ABSTRACT
English for tourism professionals rarely consider a World Englishes perspective, but I argue that this outlook can assist with interpreting and responding to the complexities that can arise in any multilingual context that includes English. This chapter will begin with an overview of a World Englishes theoretical framework before defining three key concepts from World Englishes research that may be useful for EfT: Native speaker, standard, and variety. Next, I highlight how these terms are manifested in some English for tourism contexts as I discuss tuk-tuk drivers in Thailand, tour guides in China, Nepalese trekking guides and porters, and hajj guides in Saudi Arabia. Each context highlights how previously held assumptions about the role of standard English may benefit from a World Englishes perspective that focuses on the users and uses of English in new environments. In this way, World Englishes may help EfT professionals to understand the shifting identities of multilinguals, acknowledging that English can be a new identity that complements—not replaces—the ones they already hold.
