Mind-boggling Indianisms

I am sure many of you reading this article have never heard or come across this term before. Well, this is a word used a lot in India, especially by educators, teachers and trainers and people like me to refer to the Indian way of communicating in English.

Here are a few examples of Indianisms:

• What’s your good name?
  Meant: What’s your name? – transliteration from Hindi.
• I’m a professional cooker.
  Meaning a chef. The explanation for this is when you can say footballer, singer, lecturer, cricketer, player, teacher: all these profession names end with an “-er” why can’t we say cooker?!
• My uncle is on top of my father
  Meant: My uncle lives on the floor above us.
• Where are you put up?
  Someone who wants to know where do you stay (in which area of a city).
• Sheela herself only did this project.
  Meant: Sheela did this project without any help. / Sheela did this project all by herself.
• Where your house comes ?
  Meant: Can you give me directions to your house?
• I passed out last year from college.
  Meant: I graduated last year from college.
• Are you coming to my house for dinner tonight, no?
  A tendency to add “no” before the end of every question.
• She is fully tired, ya!
  Meant: She is very tired or completely tired: unnecessary usage of “ya” which is different from “yeah”.
• My mother said me to go to the market.
  Meant: My mother asked me to go to the market.
• I didn’t went to school today.
  Incorrect verb conjugation: I didn’t go to school today.
• Just like only I went to my uncle’s place.
  Meant: I went to my uncle’s house for the heck of it.
• I’m having a lot of work now.
  Meant: I have a lot of work now.
• I saw it happening with my own two eyes!
  Meant: It happened right in front of me.
• Yesterday, I will be going for a movie.
  Meant: Yesterday I went for a movie; incorrect tense usage.
• She couldn’t be able to help you.
  Meant: She was unable to help you; incorrect verb conjugation.
• I like listening musics.
  Meant: I like to listen to music. Preposition “to” dropped, and “music” does not have a plural form.
• My mother made me to study hard.
  Meant: My mother ensured that I studied hard.
• Before me, there are two brothers, then is me, three more sisters are coming.
  What was meant was: I have two elder brothers and three younger sisters.

Let us try and understand why many people in India communicate like this.

The reasons are pretty simple:

• Lack of exposure to the English language as many people take English as their third language in school and are interested only in passing the subject.
• Lack of opportunity to practice speaking and writing in English: people prefer to stay in their comfort zone and communicate with others who speak their mother tongue.
• A tendency to think in their mother tongue and translate it into English. This is known as transliteration.
• Lack of confidence – unable to speak at length in English because they are worried that they will make errors.

At the same time, I would also like to add that there are millions of Indians who communicate effectively and beautifully in English and could give their Western counterparts a run for their money!

Will things change for the better? Of course, it will as communicating well in English is becoming a pre-requisite for many customer service oriented jobs in various industries in India. It has become a universal language to communicate. This will ensure that people take English more seriously and “not with a pinch of salt”!