I was going to write this next week but I decided to prepone it. Yes, you might have guessed it by now, this post is about the uniquely amusing Indian way of speaking English.The title says 'Desi English' where 'desi' means 'of the country'. As always, my fascination for the English language has brought me closer to home.I have started noticing the way people speak English(or Hinglish). In this country, about 35 Crore people(350 Million) speak English as a language of communication. But, the language is not according to what everyone speaks around the world. The British have ruled here for over 400 years, yet our English is still different from the British.
This Indianization or "Chutneyfication" of the Indian language is due to various factors like local language, economic conditions of the place and geographical features. English is spoken in different ways, different accents across India. This is attributed to the influence of local tongue. The accents, you can describe it as 'exotic' or 'elegant'.
Modern day conversations are full of Indianness in the English language. Because we are like this only. It is amazing how one adverb can be placed anywhere in the sentence. For example, "I only told him to go", "Only I told him to go" or "I told him to go only". I still can't understand how the phrase ,"You only live once"(YOLO) entered the English language because that is a wrong placement of an adverb. Adverbs usually come as a supporting adjective to verbs.
Coming back to conversations, an encounter between two strangers start with and introduction which goes like this,
"What is your good name sir?"
"Myself xyz, what is your name,Ji?"
"My name is abc. How was your lunch?"
"It was first-class."
There are many funny phrases used in the language which means differently in Hinglish and the traditional English. It may make perfect sense to Indians but foreigners can have a good laugh about it. A student who completed 12th grade and just entered college is described as 12th pass-out. An Indian may have cousin brothers and cousin sisters living in foreign and he plans a trip to foreign during the summer holidays. When someone makes a mistake on a typewriter, they cannot revert back the changes because 'Revert' and 'back' mean the same. People keep asking me whether I am convent-educated because I speak English very well. If I am writing a leave-letter to my boss, I would conclude by requesting him to do the needful. Whenever there is a change in schedule, timing or venue of a predetermined event or a program, the hosts will intimate the cordially invited guests in advance. Have you ever been so busy that you have airdashed? It means to go somewhere in a hurry. Did you know that Bollywood releases about 100 cinemas a year? If that is the case, Bollywood should be owning more than 10000 cinema theaters across the country. Where do they get space to build that many? Cinemas are Indian for movies. Some movies stop running in theaters if there is no demand.
I write these kinds of posts just for time-pass. I add masala to my words to make it spicy. Sometimes, when it goes as dry as curry, I add some humour into it. It makes people laugh so much so that they complain that their stomach is paining. Labouring throughout the day trying to get home in the traffic causes much headache. They come home and complain that their head is paining. Fortunately, their near and dear ones will be waiting for them at home.
I hope I am cent percent right on the way I have portrayed the Indian way of speaking the language. Now, my sleep is coming so I need to go to bed. If you want to know more about this, you can give me a ring. No, I don't mean a wedding ring. It means that you can contact me.
Thank you, reader for labouring through this highly exaggerated post and reaching to this stage. Convey my regards to your near and dear ones. That includes your neighbours because they live near to you right?(unless you are living isolated). Now before I unite with my bed, I want to point out that I have heavily used Italics in a purely 100 percent Desi post. I am proud to be an Indian and I am proud to have our very own Desi Language.
This Indianization or "Chutneyfication" of the Indian language is due to various factors like local language, economic conditions of the place and geographical features. English is spoken in different ways, different accents across India. This is attributed to the influence of local tongue. The accents, you can describe it as 'exotic' or 'elegant'.
Modern day conversations are full of Indianness in the English language. Because we are like this only. It is amazing how one adverb can be placed anywhere in the sentence. For example, "I only told him to go", "Only I told him to go" or "I told him to go only". I still can't understand how the phrase ,"You only live once"(YOLO) entered the English language because that is a wrong placement of an adverb. Adverbs usually come as a supporting adjective to verbs.
Coming back to conversations, an encounter between two strangers start with and introduction which goes like this,
"What is your good name sir?"
"Myself xyz, what is your name,Ji?"
"My name is abc. How was your lunch?"
"It was first-class."
There are many funny phrases used in the language which means differently in Hinglish and the traditional English. It may make perfect sense to Indians but foreigners can have a good laugh about it. A student who completed 12th grade and just entered college is described as 12th pass-out. An Indian may have cousin brothers and cousin sisters living in foreign and he plans a trip to foreign during the summer holidays. When someone makes a mistake on a typewriter, they cannot revert back the changes because 'Revert' and 'back' mean the same. People keep asking me whether I am convent-educated because I speak English very well. If I am writing a leave-letter to my boss, I would conclude by requesting him to do the needful. Whenever there is a change in schedule, timing or venue of a predetermined event or a program, the hosts will intimate the cordially invited guests in advance. Have you ever been so busy that you have airdashed? It means to go somewhere in a hurry. Did you know that Bollywood releases about 100 cinemas a year? If that is the case, Bollywood should be owning more than 10000 cinema theaters across the country. Where do they get space to build that many? Cinemas are Indian for movies. Some movies stop running in theaters if there is no demand.
I write these kinds of posts just for time-pass. I add masala to my words to make it spicy. Sometimes, when it goes as dry as curry, I add some humour into it. It makes people laugh so much so that they complain that their stomach is paining. Labouring throughout the day trying to get home in the traffic causes much headache. They come home and complain that their head is paining. Fortunately, their near and dear ones will be waiting for them at home.
I hope I am cent percent right on the way I have portrayed the Indian way of speaking the language. Now, my sleep is coming so I need to go to bed. If you want to know more about this, you can give me a ring. No, I don't mean a wedding ring. It means that you can contact me.
Thank you, reader for labouring through this highly exaggerated post and reaching to this stage. Convey my regards to your near and dear ones. That includes your neighbours because they live near to you right?(unless you are living isolated). Now before I unite with my bed, I want to point out that I have heavily used Italics in a purely 100 percent Desi post. I am proud to be an Indian and I am proud to have our very own Desi Language.
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