Another bit of thought about the English language, and trying to use it in an international setting.

At The National, the newspaper I work for in Abu Dhabi … we have a coffee/snacks kiosk in the main lobby. It’s very handy. If you didn’t make lunch, you can buy a salad or a sandwich. You can snack on a muffin. You can have a smoothie. Or coffee and tea.

The employees there deal with people who speak English as a first language, but also with people who speak only a bit of English … and some who don’t speak any at all.

It is up to the crew behind the counter to communicate on a basic level. And they seem to do well.

I mentioned here, a few days back, about the importance of simple and direct English.

The kiosk workers have made an art of this, and one specific question is a sort of paragon of simplicity to which we all could aspire.

To wit:

“Make it hot.”

Actually, it is a question. “Make it hot?” Just like that.  No “May I” or “Shall I” or reference to “heat” or “the muffin” or the “sandwich.”

The people at the counter have a little toaster and a microwave, and if you want your sandwich or muffin warmed up, they can and will.

Why is this clever?

Let’s imagine you speak only a bit of English. You are familiar with perhaps 100 words.

Odds are fairly good you know the word “it” … and the word “hot” … and the word “make”, the back half of the infinitive of the verb “to make.”

This is a sentence that the maximum number of people can understand. And a little lilt of voice at the end turns it into a question.

So many ways this could be more difficult. By changing tenses or introducing a noun or some using some more complicated version of hot. “Would you like that heated?”  “Want your muffin warmed?” Could I heat the sandwich for you on our toaster?”

No. Just “make it hot.”

Sure, it sounds a little awkward, for English-language natives. “Make it hot?”

But it works. That is the genius of it.