American fiancee there. But is should definitely better than what came out of her mouth in Australia.

Globish cuts English down to size