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

24 күн бұрын

U right

@josephrochefort9989

21 күн бұрын

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

21 күн бұрын

​@@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

15 күн бұрын

You are right!

@justanotherview3243

11 күн бұрын

​@@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. :)

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

27 күн бұрын

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

@joemat00

24 күн бұрын

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

@shoshinsamurai7901

15 күн бұрын

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.

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

Ай бұрын

thanks for the explanation.

@ABO-Destiny

Ай бұрын

Yes i think so

@Phjghh

Ай бұрын

Subh? I think it is shubh.

@likheshsharma

Ай бұрын

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

@ex.hindu.now.atheist

28 күн бұрын

@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.

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

@thecomment9489

Ай бұрын

Yes more like it.

@subhajitpaul3026

Ай бұрын

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

29 күн бұрын

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

@PankajKumar6493

28 күн бұрын

haha "onlyyyy" nice touch

@AoptimisticNihilist

2 күн бұрын

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 🫣

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

29 күн бұрын

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

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

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

Ай бұрын

I'm glad we helped to clear up the mystery

@FreeYourImagination

Ай бұрын

​@@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

29 күн бұрын

South Africa!! ❤

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

Ай бұрын

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

@Mranshumansinghr

Ай бұрын

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

@Mranshumansinghr

Ай бұрын

Great you can skip the video.@@ancientminds199

@Mranshumansinghr

Ай бұрын

Great you can skip the video@@ancientminds199

@arjunps6776

Ай бұрын

​@@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.

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

28 күн бұрын

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

@VijayaLakshmi-ks9un

24 күн бұрын

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

3 күн бұрын

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

"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

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

@ADawoodKiwi

Ай бұрын

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

@itchyballs3129

Ай бұрын

​@@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

29 күн бұрын

You mean the right way 😜

@MichToJoshya

28 күн бұрын

@@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

19 күн бұрын

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.

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

29 күн бұрын

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

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

25 күн бұрын

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

14 сағат бұрын

Pass out! 🤣

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

@KateGladstone

Ай бұрын

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

@TheRealDunalTrimp

Ай бұрын

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

Ай бұрын

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

14 сағат бұрын

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

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

Ай бұрын

Very interesting to hear your perspective from Bangladesh

@stynershiner1854

Ай бұрын

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

Ай бұрын

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

Ай бұрын

Bangladesh is kangladesh now in American accent 😊

@pranabsarkar392

29 күн бұрын

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.

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

Ай бұрын

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

Ай бұрын

Thanks, I'm fascinated by tiffin.

@roadrollerdio565

7 күн бұрын

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.

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.

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

6 күн бұрын

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

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

Ай бұрын

It's good to keep it simple

@dnapolren

29 күн бұрын

😂😂

@vorrdegard2176

26 күн бұрын

What why

@sakshigupta8603

21 күн бұрын

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

@andrewrobinson2565

21 күн бұрын

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

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

Ай бұрын

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

Ай бұрын

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

Ай бұрын

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

Ай бұрын

@@thecomment9489 Algorithm?

@thecomment9489

Ай бұрын

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

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

Ай бұрын

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

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.

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

Ай бұрын

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

Ай бұрын

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

Ай бұрын

you can find my email in the about section.

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.

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

Ай бұрын

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

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.

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

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.

I knew someone who code-switched between a rather posh English accent to the broadest Indian accent you’ve ever heard when speaking to his parents. Instead of saying ‘mum and dad’ (or ‘mom and dad’ as this was in Birmingham) he would say ‘mommypoppy’ all as one word! I’ve also twice heard Indian customers say ‘mesh sharing jug’ to refer to a ‘measuring jug’ - it confused me the first time but I’d learnt by the second time and directed the customer to the right part of the store.

@PankajKumar6493

29 күн бұрын

The measuring thing is because of there being 2 version of the 'sh' sound - one being voiced (measure/pleasure), the other being voiceless (shift, shame etc.). The voiced one doesn't exist in Hindi, so it either becomes "meshure" or "mejure" depending on the person.

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.

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

Ай бұрын

I'm glad you liked it

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

Ай бұрын

Very kind of you to say, thanks

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

Absolutely fascinating!

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

10 күн бұрын

Agreed

Brilliantly researched !!

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.

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

@mlg1279

Ай бұрын

Yep, it refers to wholesale suppliers in India too

@fuckdefed

Ай бұрын

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

Ай бұрын

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

@fuckdefed

Ай бұрын

@@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

29 күн бұрын

@@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"

This video is by far the best research oriented study of Indian English. The rest are just for likes and fun. And the host has some resemblance to popular Indian TV anchor Ravish Kumar.

Absolutely fascinating. Thanks to both of you!

Fantastic stuff!

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.

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

Ай бұрын

Thanks, I'll use this for part 2.

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. 😂😂

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

Ай бұрын

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.

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

@fex_indian

Ай бұрын

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

@train_xc

28 күн бұрын

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

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

Ай бұрын

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

@Mscellany1

6 күн бұрын

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.

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.

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.

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

Ай бұрын

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

Thank you!

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

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

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.

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

Ай бұрын

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

@francescocorsi6262

29 күн бұрын

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

@roadrollerdio565

7 күн бұрын

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.

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

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

Good name means formal name. Most Indians has 2 names. One used in official document and formally. That is called good name. One used by friends and family in informal settings. It's called pet name. Some time family will not even know your formal or good name

loved the content! Take my subscribe 👍🏻

23:43 But in South india "Tiffin" is often used to mention breakfast and rarely for dinner. But definitely not Lunch. I haven't even heared someone mentioning "lunch" as "tiffen"

@Mscellany1

6 күн бұрын

Actually in Tamil Nadu tiffin is used to refer to the mid-afternoon snack and breakfast

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

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.

Good name comes from "Shubh naam".

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.

Amaging discussion

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

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

Ай бұрын

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

Ай бұрын

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

@cryptoniku6723

Ай бұрын

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

@cryptoniku6723

Ай бұрын

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

@aram5642

Ай бұрын

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

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

@amj.composer

Ай бұрын

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

@kekcsi

Ай бұрын

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

@mitesh8utube

Ай бұрын

Why? Put your time to some good use.

@sreejithvk8478

Ай бұрын

​@@amj.composerspotted one

@bozdowleder2303

29 күн бұрын

​@@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

English is my second language after another European language. Indian English makes much more sense and most words I am used to pronounce just like that. But this video taught me more about proper pronoucation of British English than I ever understood.

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.

very interesting

Interesting, loved the video thanks!

Awesome video! 👍🏼

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.

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.

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

Ай бұрын

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

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

I like Indian English! That Indian guy is very highly educated, by the way, and his English is very highly refined.

“So beautiful so elegant just looking like a wow” is the new trend in Indian English 😂😂😂

This is sooo interesting to me. Because I'm from Mumbai and Ajay is from Solapur. Both from the same state and both native Marathi speakers.The way he speaks and stresses his words is quite different from the way I do! I think the dialect of marathi he speaks is the reason i see the subtle difference. Eg the way he says veg as vheg.. or I'm liking the book.. present continuous is not what i have done as such!

@PankajKumar6493

29 күн бұрын

Bengalis also do the veg -> vheg thing, somtimes just "bhej".

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

Ай бұрын

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

Ай бұрын

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'.

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.

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

Ай бұрын

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

His final "r" sounds pretty much like a Spanish one. Also, in the "gr-", very similar.

@PankajKumar6493

29 күн бұрын

yeah...I'm learning Spanish, so I am noticing a lot of similarities as well. Like the difference between pero and perro. We have a lot of "double consonant" sounds as well. Also, the question tag thing - ending everything with a "no?" or "si?".

@rodrigodepierola

29 күн бұрын

@@PankajKumar6493 Totalmente de acuerdo.

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.

Air to Dash is new for me too.

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

6 күн бұрын

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".😊

After hearing this Indian guy talk I realized I have lost of most of my Indian accent after living in Canada for 6 years. I relate more to Gideon now.

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

6 күн бұрын

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...)😂

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! 🙂

A lot of phrases or sentence constructions are from direct translation from our native language to English. And the pronunciations are from the syllables language we speak have.

This is similar Spanish accent among hispanic communities...but we understand Each other...sometimes we laugh at Each other as well when we have meetings.

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

Ай бұрын

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.

Loved the video! Both of you seem quite shrewd, especially Ajay. I learned a thing or two about English as well. 😅 And, 'tiffin', is breakfast, in southern India.

Devanagari is a script (writing system) not a language. yes, Marathi and Hindi are distantly related and both from the Indo Aryan language branch, but in which script they are written and how scripts are related to each other doesnt play a role in language relatedness. (there are many counter examples like hebrew (semitic) and jiddish (germanic) for example, both written in the hebrew script)

@dcmhsotaeh

Ай бұрын

Marathi has plenty of Kannada influence Kannada dynasties ruled Maharastra fir centurues Shilahara dynasty ( builders of Mumbai) Seuna dynasty Chalukya dynasty Rastrakoota dynasty Kadamba dynasty even Vijaynagar dynasty heavily influenced what is now present day Maharastra Not acknowledged by general Marathis for some unknown reason

Small correction to the slide at 1:18 - India has *52* official languages, including *23* (i.e. 22 + English) at the Central (Federal) level plus those legislated by the States and Union Territories.

@LetThemTalkTV

Ай бұрын

OK thanks for that correction.

Valeu!

@LetThemTalkTV

Ай бұрын

You're kindness takes my breath away.

@isabelatence7035

Ай бұрын

@@LetThemTalkTV I thank you for motivating me to enjoy learning, your way is incredible

Amazing job, both of you! Iearned a lot!

14:30 - Many people in India don't pronounce the W in sword

Thanks for another interesting video! What caught my ear was the usage of "... I weren't familiar with ..." instead of "... I wasn't familiar with ..." on 19:16 Was it a slip of the tongue?

@LetThemTalkTV

Ай бұрын

just a slip of the tongue. There was no script so inevitably you "misspeak" from time to time.