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.
Love the English language? Get the LetThemTalkTV newsletter here - IT'S FREE!
eepurl.com/izRKww
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
By Filpro - Own work, based on the 'Report of the Commissioner for linguistic minorities', Govt. of India,(July 2012 to June 2013)- NCLM-50th report pdf archive copy at the Wayback Machine, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...

[@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.

[@VijayaLakshmi-ks9un]

U right

[@josephrochefort9989]

You are wrong. You learn English to communicate with the outside world. If Indian English is incomprehensible to the rest of the English speaking people it defeats the purpose for learning it.

[@exampleemail848]

​@@josephrochefort9989 Most of the English speakers aren't native anyway, so i think that as an international language that most of its speakers learn as a second language, it should be easy to pronounce so the Indian English is much better for this purpose.

[@FlashKart-km2hc]

You are right!

[@justanotherview3243]

​@@josephrochefort9989 Well, actually, you're wrong. If a population as large and diverse as India's chooses to speak in their accents and write using their own coined words, there is no need for them to justify to the so-called outside world what they do with the language. Most of the times, it's harder for even Americans and Canadians to understand the English, Irish and Scottish accents, let alone the infamous Cockney accent. Gone are the days of the rigid English class system extending across the empire. Most of the world is independent republics now, and not obligated to follow your proposed hierarchy. People who have disdain for others should lock themselves up in their mommas' basements. The world refuses to follow your diktats. We give ourselves credibility. International community who want to be part of our growth story will join us anyhow, independent of your scorn. :)

[@rgrrigel9332]

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.

[@pocupineyoulove973]

Just like Espanol is much easier to follow than French for example.

[@joemat00]

Y yo, que soy el opuesto, me siento más cómodo con el castellano de Salamanca que de Kai'z(Cadiz), mi arma'! 😂

[@shoshinsamurai7901]

Estoy de acuerdo, asi es. Estoy aprendiendo Espanol ahora y puedo decir es muy cerca de las idiomas de India. Especialmente las lenguas del sur de India.

[@Yorgos2007]

Same with me (Hungarian).

[@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.

[@LetThemTalkTV]

thanks for the explanation.

[@ABO-Destiny]

Yes i think so

[@Phjghh]

Subh? I think it is shubh.

[@likheshsharma]

Also in India every person has a variety of nicknames, so the "good" name would be the official one.

[@ex.hindu.now.atheist]

@LetThemTalkTV “thanks for the explanation.” ================= There are several examples of phrases, terms, and sentences that Indians have *translated **_literally_* into English, from their native language(s). Some of them are quite hilarious.

[@arjunps6776]

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

[@thecomment9489]

Yes more like it.

[@subhajitpaul3026]

yes, as we have so many different languages, and our mother tongue has an influence on our english, that's why we have so many different accents, thus 'indian accent' is unreal.

[@maxuser1221]

Not each Indian...but each state....states of India are bigger than countries of EU

[@PankajKumar6493]

haha "onlyyyy" nice touch

[@AoptimisticNihilist]

Then there are A -holes from South Bombay who got Indian-LA accent😛 and then there are folks from Goa, Mumbai people who are around foreigners and consume lot of international content having a confusing neutral accent 🫣

[@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.

[@ancientminds199]

I don't think so (I'm from TN)

[@Mranshumansinghr]

Great you can skip the video! Time pass@@ancientminds199

[@Mranshumansinghr]

Great you can skip the video.@@ancientminds199

[@Mranshumansinghr]

Great you can skip the video@@ancientminds199

[@arjunps6776]

​@@ancientminds199What are you saying? The guest had a typical Marathi accent in the examples he spoke. People from other regions of India would have spoken differently.

[@sanjayra99]

In USA they make fun of British English and likewise (vise versa!). However there are some phrases commonly used in India that makes totally different meaning to westerners, one such is “pass out” which means graduation in India while it means fainting in Western World!

[@indiekidseventysix8372]

In British English you can 'pass out' (graduate) from a military academy like Sandhurst, but not from university. (There are no graduations in the UK prior to university.)

[@DoodiePunk]

Pass out! 🤣

[@MusiqOut90]

😂😂

[@yeahyeah3206]

That actually doesn’t sound so weird when you think about it. You “pass” your classes and you’re “out”, finished with school.

[@lichanyanthan5684]

Pass out is actually graduation and fainting is actually fainting in English. So, who the hell mixed pass out in graduation?

[@Maak19]

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.

[@dnapolren]

Absolutely hit the nail.. we in South itself have different dialects of English depending on the locality..

[@adityadhanarajkundu6627]

@@dnapolren im bengali but we have distinct w and v sounds... got quite surprised to see him pronounce them both the same way..

[@erinboyle2889]

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

[@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.

[@ex.hindu.now.atheist]

@adityaspandit “For the grammar [...] and composition section.” ================= Aah, yess... the good old Wren and Martin. I remember that one. 🙂

[@VijayaLakshmi-ks9un]

Even old time britishers say english is intact in India we r proud of our pronunciation don't belittle ourselves in front of foreigners

[@maaziy_ghaziyIYI]

@@VijayaLakshmi-ks9un Stop using the word Britisher. Nobody uses it. It's archaic.

[@nithyarajan3610]

😂

[@nattance1]

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

[@ADawoodKiwi]

Because his accent is watered down. I wouldn't be surprised if he lived in the US.

[@itchyballs3129]

​@@ADawoodKiwiolder Indian generation were much influenced by British but the present generation due to American domination in TV shows etc are influenced by American English .

[@MohitBPunia]

You mean the right way 😜

[@MichToJoshya]

@@ADawoodKiwi Its not watered down, he is Marathi, and as he clearly said, everyone's english accents are informed by their mother tongue.

[@user-tf1nm1bl2o]

In their version of English , Arabs also use vowels differently from Britishers or Americans . We have our own pronunciation of vowels. Arabs also pronounce the P and T without aspiration , and pronounce all the Rs . There are also many versions of English among Arabs : Levant , Egypt , Arabian Peninsula , Yemen , North Africa , and among those who are US educated , UK educated or locally educated . There is no English native speaking Arabs , but it is taught in schools as a second language and is used widely in business and higher education . It is only my guess that about 10% ( about 40 m ) of Arabs know English to one extent or another : from the level of native speakers , all the way to the level of persons who can barely conduct basic communication in English. I suggest you make an episode about Arabs' English.

[@andrewrobinson2565]

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).

[@LetThemTalkTV]

It's good to keep it simple

[@dnapolren]

😂😂

[@vorrdegard2176]

What why

[@sakshigupta8603]

how is this a shock? you don't call it non-veg?

[@andrewrobinson2565]

@@sakshigupta8603 🤣🤣🤣+1. (Edit: No. Hence the surprise.🎉)

[@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

[@MsThe90]

Nobody says "you're coming for tiffin". Where I come from at least, tiffin refers to the the tiffin-box(lunch box). Ex. "What have you brought in your tiffin today?" If someone asks, "Did you finish your tiffin?" they are asking you if you finished all the contents from your tiffin box. (Usually mothers ask this question when the child is back from school. If the answer is "no" you get a lot of scolding. 😂)

[@honeybhatt234]

Hi, yes, that’s how we use the word “tiffin” in the non south Indian states. But in some South Indian states like AndhraPradesh and Telangana, “Tiffin” simply means a small meal. Like breakfast or snacks. So many street side dosa-vada-bhajji establishments are called “Tiffin centers”. Even in the homes, to ask “What did you have for breakfast?” Local people use “What tiffin did you make?”. Just putting it out there. It was new to me also as a Gujarati who had moved to Hyderabad.

[@LetThemTalkTV]

Thanks, I'm fascinated by tiffin.

[@roadrollerdio565]

Here in the South, tiffin _can_ mean lunch when you're a school kid with a tiffin box, but in general, it's an afternoon meal, usually a snack. You might invite someone to your house for tea and tiffin in which case you'd probably be served vada, dosa, baji and items of the sort with chai on the side. Confusingly, since the types of food mentioned above are usually breakfast foods, tiffin can also be morning tiffin! It really depends on the context.

[@neerajwa]

Tiffin is a box in North India. It is breakfast in South India. This word had me confused when I first came to Chennai.

[@bhatts18]

​@@neerajwaSame when I went to Pune from Bangalore 😅

[@Santoshlv426]

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.

[@LetThemTalkTV]

I'm glad we helped to clear up the mystery

[@FreeYourImagination]

​@@LetThemTalkTVthere's not a single accent of English spoken in India. It depends on which state you come from. Also, it depends what kind of schooling you've gotten.

[@user-bm8cl6mc9o]

South Africa!! ❤

[@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!

[@dnapolren]

Yorkshire is as English as it gets and desi (Indian) English is the other extreme.. I empathise..😂

[@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.

[@LetThemTalkTV]

Very interesting to hear your perspective from Bangladesh

[@stynershiner1854]

India too has a state made just for Bengalis. West Bengal. So, your Bengali explanation is the same for India, as well. Don't lump the whole of India as one.

[@knightatdawndonbynight8432]

If "valo naam" is loterally translated to "good name", "bhalobasha" would also get literally translated to "good home". "Shubh Naam" (shubh implying auspicious, the practise of mention of it during certain auspicious hindu religious rituals being associated with it from ancient times) is a sanskrit phrase, Sanskrit being the language from ancient India many Indo-aryan languages including Bengali originated from. Both the colloquial bengali "bhalo naam" and Indian English "Good name" has its origins in relevance of "Shubh naam".

[@bibliophile5700]

Bangladesh is kangladesh now in American accent 😊

[@pranabsarkar392]

Bro as an Indian I was surprised that good name means so much different in other regions. Being a Bengali I have two names, one is my nickname and the other is official(good) name.

[@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.

[@LalitMahapatra]

Brinjal comes from Portuguese. And the English also call the thing that you erase pencil marks with, a rubber.

[@barneylaurance1865]

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.

[@arjunps6776]

Lakhs and crores are used as words as well. Business dailies in India are full of those two words.

[@Samudra121]

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.

[@shijoejoseph2011]

Yeah, just need to have a sharp ear for that fake accent which makes their overall slang much thicker and more illegible than usual.

[@thecomment9489]

There is a common perception among north Indians that people of south India speak very good English. Well here is one fine example of that. Once I attended an online lecture and the lecturer was south Indian. The way he spoke was already difficult to understand and in between he was pronouncing certain words in a way that it made everyone in the class to scratch their head. One example is "alagrithum". Go figure out what this word actually is. 😂😂😂😂

[@johnhonai4601]

As a Malayali, I can distinguish further when Telugu or Tamil speaks English. I would say Tamil has more influence of English of Tamizhans compared to Telugu on English of Telugu. When Hindi speakers speak English, their "the" is different from South.

[@dip-tree]

@@thecomment9489 Algorithm?

[@thecomment9489]

@@dip-tree yes and he was also pronouncing it

[@A0A4ful]

13:53 Indian English being pronounced as they are spelled is quite true. All Indian origin languages are phonetic - it is spoken exactly as it is written. So, there is very little, if not no ambiguity. So, the same rule applies even to English. Until, the pronunciation is 'corrected' by a more erudite speaker, more well versed in the nuances of spoken British English.

[@bhatts18]

Correct! Also, previously most people learnt English by reading and this generation learns it through movies or shows too!

[@nickgoodall578]

At this point it’s starting to be funny that the language is called English, when relatively few English speakers are from England!

[@KateGladstone]

Well, that happens! Likewise (for instance), most Spanish-speakers don’t live in Spain and have never even been there.

[@realDunalTrimp]

Languages are nearly always named after their birthplace. From what I have studied, in the Old World, nearly every country has a language named after itself.

[@johnv3733]

It’s also hilarious that General American English more closely resembles the language spoken by King George III or even Shakespeare than anything heard now in England itself. Both Received Pronunciation and London Cockney are 19th Century innovations that past British would have considered radical and barbarous! 🙂

[@DoodiePunk]

The same for Spanish, where Spain is the fourth largest Spanish speaker. 🤓

[@ted9030]

Same for Arabic and Spanish

[@eunyoungpark8260]

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.

[@LetThemTalkTV]

Hi Eunyoung It was a beautiful moment bumping into you. Actually, I didn't notice any mistakes. I wasn't wearing my teacher's hat that day. Thanks for kind words and best wishes

[@eunyoungpark8260]

Actually I’d like to introduce Korean food to you if you like, but I have no idea about how to send you an email.

[@LetThemTalkTV]

you can find my email in the about section.

[@kekcsi]

I will send this video to everyone who refers to Indian English as incorrect English.

[@amj.composer]

You will basically send this to Indians as you'll mostly have Indians with internalized racism telling you Indian English is wrong.

[@kekcsi]

@@amj.composer That would be quite a DoS attack.

[@mitesh8utube]

Why? Put your time to some good use.

[@sreejithvk8478]

​@@amj.composerspotted one

[@bozdowleder2303]

​@@amj.composerBut the argument is a bit silly isn't it? Indians don't speak English as a first language. It's a sort of default international language learnt by Indians. Speaking of Indian English would be like speaking of German English or Finnish English or French English. A language has to be a mainstream language of a culture for that to be recognized as a legitimate variant. And there are times when it is better to consider it a separate language altogether, for example Creole is correctly considered a language in its own right, not a variation of French. On the one hand, Indians have no obligation to speak idiomatic English, or to speak it any better than what is needed to be intelligible. On the other hand, to say that if enough Indians make the same aberration, it somehow legitimizes that aberration - that has no merit either. It's like saying Anglo-Indian pronunciations of Hindi are correct if the person's lived in India long enough

[@Marvee78]

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.

[@subramaniamchandrasekar1397]

Most of the Indian languages are read as it is written. No change in phonetics or silent letters. English, on the other hand, is written and read differently and has many silent letters.

[@Roero]

Beautiful video as always, Gideon. Indian English should be perfect for Italians, because saying 'informations' instead of 'information,' or 'fornitures' instead of "forniture", not to mention all the other simplifications like isn't it, is priceless.

[@LetThemTalkTV]

Yes, indeed. I suppose it's because "informations" and the others are more logical.

[@AshutoshRaghuwanshi]

There are all sorts of mixed eccentricities in Indian English. It all depends on the kind of teachers and social circle one has.

[@rallabhandiprabhakar4750]

Who speaks the correct English? Who pronounces it perfectly? Is it the the Victorian / BBC version ? What about cockney , Welsh, Scottish or Irish versions? How about French, Italian or Germans speaking English ? American English changes from state to state The Southern US states have a rhyme of own while people (of those states) speak English . What difference does it make whose is perfect

[@hambirmazumdar2618]

Egg is considered a " non vegetarian" food in India, but it's not in the UK. Non-vegetarian food is hence meat+ egg . Secondly, many Indians have a" nick" name", and an official name. None of them are " bad", but the latter is the " good" name.

[@vatsalj7535]

Biharis, Nepali, Bengali,odia and Assamese in india do differentiate between W and V but they approximate V to 'Bh'

[@fex_indian]

im Assamese and we don't usually differentiate between w and V 🤪

[@train_xc]

@@fex_indian We Assamese differentiate W and V. We say vulture or value not wulture or walue

[@ekamsat429]

Very nice. Many Indian languages share the common inherited characteristic from Sanskrit that makes each syllable count; and also, each consonant in a word, unless it's specifically silent, gets its due. E.g., plumBer. Conversely, if an Indian term is written in English, one must touch upon each consonant. E.g., Jammu is not to be pronounced as Jamu. Btw, lakh and crore also have their origins in Sanskrit.

[@cryptoniku6723]

Pronunciation will differ from various Indian state to state. The English pronunciation is effected by that person's state language. India doesn't have any National language, however Northern parts speaks the most Hindi. So to say that Indians from different states will pronounce those words like him (or even remotely close) would be incorrect.

[@Sal.K--BC]

I live in Vancouver, Canada where we have a large Punjabi population and I do notice that the English accent of Punjabi speakers (even those with very good English) is different than Ajay's accent in this video (at least a bit different).

[@aram5642]

One comment though (as I assume you might be interested in hearing): the correct spelling is pronUnciation (no -ou-) :)

[@cryptoniku6723]

@@aram5642 Thanx for pointing out.. Somehow auto-correct was updating it to an incorrect one.. 🤷

[@cryptoniku6723]

@@Sal.K--BC O yeah.. Punjabi speakers would have a whole different energy and emphasis on words..

[@aram5642]

@@cryptoniku6723 "Auto-correct"? Hahhaa, oh please, have mercy :)

[@andrewrobinson2565]

I love this video. I worked with lots of Indian colleagues in Saudi Arabia from the mid-eighties to the early 2000s. It's very interesting to hear this pronunciation analysis+1 😀👍.

[@LetThemTalkTV]

I'm glad you liked it

[@amherst88]

Never ceases to amaze me how much there is to learn about my native language -- your posts are a continuous revelation -- gratitude for all the work you do in preparing them ❤

[@LetThemTalkTV]

Very kind of you to say, thanks

[@wilderbeest773]

A very interesting and helpful episode indeed. Thank you both!

[@diablodelfuego6633]

The best explanation about stress and intonation of indian English is that it's actually how we speak our native languages and just change words to English. Also, in devanagri script, there is no ambiguity of pronunciation. It's spoken as it's spelled. They apply the same for English in most cases unless they learn the correct English pronunciation.

[@hanknichols6865]

I’m from the U.S. and speak with a southern accent. I know I still have my accent when I attempt to speak other languages.

[@ABO-Destiny]

There has been a marked shift in Indian english pronunciation from strictly british type english which few indians used to or rather tried to follow before, during and post British Raj to American tawng which became popular among few during the 80s, 90s and maybe around the century to a more neutral accent which basically went by the following rule that there is no need to speak english in either older elitist British accent or the subsequent Yankee one. 😂😂

[@Jenny.C1978]

Absolutely fascinating!

[@jayfloramusic]

You found the most quintessential Indian guy for this video. All over India, there are many accents of English but what this guy is speaking is BY FAR the most common one. Some other regions will be too posh or too ugly but this is the most balanced one.

[@lynn00007]

Exactly this

[@jayfloramusic]

@@lynn00007 Thanks for agreeing!

[@LG-nk7qk]

This guy is the mean median and mode of indian english .All of us dont deviate from his accent more than 1 -2 standard deviations

[@abhitrups2002]

Devnagri is script not a language . Both Marathi and Hindi originated from Sanskrit.

[@Yashodhan1917]

Prakrut, to be precise. I was bothered by that mistake as well.

[@abhitrups2002]

@@Yashodhan1917 any language that is not Sanskrut is Prakrut . The language of gods and language of people.

[@Yashodhan1917]

@@abhitrups2002 okay

[@dangerous_ideas16]

Hindi originated from Shurasheni Prakrit ( and yes, it was called 'Prakritha' back then, not Prakrut.) and Marathi originated from Maharastri Prakrit.

[@Yashodhan1917]

@@dangerous_ideas16 achcha thanks a lot

[@oreradovanovi5204]

It's interesting that Hindi has almost all consonants aspirated, yet not used in English. My language has none, Serbian. Otherwise it's similar to how we speak English, without the prolonged vowels.

[@BharathRamMS]

This is the best version of the Indian English comparison videos I have seen. Also, just stumbled upon this channel. Subbed! I used to make almost all the mistakes mentioned. I have corrected most of them, but one or two still occasionally pop out.

[@sapanoop]

Brilliantly researched !!

[@gonzogorf7019]

Fantastic stuff!

[@quadrogue]

great video! Like Jay said, most of these expressions and phrases and word usage also vary from region to region. like 'tiffin' is used for breakfast where I'm from. Also, expressions like, 'good name', 'I have a doubt', etc come from direct translation from mother tongue. Some other examples of Indian English responding to 'Thanks!' with 'No mention' (we use this in the south a lot) saying, 'I'm here only' to mean 'I'm right here'. that is, to add emphasis. shortening 'fundamental(s)' to 'funda(s)' Addressing all males in authority as 'Sir' and even adding it behind their position or name, like, 'Hello, engineer sir' saying 'I have 'n' number of things to do' to mean I have a lot of things to do. 'telling lies' instead of 'lying'

[@LetThemTalkTV]

Thanks, I'll use this for part 2.

[@sainellore6874]

You two gentlemen have a nice chemistry to do this sort of program to teach your viewers. Thoroughly enjoyable!

[@Alexandra-gk6dy]

Thank you for inviting Ajay❤it is hilarious to listen to you both. So good!🎉i learned a lot today. I love India as well as the UK very much. Cheers and hugs from Germany

[@1234ksn]

phrase 'good name' comes from most indian language use.... people as for the 'shubh naam ' ( auspicious/ given at auspicious time - not nicknames ) So shubh naam translated into good name.

[@hussainalmubarak5347]

To call it "Indian" English is the same as saying British English. We know that there are several dialects and things change from city to city, even between neighbourhoods, even in the English language.

[@vians.9061]

This video interview/conversation has been very enriching for me. Thank you both for sharing!

[@CursedUn]

Absolutely fascinating. Thanks to both of you!

[@radiak55]

There are a couple of things that I find interesting of the tendencies Indian English speakers have with English speakers in Latinamerica. As in how the native languages of the speakers influence the way they pronounce English. Mostly between both groups in how there's an emphasis in sounding out all the letters, which is not a thing with American english or British English for the most part. The R sounds are always pronounced amongst the people I hear speak English in Latinamerica because that's a holdover from Spanish and Portugese, in having to sound out all the letters in words. That's something I had to struggle with because it makes accents more apparent, but that's just the prevalent way people who move from speaking Spanish first do when moving onto English. So it's quite interesting that Indian English has these things develop separetely but similarly too.

[@OceanChild75]

Thanks to both of you, this was brilliant!! I love the word "prepone"! After all, why couldn’t "postpone" have an antonym? 😊 It reminds me of the French Canadians coming up with the verb "magasiner" to avoid the anglicism "faire du shopping". Also, the musics and the shots were lovely. It is curious that there are words and expressions making "Indian English" when you consider that not all Indians have the same native languages (or even that all their languages aren’t part of the same family). I wonder if English-speaking Indian television could have somehow "impacted" on so many Indian people speaking different languages?

[@LetThemTalkTV]

It's fascinating stuff. So much to take in I might have to do a part 2.

[@rasul_alizade]

😃 I experimented it when I was working with indian friends. Weird yet it all sound nice.. Thank you for sharing.

[@ankitamandal5301]

28:48 Well here in India 🇮🇳 We say ( not everyone) " what is your good name? " Cause of our native language influence on English . Like, in my mother tongue Bengali , when we say " What is your good name?"/{ Tomar valo(good) naam ki? } it means ,"What is your name on government papers" , I mean the real offical one. Cause we also has our nick names. So people ask like this.

[@pratikshitvajpayee973]

Hi Gideon, just so you know, the way Ajay speaks, his pronunciation, is not indicative of how most Indians sound. A lot of people in India speak certain words that you used in this video as examples, in a clear and better way. Our pronunciation of English words and vocabulary is dependent on our mother tongue influence.

[@orientalshorthair5579]

Exactly. Just as you have many different kinds of pronounciation of English words in England/Britain (cockney, oxonian, Yorkshire burr...), so do you from different parts of India. How your family enunciates their words, (which can be influenced by the mother tongue), and your early teachers influence your pronunciation a lot.

[@orientalshorthair5579]

"What's you good name?", is commoner in North India but creeping down south too. It's a literal translation of a very polite way of asking what your name is in many local lingos. Airdash used largely by journos in the 1970s-1980s & became popular thereafter, though not many of us use it. English grammar wasn't taught in our schools (post 1970s), so thereafter, many Indians count uncountable nouns, use the wrong tense in speech, misplace modifiers etc. I can't abide it, though I tend to misplace my modifiers too.

[@edmacmahon]

Cash and Carry is a thing here in Ireland too, typically it referres to bulk wholesale suppliers for grocery shops.

[@mlg1279]

Yep, it refers to wholesale suppliers in India too

[@fuckdefed]

It means ‘wholesaler’ in Britain too. Of course the meaning mentioned in this video is completely unknown to me though and is probably an exclusively Indian one.

[@mlg1279]

@@fuckdefed So, the ones in Britain sell items on credit? 🤔

[@fuckdefed]

@@mlg1279 No they don’t but it only refers to wholesalers, I was under the impression that it could refer to normal shops or stores that only take cash payments and don’t do deliveries in India from watching this. If not, then the meaning is the same in both countries and this term shouldn’t even appear in the vid at all.

[@mlg1279]

@@fuckdefed The neighborhood stores in India are called "kirana store" - and these may sell groceries on credit. U may be right - there was no need to include "cash & carry"

[@EriOliyanVaenthi]

English is the defacto langauge in all companies in India including government companies. Usage of english doninates south india in various ways but English is widely prevalent in other parts of India too.

[@AnnaAnna-uc2ff]

Thank you!

[@Sal.K--BC]

A quintessential Indian phrase is "do the needful". I work in IT, and whenever I see that phrase in messages & posts, I know the writer is Indian (or influenced by Indian English). I remember when I first saw it and thought "that's an odd phrase". But, then I kept seeing it, and found out online that it's an Indian phrase.

[@cryptoniku6723]

They are trying to be polite basically, instead of not saying it..

[@dobby3159]

I Use it 😂 didn't know it is an Indian thing

[@cryptoniku6723]

@@dobby3159 It's not Indian actually.. That's being polite and not trying to be an arse and ordering ppl.. Some people would rather take in Orders than hear something polite, so identify those, and just throw them your tantrums.. They are happy with that..

[@ABO-Destiny]

Thats kind of typical indian managers authoritative and confusing instruction. 😢😢

[@abupinhus]

It american official language : one does "required" or "requested". "Needfull" sounds strange.

[@ashutoshnanda683]

Amaging discussion

[@TheKansen]

In central and northern part of India, a "tiffin" (short form of tiffin box) refers to a lunch box. It could be a simple rectangular plastic box or it could be multiple stainless steel containers stacked and held together with a metal frame. But in south, the word "tiffin" means snacks or small portions. On a restaurant menu there would be a separate section for "tiffins". Most of the Indian languages have very specific words to describe the "cousin". For example there are 4 different words for, son of your father's brother, son of father's sister, son of mother's brother and son of mother's sister, while in english they are all "cousins". When two Indians are conversing in English, the word "cousin" just doesn't cut it.

[@homosapienssapiens4848]

Greetings from Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India. 🇮🇳

[@Evan490BC]

"He's out of station" sounds quite posh, actually... 👍

[@kapalik68]

About Cousins... Indian languages have specific words for each of the diffrent cousin relations. Same goes for Uncles and Aunts. Maternal , paternal , gender , elder , younger ... All thes attributes have specific words . Example in Hindi Fathers elder brother will be called Tauji, Younger one wil be Chachaji. Chacha's wife would be Chachi , Tauji 's wife will be called Taiji. And so on ..... Elder sister is Tai in Marathi. If one has three elder sisters , in the order of their age , they will be Tai, Mai and Akka.

[@lemon4087]

I also love how its a full 30 min video not a half assed 12 min video just to grab views! I'll be binging ur channel

[@savantdude]

loved the content! Take my subscribe 👍🏻

[@user-og1nu5pb8c]

One of the biggest characteristics of Indian languages is that their plosive consonants are unaspirated just like French, Spanish, Italian or Russian does. So they aren't used to aspirated sounds which is typical in Germanic languages like English, German, Dutch or Swedish. On the contrary, if you hear Indians speak Spanish or French they sound much more natural thanks to their similar phonetic system of Romance languages and Hindic languages.

[@Mscellany1]

You're probably right. We're Indian, my son works on a cruise ship and speaks Spanish like a native. He says there are other similarities between India and Latin America culturally - spicy food, strong family connections and one doesn't mess with one's mother (who often smacks their kids...)😂

[@alani3992]

You need to get the linguist Peggy Mohan on your show. She has done extensive research/books on how Indian languages came into being, & also on Indian-English sounds.

[@hazeldmello5800]

Most interesting. First time I have watched a video like this. Great.

[@adiscontinuousstory]

Interesting, loved the video thanks!

[@bombayvega7021]

secretly he is enjoying the "funny" accent. You can see his hidden laugh on every reply of Ajay.

[@rajibchakrabarti8716]

Most of the major Indian languages, like Bengali, Hindi and Marathi, have aspirated plosives. They are distinct phonemes and not allophones as in English. But most Indians don't know that aspirated P, T and K exist in English because the spelling doesn't show it. We would have spelt PH, TH and KH.

[@aiocafea]

I work with people from India and actually noticed it! Since in my language we don't have any aspirated sounds, even as allophones, I always found it strange how many Indians use unaspirated plosives. I just assumed that I don't know enough about Indian languages' phonology; while I know very little, I see now it's more an issue of how one perceives the phonology of an L2.

[@vasudhasharma5532]

Most of these Indianisms occur as a direct translation of the local language. That’s where grammatically dubious uses of ‘also’ ‘only’ ‘yesterday night’ good name’ come from. Another interesting thing I have noticed is that while such phrases are used very frequently while conversing with someone casually, they often almost disappear in formal written version of the language.

[@sakshigupta8603]

I'd add one thing about 'Tiffin' - this is mostly about Mumbai and people living there - back in 1980s-90s the city was fast growing with respect to population, jobs, city area etc and the workplace would be very far from home so the wives would pack a lunchbox for their husbands - a tiffin, but it'll get cold by lunch time so the locals came up with a delivery system where they'd collect the tiffins from all the houses and deliver it to the office exactly before lunchtime so it's nice and hot so Tiffin would be a 'lunchbox' not 'lunch' and now we all use it across the country

[@aram5642]

Being a web developer, I have watched a gazillion of videos and screencasts run by Indian developers. I honestly don't recall a single one who would stress the word comPOnent as native Americans/Brits do, they all seem to say COMponent. And speaking of the question tags, it is also so common for them to say 'OK?' every other sentence when talking. I loved "to prepone" btw!

[@pissupehelwan]

You are right about COMponent. It took me a while to reposition the syllable stressors correctly after I moved to the US from India a couple decades ago. In fact, that proved to be a lot harder than localization of my accent which was much easier. Another such fiendish word group (for Indians) is "economy", "economics" and "economical" and how the emphasis is all different in them. Indians try to average them out and pronounce all of them incorrectly but in a uniformly wrong way 🙂

[@alani3992]

An American guy was wondering why people were invoking the Devil by saying "Devil Up" often. It took him a few weeks to realize they were saying 'develop'.

[@Kathiarwari]

I follow your videos Gideon because I love the English language! Let me fill in some explanatory gaps, folks: 1. Pronunciation: we approximate Indian letters to Roman ones in English words and say the word that way. For instance, "Great" would be decoded as Ga or ग+ half-Ra or र + Ey or ऐ + Ta or ट - and be prounced ग्रेट or "Grreyt" We don't have a W sound in Indic scripts except borrowed from Turko-Persians (Muslims). That's why wheel and veal sound the same. 2. What is your good name? Is a hashed translation of a Hindi and other Indian languages enquiry " what is your auspicious name?" as it is considered rude and interrogatory to say " what is your name?" Since a name reflects your identity. 3. Nobody uses Air Dashed anymore - Ajay didn't know it because he's from a younger generation. Even out of station is archaic. 4. Truncated English words are fun. Such as "Don't be such an enthu cutlet!" Or " what's the funda? "Which means what's the underlying principle or explanation - a slang term born in the hallowed IIT engineering colleges from " Fundamentals" 5. The world may as well get used to Indian English because we will soon be the largest English speaking nation on Earth, albeit as a second language. Its the language of Science & Tech and business most of all in India. My Bengali scientist pal when working for Thales in Europe was told by Italian and French scientists they wished they had his English skills 6. As a recent ad campaign celebrating Indianess proclaimed " We are like this only!" Love & best wishes to Gideon. Parshu from Delhi

[@LetThemTalkTV]

Thank you for the explanation. I'll put them into part 2

[@francescocorsi6262]

"We are like this *only*"... love it! 😄

[@roadrollerdio565]

Never heard airdashed but I wouldn't say out of station is archaic at all! I'm in college now and we used it in school all the time. We would also say "we're going on an out-station field trip" if the school was taking us out of town. I still say I'm out of station (sometimes out of town) in messages and emails when I want to convey that I can't be present for some event.

[@SrikanthCoimbatoreSubramanian]

What Ajay spoke is not a sample of English that is being spoken or written in other parts of India, like South India.

[@ninjasrini]

Ajay is very accurate! Love the tongue-in-cheek tone of this video.

[@strivingforsuccess88]

Awesome video! 👍🏼

[@ABO-Destiny]

Good Name can have other meaning too. I got used to it with increasing indianisation of english and i think.ot refers to the official or legal or professional name. So people can have a nick name, a name used at home and an official name. Good name refers to the first name of the official name.

[@kgck15]

Thanks for giving indian english its own place rather than considering it as a distorted english.. but one thing one should know is that we just go by how words are spelled. That's why we dont pronounce words like the native speakers do.

[@musicisbutful]

Hello Gideon, great video. Some good inputs from Ajay. Indian English has a lot of variation as well. The part about using continuous present tense, using 'only', and 'also' at the end - these might not exist for certain groups of speakers. However, I agree that using 'isn't it' is quite common. Some of us actively avoid using 'prepone' and say 'advance' instead. I would also note that 'tiffin' seems to have a different connotation between the North and the South. As a South Indian, I've seen it to mean either breakfast or dinner. We also use the term 'Tiffin Box' to refer to the box that carries the recess snacks or lunch when in school. Lunch would most probably be called 'Meals', referring to a meal combo available in most restaurants. As an Indian what we've observed is, all the syllables (or most of them) are pronounced and stressed in Indian English. Often, based on the place certain suffixes are added. For example, 'This is what I told, re!'. 😂 Don't ask me what it means. It's a little difficult to explain. We also use Sir/Madam/Ma'am to refer to people formally, in addition to uncle/aunty (new term for you, I guess). 😂 I haven't heard of 'air dash' as well. But yes, great video! Thank you! 🙂

[@PreciousEyeballs]

Has anybody ever considered looking at Philippine English? English is an official language in the Philippines, and everyone speaks at least some form of it more or less, depending on your educational level. It is so widely misunderstood especially by foreigners of Filipino descent trying too hard and failing at speaking Philippine English. Also, Filipinos are one of the most voracious social media users in the world, and anything Philippines related gets viral really quickly.

[@krishnajam]

Good name comes from "Shubh naam".

[@EricaGamet]

I know very little about India or any of the languages (the few Indian folks I know well are from Toronto, Canada!)... but this was quite informative. Also, Ajay was a joy to listen to... not just for his accent, but his knowledge of phrases and clear explanations.

[@lucianojanducci9907]

The Indian accent looks like amazing! Thanks for the video.

[@AlbertNonime]

Quite a pleasant video. Funny reactions of the Londoner. I love hearing Indian English. Also about pronunciation, I found few similitudes with non fluent French speaking English.

[@cryptoniku6723]

Exactly.. The pronunciations are effected by the language of the particular Indian state they come from.. Same as French natives speaking English..

[@russellforrest1730]

Super awesome! Love the way you gave Indian English its rightful respect as a perfectly justified and correct language. None of the bad old cultural imperialism days of 'proper British English'. Was also interested to see some similarities with Mandarin Chinese, repetition of words (come come come, eat eat eat, OK OK) and the use of uncle to convey respect to older men as a mark of respect. Incidentally, in Mandarin there are even more words for cousin depending on the gender, elder/younger and which side (maternal/paternal) they come from. A real headache to learn! Would have enjoyed hearing some Indian language, Hindi perhaps - maybe it would have given clues as to why these language differences have arisen? How about South African English? The vowel shift is really cool! Check in desk becomes Chicken disc e->i etc.... Keep'em comin'!

[@LetThemTalkTV]

Glad you liked the video. Yes, we've already done one on South African English.

[@Mscellany1]

They have those names for extended relationships within the family here as well, uncles, aunts, cousins (especially so in northern India). The words for maternal aunt or uncle are different from the words for paternal aunt or uncle, for instance.

[@Mscellany1]

Actually in Tamil Nadu tiffin is used to refer to the mid-afternoon snack as well as breakfast. I have never heard the term used in Kerala. So plenty of regional variations in the usage of these terms.

[@williammullikin2076]

very interesting

[@chantelm9255]

Interesting overview of Indian English. I would have liked to hear a discussion of the syllabic stress differences for individual words as well. This is where I often have trouble understanding. For instance, a professor of mine would often say "we will develop the formula". But, since he stressed the first syllable of "develop", and I only knew the word to be pronounced with the second syllable stressed, I thought he was saying "we will devil up the formula". I'm curious about whether there's a pattern to look for that would help my comprehension.

[@Mscellany1]

I believe Indians stress all syllables equally. I'm Indian but grew up overseas, so I can relate. I actually hear the Indian version of 'develop' as "double up".😊

[@AndreyDyatlov]

Amazing job, both of you! Iearned a lot!

[@dianasimons6515]

Very true. I'm American, and when I visited India I noticed many of the points mentioned in this video!

[@adityachettry9646]

It's been ages since we last saw your video Sir... let them talk .... nice ❤

[@subrasivaram7336]

Hello Gideon. Enjoy your videos. Some important mis-pronunciation didn't get covered. Determine is universally (in India) pronounced as Deter-mine (Mine as in something belonging to me) Same with Examine Exa-Mine. Biology - Bio-logy (logy like Logical not as lugy). Similarly Economy is pronounced as Eco-nomy (like nominal). The latter two are mostly from certain regions. Some Heteronyms are pronounced as well, with same sound in some regions. For ex. Project is pronounced as in verb "project" even if is noun "project" (endeavor). Oh it would be a long list.

[@matteo-ciaramitaro]

i think covering the stress timed vs syllable timed part covers biology and economy. The syllables are given equal time instead of being reduced to schwa

[@maksuduzzamankhan1408]

Okay, I think I can contribute to the discussion: "What's your good name." and "come, come" and "sit" In western culture, you have a name, followed by a family name. When you are formal, you call them them by the family name. When you are not formal, you call them by the first name. Now, in the culture of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, There can be many different parts of a person's name- 1. Full name is sometimes written like this: Rajani Kant Boshu (Opu) 2. Semi-formal: Shri (=Mr.) Rajani; not necessarily Mr. Boshu (the name of the family) 3. Nickname: Opu (usually omitted from the Good name as nickname is sort of private) 4. Good Name (Full name without the nickname= formal or academic name): Rajani Kant Boshu You see, we used to exactly say the same thing in our native languages, "what's your good name" and then we exactly translate it into English. Thus, you will find tons of phrases exactly translated from the native language to English : Hindi: Aao, aao= Bangla: Eso, eso= Indian English= come, come English says, "sit down" But hindi does not say, "neeche baitho" Bangla does not say, "neeche bosho" As Bangla says only "bosho" And Hindi says only "baitho" So, our local English tends to say, "sit" instead of "sit down". Moreover, "down" has a degrading tone in our languages. So our forefathers chose to omit the "down" with "sit".

[@LetThemTalkTV]

thanks for the explanation

[@stefanieastrid]

Interesting! Thanks for elaborating! ❤️

[@rajendradangi2585]

Down part is quite interesting and I might agree with you.

[@sashamellon822]

The pronouncation of flower as flaar and monodipthonigs is actually a hangover from old RIP . That’s what they heard and have stuck with it since. It took me along time to understand this. I’ve lived in both countries and now understand why many of the pronunciation are a hang over from old rip colonial style mixed in with Indian accent.

[@L20241]

Agreed

[@Dareios074]

I’m a non-native speaker and used to work with a very nice colleague from India for years. I’ve adopted a lot of his pronounciation and probably will never get rid of it😁

[@nHans]

Gideon, as you explained in a previous video, it's hard to get a number for how many Indians speak English fluently. For each citizen, the Indian Census tracks only their one native language (which it designates as the "mother tongue"), not the other languages they speak. So while hundreds of millions do speak English fluently-many even at native or bilingual proficiency-most don't designate it as their mother tongue. For that matter, all schools in India (except a few run by certain religious minorities) are required to teach English. Unfortunately, not everybody ends up learning English proficiently-or even functionally-due to various reasons: they drop out, are taught poorly, can't afford books, aren't motivated enough etc. The question of "mother tongue" is a highly divisive issue-both emotionally and politically. For one, the states in India are demarcated on the basis of language. Further, a language that has a large number of native speakers gets special privileges from both the State and Central governments. Which is why people vote strategically when answering census questions. The only people who list English as their mother tongue are the ones who grew up speaking English naturally with their parents. The rest of us were taught English explicitly, whether at home or in school. We'd never consider it our "mother tongue" even if we win Pulitzers, Bookers, or Nobel Prizes for our English works!

[@LetThemTalkTV]

That's very interesting. I guess "mother tongue" is a question of politics not language.

[@stefanieastrid]

​@@LetThemTalkTVI mean, it's also usually the truth, that it's not exactly what would commonly be termed as mother tongue, i e the first language someone learns, and speaks in, with their parents. But honestly, most Indians, even not that highly educated ones, do speak English quite well, even most of the elderly ammas who just do some cleaning work in cafes and other people's private homes; and really very many speak it very, very well.

[@Andrew21219]

​@@stefanieastrid Do some people in India speak English to each other? Or is it something limited to their families? I mean, in my country, no one would dare to speak to others in English unless they're foreigners

[@stefanieastrid]

@@Andrew21219 if they are not from the same region, then yes, very often they do. Especially in the South, where Hindi isn't prevalent, English will likely be their only mutual language. I ve sat in business meetings between only Indians, (with me just sitting in, but not partaking) between South Indians (but not from Tamil Nadu) and people from Delhi, and the meeting was conducted almost exclusively in English, but with some lengthy sentences in Hindi thrown in for good measure, which initially I didn't quite realise, so it ended up sounding almost like there were these curious, blank spaces, it was almost trippy.

[@GoToMan]

@@Andrew21219 yes we do speak English for example I am South Indian and we don't really speak Hindi right here and I moved to another state for education and to get by every day I need to speak English to my fellow countrymen and I honestly don't see any problem with it, it is convenient. May I ask where are you hail from?

[@GhanashyamMondal-gt6vy]

Not always diphthongs are pronounced as monothongs our is India is mostly pronounced as Ah-wa-rr / ah-oh-rr Secondly Indians pronounce English with their mouths open (not mid-closed)