BASIC ENGLISH ORGANIZATION'S MISSION STATEMENT WRITTEN IN BASIC ENGLISH

I am not the only person in the world who has learned another language. More than half of the people who live on earth can speak two languages or more. 

Most people have to speak another language other than the one they hear at home. This is true here in Bolivia where most people can speak a native language such as Quechua, Aymara, Bolivian Guaraní or any one of 36 other indigenous languages. However, most of these people have to speak the language spoken outside that is used by all Bolivians and that is Spanish. 

Guatemala is like Bolivia because most people there also speak native languages like Chuj de San Mateo Ixtatán, Quiché or any one of 22 other indigenous languages, but they also speak Spanish. 

In Bolivia there are about 100,000 Mennonites who speak Low German at home, however, they study and can understand High German, but the men especially need to speak Spanish so they can do business like sell their eggs, milk, cheese and also buy things they need for their farms at the Bolivian markets and stores. Many Mennonites here can also speak English because they come from Canada where English is spoken. 

Just like in Bolivia and just like in Guatemala, people in other places around the world need to speak another language for many reasons and speaking another language is always a good thing, it is never a bad thing. 

So, we should never be proud of only speaking one language. Speaking only one language is nothing to be proud of. We should never make fun of someone who speaks our language with an accent. It is always wrong to think that one person is worse than another person simply because he cannot speak our language as well as we think he should. It is always wrong to think that we are better than another person who speaks a language different from our own. If we cannot speak their language as well as they can, we should not make fun if they cannot speak our language as well as we can. Do you not think that is a reasonable way to see things?

If you live here in Bolivia or in Guatemala, you know how important Spanish is if you live in a home where you always hear a native language such as Quechua or Chuj de San Mateo Ixtatán. If you live in Bolivia or Guatemala and cannot speak Spanish you are limited to what you can do outside the home. Spanish is so important if you live in Latin America. However, Spanish is not so important if you live in North America, Europe, Africa, Asia or Oceania. Spanish is not the universal language. The importance of one language has to do with where you live. If you live in Viet Nam Spanish is not important but Chinese is.

All languages are important. Language is what makes us human. Only humans have language; not chimps, not dolphins, not pigs, not any animal, only humans. It is language that makes all humans equal. To be able to talk to another human and “say” (if you are a hearer) or “sign” (if you are deaf) is what being human is all about.

Understanding the truth about language is so important. Understanding this truth helps us to understand other truths, the most important truth being that only humans are like God with the ability to think. People, not animals, think thoughts in their head and speak these thoughts through language to other people. Animals cannot understand our language, only people can. People cannot understand the language of animals because animals do not have language and cannot have language because they do not think thoughts in their heads. Science has proved this through many experiments trying to train chimps to “sign” like deaf people do. Chimps and apes could not learn sign language, they could only be trained to repeat sign language the same as a parrot can be trained to repeat human sounds. These experiments proved that only deaf humans can learn sign language and use language to express their thoughts. 

I love animals very much, but animals are not human. We cannot teach animals anything. Animals are not capable of "learning" anything. We cannot sit down and explain things to our dog or cat. It is impossible to "teach" them anything. We should love animals and respect animals as animals, not as humans. Animals cannot appreciate our thoughts nor can they give us their opinion, only other humans can do that.

It is not correct to say: “I am teaching my dog not to bite children.” It is not correct to say: “I am teaching my cat not to scratch the furniture.” We cannot teach a dog or a cat anything at all; we can only train them to do the things we want them to do and to not do the things we don't want them to do. Training is not the same as teaching. A lion trainer is not a lion teacher. Training is to repeat the same thing over and over until the animal or the person we are training finally repeats what we want it or him to repeat. 

Training does not mean teaching. People can train animals and people can also train other people, but only people can teach other people. To learn from teaching means to reason, but to simply repeat something we have received from training has nothing to do with reasoning. 

Only people can reason, only people can learn and only people can teach. The thoughts we think in our head come out as language and there are thousands of spoken languages and there are hundreds of non-spoken languages which are the visual sign languages (for the deaf) and the tactile sign languages (for the blind and deaf).

Only people have language and that is why only people have religion, marriage, family, only people bury their dead and have the thoughts we think about as to what is right and what is wrong. Animals do not have any of that because animals do not think about the past nor do they think about the future. Animals only live for the present and do what they are trained to do or what comes naturally to them. 

We humans think thoughts about the past, the present, and the future. Because humans think thoughts we cannot accept death like animals do. Death comes naturally to animals; however, it does not come naturally to us humans.

My website has to do with language, the importance of language. We are all humans and only humans have language. No one knows why there are so many languages; there is no explanation. Why cannot our thoughts come out in one simple language? No one ever has been able to give an answer to this question. However, what is so interesting is that ALL languages are equal and that is proof that we are like God in our ability to reason and that we, all humans, are special. 

Out of over six thousand different languages, there is not one single language that is like the noises coming from an animal. There are no animal-like languages coming from humans from any part of the world. All children learn the language of their home at about the age of 18 months. Children in Finland, that has the best schools in the world, do not learn language faster than children from the Congo, which has one of the poorest schools in the world. Children from Finland and the Congo learn a language at the same time. All humans are equal because if they were not then in one part of the world children would be speaking at six months of age and another part of the world children would be speaking at six years of age. But no, all children start speaking their language at the same time.

For the past two years, I have been learning Bolivian Sign Language and I can now express my thoughts to Bolivians who are deaf and I am able to understand their thoughts through their signs. Deaf people cannot hear words but they understand signs. 

Learning sign language has helped me to appreciate even more about what it means to be human. Deaf people are equal to hearing people because of language. Language is not just communication, it is so much more. Language is the expression of our thoughts as we think them. 

Animals can express their feelings, but they cannot express their thoughts. We care about animals and their feelings but we cannot care for their thoughts because they do not have any thoughts. 

Animals cannot think because they are not human. Thoughts are human and only human. If animals had any thoughts then they could and would express these thoughts through different ways of communication, but they do not, they never have and they never will. Animals only express feelings, they never ever express any sort of thoughts nor anything close to thoughts. Animals communicate to us for food, for shelter and even for our love and affection, but they never communicate to us in an effort to know our thoughts, never. The reason why they don't do it is because they can't.

I teach English. I have been teaching English since 1974. However, English is just a language and only a language. English is no better and it is no worse than any other language. Language is just a way we humans can express our thoughts. A stupid thought is not better because we say that stupid thought in English. A bad word is a bad word even if you say the bad word in French and it sounds prettier than in English. A bad thought is a bad thought if you say it or sign it in any language. Language is all about the message and that is why all languages are equal.

I teach English not because it is better than Guatemala’s Chuj de San Mateo Ixtatán, but because it is the most useful language we have to express our thoughts and read about thoughts from around the world. Even though all languages are equal, not all languages have the same number of books, not all languages have the same number of websites, and not all languages are taught in schools around the world. 

English is taught more than anything else besides mathematics. English is one of the most important things a person can learn. Why? Because English is spoken around the world and because it is the language that most people have had to learn. Today there are about 2 billion (2,000,000,000) people, which is 30% of the world population, that can understand enough English to get the things done that they need to get done.

As I said before, I started teaching English in 1974. However, I no longer teach English like I did then 43 years ago. I do not like the way English is being taught. I started teaching at the C.B.A. here in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, but I stopped in 1978 because I did not see teaching English the same way that the C.B.A. did and treating people like they did. I started teaching at a British school, one of the most expensive ones in Santa Cruz, but also stopped because I did not see teaching English the same way as they did. For me, even though I am from the United States, English does not belong to the United States. English also does not belong to Great Britain. 

My thought is this: English now belongs to the world, so, I should not teach American English nor should I teach British English. There is no English besides English; English is English. What the world needs to know is that Americans and British fight about the right way to learn English only because of power and money. English is not an imperial language. 

Neither Americans nor the British are interested in you as a person. English is not important so that you can go to the United States or to Great Britain to live. Very few people learn English to live in an English-speaking country. People who go to expensive English language schools do so for the wrong reason and the worst reason of all is so that they feel they are better than others that do not know English.

Here is my reason for you to learn English: English is important so that you, as a person, as a human, can learn things that you cannot learn in just your home language. 

English is also important so that you can talk to people, who do not know your language but who also, like you, have learned English. What that means is that you, a Bolivian, can use Skype or WhatApp or Facebook to talk with someone from Russia. Your Russian friend cannot speak Spanish and you cannot speak Russian, but, if you both know a little English, Basic English, then you can both say whatever you want to say and you both understand perfectly.

English opens doors for you that no other language can open, like millions of articles found in Wikipedia.org that are only in English. You can read these articles if you know English and you can share these thoughts with people who need this information. English opens doors for the poor and helps to improve their lives by information about health, making different things and learning things to help you get a job or even start your own business.

On January 2, 2001, about sixteen years ago, I bought BasicEnglish.org. Basic English is so very important. It is the best way to learn English. What also makes Basic English so good is that it is free. For sixteen years Basic English has been free on my website and I promise it will always be free.

Why is Basic English free? Basic English is free because Charles Kay Ogden made it free in 1930 and that is over 86 years ago. Charles Kay Ogden died in 1957. About six years before Ogden died a Chilean teacher, Augusto Ghio Dell’ Oro, prepared lessons in Basic English for people who spoke Spanish. Mr. Ghio is also no longer living. Ogden and Ghio did not have copyrights because they wanted the information to be free. Mr. Ghio gave credit to Mr. Ogden for his book, he only made it easier for Spanish speaking people to understand. 

Basic English is in the Public Domain and that means that anyone anywhere can copy them, change them, update them, use them, and teach them. 

Millions of people have already downloaded the complete book Mr. Ghio’s Basic English for Spanish speakers since I put in online over 15 years ago. I have now put Ogden’s original book so that any teacher anywhere can also make into other languages the 10 simple lessons it takes to learn Basic English and start using it. I am looking for a copy of the Portuguese Basic English and as soon as I can I will also put that online so that Brazilians can download it free as well. 

People around the world can say anything in Basic English. The whole Bible is in Basic English and it is also in Public Domain. You can study the Bible in Basic English on my website always for free. I hope you will learn Basic English and then read the whole Bible in Basic English so you can get the practice you need to make Basic English your language to communicate with the world and learn whatever you need to learn that might only be available in English.

People who do not yet speak English need to learn Basic English and only Basic English. You do not need to learn Intermediate English and then Advanced English. Here is the reason why you ONLY need Basic English: 

Basic English is basically how this article is written. It is the language that an English-speaking boy or a girl who is about 10 years old would speak at home and with friends. This English-speaking child does not need to go to English-speaking classes to learn intermediate English and then go on to classes to learn advanced English. The child uses the language he knows to learn more language, more words, more understanding. 

A 10-year-old boy does not need someone to teach him the language he knows; he is smart enough to learn whatever it is he does not know with whatever it is that he does know. No child stays with the same number of words and never learns any new words for the rest of his life simply because he has a limited vocabulary. The whole argument against Basic English by language experts are not reasonable. Millions of people have learned Basic English and then through practice increased their vocabulary. No one, unless he does not use his English, stays at Basic English, everyone goes on to learn more and more English on his own without a textbook and without a teacher and without spending more money with OpenEnglish.com or any other expensive website for the people with money.

The beauty and the secret of Basic English is that you learn it and then you stop and you throw your Basic English book away because you KNOW it. You do not study English anymore, you throw your English text books in the trash and forget about studying English. You no longer study English but you study in English instead. Want to study carpentry? Then study it in English. Want to study video production? Then study it in English. Learn what you want to learn with YouTube videos in English. That way your Basic English becomes whatever the standard you want it to be. People from India speak English just as well as Americans and do not let other people tell you different. Black people speak English just as well as white people. Do not let anyone tell you any different. English is about sharing thoughts, it is not saying one country is better than another.

With Basic English, you never worry about it being British, American, Australian, Canadian or South African. The system of Basic English was given to us 86 years ago by Charles Ogden and it has been copied by so many money-hungry English-teaching institutions to sell English to the rich and they never give credit to the man who took the time to create a system of teaching that works. The reason why Basic English is an org website and not a com website is because the com websites are for commercial websites, for money, but Basic English is an "organization", a free organization. It is the Basic English Organization, free for everyone and that is why BasicEnglish.org is free and always will be free and you will never need to give a credit card to get information from BasicEnglish.org and even though credit is given to the man who created it 86 years ago the real credit goes to our Creator, the God who created human language in the first place who made humans in his image and likeness.