INDIAN English Explained to a LONDONER

In this video we look at how to speak Indian with Ajay from Solapur, in Maharashtra state in India. We'll compare Ajay's Indian accent to Standard Southern British English SSBE and we'll also look at Indian, grammar and expressions and how they differ to other forms of English.

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0:00 Namaskar Ajay
1:04 India: Its languages and the use of English
3:19 Pronunciation
14:49 Grammar
19:05 Expressions
29:19 Let's speak Indian English.

#indianenglish

Credits
Thank you to everybody at Alt-Chiang Mai in Thailand where this video was recorded.

Language map of india

[LetThemTalkTV]

Indian English is a variety of English equal to that of British English, American English, Australian English or any other version. It has its own distinct characteristics of grammar, phonetics, and vocabulary. And of course there are many forms of Indian English (just as there are of British English). I've read many comments here that disparage it as an inferior type of English. Such nonsense! It's high time it took its rightful place at the top table of 'Englishes' across the world and should be celebrated for its richness and diversity.

[rgrrigel]

As a Spaniard living in India, I feel much more comfortable speaking with indians than other native speakers. The vowels and consonants pronunciation is much close to me.

[erinboyle]

I find the Indian English expressions so charming. I notice that many of them are preserved forms of expressions that have become archaic in British English, others evolving from indigenous languages and it is such a lovely dialect to me

[akzzthegame]

I think the “good name” comes from the Hindi phrase “subh naam”. Back in the day it was considered rude to directly enquire about your first name and “subh” (which means auspicious) was a way of showing respect.

[Mranshumansinghr]

Interesting. I wish you also had a south Indian person (Kerela or Tamil), an east Indian (Bengali) and a North Indian (Punjabi or Rajasthani). The English will be very different.

[arjunps]

Each Indian has his own English accent.
We are like that 😂

[MrSyntheticSmile]

‘Devanagari’ is not a language, but a script.

[Santoshlv]

As a South African of Indian descent, whose native language is English, I was forever baffled by the lexicon of the folks I grew up around and their use of odd phrases e.g. "cousin brother" & I know now (finally) as to the origin of their phrases. Another great video Gideon. and Ajay.

[frmchandan]

Brinjal is yet another example that we use instead of saying aubergine or eggplant. What is most astounding is that it is not an Indian word, and we use it only in English. Similarly, we use "rubber" for an eraser, and "scale" for a ruler.
Also, you would see using "Na" or "No" instead of "Isn't it" or similar places. Sometimes it is also used to put more emphasis on the words.
A lot of phrases/grammar that were mentioned in the video are considered incorrect English. Nonetheless, people do commonly use those phrases. As mentioned in one of the comments, it is caused by word-to-word translation from the native language of the speaker. The "Good name" comes from the literal translation of "Shubh naam". In Hindi, and perhaps in other Indian languages as well, when you want to politely ask someone's name, you say "Aapka shubh naam kya hai (what is your good name)".
The pronunciation varies widely from region to region and the kind of exposure the person had. We have people like Shashi Tharoor to people like Modi (STREANH) when it comes to speaking English.
The GenZ are using some new words/phrases now that confuse me.

[eunyoungpark]

Hi, I’m Eunyoung. We met on the street on last Sunday. I’m sorry about making mistakes because of my English. I meant your videos are so good, not ‘quite’ good 😭. I realised that I made a mistake when I said that, but I couldn’t correct it at the time. Anyway it was such a pleasure to bump into you like that.

[tomxhardy]

I work from Poland with the UK (Yorkshire) guys and Indians. It's super hard to switch between the accents especially when you hear both on the same call. Thanks for this video as it helped me a lot!

[nattance]

The Indian man's vowels are very similar to mine. I am from North Texas.

[kartikey_a]

"Only" usage is also an attempt to translate Hindi directly, just like "good name". In Hindi, we would say
"Main ne hi kitaab padhi"
which word-for-word would translate to
"I (erg. marker) only book read"
translates to "*I* read the book (nobody else read it, I did)"
The "hi" is used immediately after the emphasised word in the sentence but this same word is used to mean "only" when needed like in
"Tum ek hi shabd kaho"
i.e.
"You one only word say" translates to "You must only say one word"
In Hindi we use a mix of this stress marker and stressed intonation to show emphasis. The stress marker is what this "only" is in Indian English

[Maak]

If Ajay came to some North-East states in India, as where I am from, we will need Gideon to help us out to make sense of the Central-North Indian accent that Ajay showcased. It is impossible to stereotype Indian English accent.

[adityaspandit]

For the grammar section, we are taught from a book called "English Grammar and Composition by Wren and Martin". This has been text book in SSC schools from 6th to 10th standard for more than 50 years. Have you gone through the book? You will get a pretty good idea of what Indians are taught in school for grammar and composition section.

[andrewrobinson]

On Air India flights, there are two meal choices, "veg" or "non-veg". That was my family's first culture shock (not really a shock, a pleasant surprise).

[barneylaurance]

Lakh and crore are also used in writing numerals. Not as words, but I understand Indians places commas to show the powers of lakh and crore in a number, whereas at Brits only place commas to show the multiples of thousand. It's a whole system.

[kzaman]

I am from Bangladesh, and while we and our ethnic cousins in India have a lot in common with the variety of Indian English presented here, there are many differences as well. India is a huge country, so it is natural that there is not one Indian Engish, but many varieties of it. As Bengalis, we have distinctive pronunciations for v and w, though they are different from how the Brits pronounce them. I always thought 'do the needful', like 'out of station', was something that the colonial bureaucrats had introduced in their official communications in India.
My mother used to pack a 'tiffin box' with a light meal for me to consume during 'tiffin period' at school. Office workers carry their lunch in multilayered 'tiffin carriers'. Other words used in subcontinental English include dacoit (robber), eve-teasing (harassment of girls), ladies' finger (okra), and brinjal (aubergine). There is an explanation for 'good name' as far as Bengal is concerned. Bengalis typically have two names, a 'daak naam' (nick name) used by family and close friends, and a more formal name used by others and in official documents. The latter is one's 'bhalo naam', which literally means good name.

[Marvee]

The use of terms like cousin brother and cousin sister in Indian English I have always suspected is also because in several of our Indian languages like f.ex. Hindi or Urdu we have very specific gendered terms for even extended family members that in an instant tell someone else how we're related to another person, ex. mameri behn (literally maternal uncle side sister) is maternal uncle's daughter or phoophizaad bhai ( paternal aunt side brother) is paternal aunt's son. Those terms translated in English are a mouthful so more efficient to just say cousin sister or cousin brother.

[Samudra]

Here in the corporate sector in India, I have observed just 2 broad categories of Indian English- North Indian (including east, west & central India) & South Indian. All North Indian english tend to merge into one standard english form while South stays different. We can immediately catch whether a person is from south or non-south the moment he/she starts speaking.