The diversification of English into many varieties - the so-called New Englishes of places like India, Nigeria, and Singapore - has been well-documented. Due to the existence of these varieties and the fact that non-native speakers of English now outnumber native speakers, it is often claimed that English is no longer owned by its native speakers and that it functions as a neutral global language.

However, several features of these New Englishes are considered 'errors' in the German language classroom. In New Englishes, for example, a difference in the usage of tense and aspect is acknowledged and the use of the present tense with durational phrases is accepted where standard English has required the present perfect. Tense and aspect is an area of English grammar that is taught extensively at the German university; indeed I am required to devote about half of every semester to it in my grammar course and learners are encouraged to master the nuances of native-speaker usage.

If English is no longer the preserve of its native speakers and if there are, in fact, several varieties of English which do not look to Britain or the United States for their standards of correctness, then a change in the way it is being taught would follow. If features of New English is still regarded as unacceptable English in the German university classroom, then these varieties obviously do not carry the linguistic clout of British or American varieties, and we cannot assume that English is functioning as a de-nativized lingua franca.