Quirky Indian English ( spoken exclusively in India )

[rangeelaraja]

1. What is your good name?  Never just "What's your name?" it must be good name.

2. Please revert back to me.

3. Where are you put up ?

4.  Myself [<Name>].      -

5. When receiving a sales or customer service phone call....( Hi, this Shruti, this side ) ....WTF is this side. I find this to be the funniest

 

 

These are the most common ones, I've encountered. 

[jf1gp_1]

14 minutes ago, rangeelaraja said:

1. What is your good name?  Never just "What's your name?" it must be good name.

2. Please revert back to me.

3. Where are you put up ?

4.  Myself [<Name>].      -

5. When receiving a sales or customer service phone call....( Hi, this Shruti, this side ) ....WTF is this side. I find this to be the funniest

 

 

These are the most common ones, I've encountered. 

No one says what is your good name anymore.

 

My favorite word is prepone. Exclusive to India. 

[rangeelaraja]

17 minutes ago, jf1gp_1 said:

No one says what is your good name anymore.

 

My favorite word is prepone. Exclusive to India. 

 

I still hear customer service use " good name ".    You are right about prepone....its not used anywhere else.

 

Another one.... " Do the needful " .....you will not hear native English speakers ever use this. It is yet another Indian classic.

[jf1gp_1]

1 minute ago, rangeelaraja said:

 

I still hear customer service use " good name ".    You are right about prepone....its not used anywhere else.

 

Another one.... " Do the needful " .....you will not hear native English speakers ever use this. It is yet another Indian classic.

Yup. I am supposed to know what as per you is needful. 

[rangeelaraja]

He  " passed out "  from BITS Pilani  in 2020 ( instead of graduated in 2020 )

[randomGuy]

54 minutes ago, jf1gp_1 said:

No one says what is your good name anymore.

 

My favorite word is prepone. Exclusive to India. 

I use 'good name'. Even after hearing Russell peters joke about it.

 

Maybe many Indian people feel a sense of achievement being able to talk in English. That itself is cringeworthy. Add to that, our accent is cringeworthy as well. Zabardasti ka words aur phrases ka use is cringeworthy, trying to talk fast, n loud also. People like Rhythm Bhardwaj, Niranjan Narayanaswamy... it's pitiable. Pity on me also (self-pity) that i share nationality with these people (joking)

 

As a proud Indian, I always bring it to Hindi. Why should any 2 people who grew up in India ever talk to each other in English? 

 

Edited May 23 by randomGuy

[Lord]

Shubh naam = good name

[Lord]

7 minutes ago, randomGuy said:

I use 'good name'. Even after hearing Russell peters joke about it.

 

Maybe many Indian people feel a sense of achievement being able to talk in English. That itself is cringeworthy. Add to that, our accent is cringeworthy as well. Zabardasti ka words aur phrases ka use is cringeworthy, trying to talk fast, n loud also. People like Rhythm Bhardwaj, Niranjan Narayanaswamy... it's pitiable. Pity on me also (self-pity) that i share nationality with these people (joking)

 

As a proud Indian, I always bring it to Hindi. Why should any 2 people who grew up in India ever talk to each other in English? 

 

Because of being from different states with one of them being Marathi/Kannada

[randomGuy]

2 minutes ago, Lord said:

Because of being from different states with one of them being Marathi/Kannada

what's the common language in Maharashtra-Karnataka border cities like Belagavi? It is Hindi, not English.

 

Sabhi hindi bolte Hain yaar. Be confident in yourself speaking Hindi with Indians. Bindaas bolo, some fringe 1% youngsters can't speak as on today, else,  everybody speaks Hindi. 

 

 

[Nikhil_cric]

1 hour ago, rangeelaraja said:

 

I still hear customer service use " good name ".    You are right about prepone....its not used anywhere else.

 

Another one.... " Do the needful " .....you will not hear native English speakers ever use this. It is yet another Indian classic.

Do the needful is an archaic usage from British times. 

 

It doesn't exist in the English speaking world anymore but it's usage is not inaccurate .

 

Some of the Indian English that we heard until maybe 25 years ago has its roots in colonial English. 

[jf1gp_1]

2 hours ago, randomGuy said:

I use 'good name'. Even after hearing Russell peters joke about it.

 

Maybe many Indian people feel a sense of achievement being able to talk in English. That itself is cringeworthy. Add to that, our accent is cringeworthy as well. Zabardasti ka words aur phrases ka use is cringeworthy, trying to talk fast, n loud also. People like Rhythm Bhardwaj, Niranjan Narayanaswamy... it's pitiable. Pity on me also (self-pity) that i share nationality with these people (joking)

 

As a proud Indian, I always bring it to Hindi. Why should any 2 people who grew up in India ever talk to each other in English? 

 

Is there a bad name? though I agree, i could look like a young brad pitt but our accent usually turns off most English-speaking women. Men usually speak in native language. 

[jf1gp_1]

2 hours ago, Lord said:

Shubh naam = good name

true but in english we don't refer to a bus as 'she' and truck as 'he'

[Mariyam]

You called at the wrong time. I was going to go shopping.

[randomGuy]

22 minutes ago, jf1gp_1 said:

Is there a bad name? though I agree, i could look like a young brad pitt but our accent usually turns off most English-speaking women. Men usually speak in native language. 

 

Agree, In a mall in India , if one feels like approaching a girl, he would feel better about his chances introducing himself in English (...then later talk in Hindi).

 

Is this a desirable situation? Would a Russian, Japanese, chinese, German, French etc introduce himself in English to a local girl in their country?

 

Lekin Iss forum pe bahut log English speaking ko defend karte mil jaenge.

[Mariyam]

3 minutes ago, randomGuy said:

 

Agree, In a mall in India , if one feels like approaching a girl, he would feel better about his chances introducing himself in English (...then later talk in Hindi).

 

Is this a desirable situation? Would a Russian, Japanese, chinese, German, French etc introduce himself in English to a local girl in their country?

 

Lekin Iss forum pe bahut log English speaking ko defend karte mil jaenge.

This is not a good example. Those are nations were forged on the basis of language.

 

A Portuguese would speak to a Russian in English, however.

 

Not very different from a Bengali meeting a Tamil speaker.

 

PS: Also the function of a language is far more than just hitting on girls in a mall.

[Mariyam]

3 hours ago, randomGuy said:

what's the common language in Maharashtra-Karnataka border cities like Belagavi? It is Hindi, not English.

 

Sabhi hindi bolte Hain yaar. Be confident in yourself speaking Hindi with Indians. Bindaas bolo, some fringe 1% youngsters can't speak as on today, else,  everybody speaks Hindi. 

 

 

Would be Marathi, in Belgaum.

 

Maybe @G_B_ or @Texan can speak more about the language of those parts. For long it was a disputed city with a Marathi speaking majority?

 

Besides, you take languages to be very rigidly defined. Most people in most border areas would speak a hodge podge of both the languages. For eg The Dang district of Gujarat where they speak a mix of Gujju, Marathi and Hindi.

Ditto border areas of Goa and Karnataka or Goa and Maharashtra.

 

Languages are more of a spectrum.

Edited May 23 by Mariyam

[randomGuy]

15 minutes ago, Mariyam said:

This is not a good example. Those are nations were forged on the basis of language.

 

A Portuguese would speak to a Russian in English, however.

 

Not very different from a Bengali meeting a Tamil speaker.

 

PS: Also the function of a language is far more than just hitting on girls in a mall.

I am giving you most apt example, this example is very deep if you think about it. In my example, even people from same area talk in English for introduction or first impressions..be honest.

 

Hindi sabhi ko aati hai, do not pretend otherwise. Much of the vocabulary and sentence structure is similar. English is foreign. Use English in written form and when talking to foreigners.

 

CM of Bengal, Maharashtra and all Indian states talk in Hindi, same for all (nearly 99%) youngsters in India. I have yet to find  a telugu kannada or mallu youngsters who can't talk in Hindi. Issue is with a subset of tamils .

 

 

You too should speak Hindi with pride and pomposity that one associates with English in india. It is in the top 2 languages spoken by 25% humanity...

 

Edited May 23 by randomGuy

[randomGuy]

10 minutes ago, Mariyam said:

Would be Marathi, in Belgaum.

 

Maybe @G_B_ or @Texan can speak more about the language of those parts. For long it was a disputed city with a Marathi speaking majority?

 

Besides, you take languages to be very rigidly defined. Most people in most border areas would speak a hodge podge of both the languages. For eg The Dang district of Gujarat where they speak a mix of Gujju, Marathi and Hindi.

Ditto border areas of Goa and Karnataka or Goa and Maharashtra.

 

Languages are more of a spectrum.

Nope hindi is very common... probably more than marathi, kannada and def. More than English. 25-30% belgam is muslim iirc and they anyways speak Hindi and so do all Hindus.

[Prakat]

All these are the usual suspects.

 

I find it hilarious that so many people speak so unimaginatively when conversing in english.

 

 

[singhvivek141]

1 hour ago, Mariyam said:

Would be Marathi, in Belgaum.

 

Maybe @G_B_ or @Texan can speak more about the language of those parts. For long it was a disputed city with a Marathi speaking majority?

 

Besides, you take languages to be very rigidly defined. Most people in most border areas would speak a hodge podge of both the languages. For eg The Dang district of Gujarat where they speak a mix of Gujju, Marathi and Hindi.

Ditto border areas of Goa and Karnataka or Goa and Maharashtra.

 

Languages are more of a spectrum.

Waise one example.
My wife's office will have daily call at 8:30 AM. Her collection offices have the people from Solapur (MH), Latur (MH), Bidar(KA), Gulbarga(KA), Zaheerabad(TG)
Almost 90% of the time, they'll talk in Hindi with each other...only one someone isn't at all able to communicate then he'll either switch to English or probably will speak in his local language which someone else will translate. 
These aren't very qualified ones, mostly graduates and are doing collections after loan distribution. Hence, they're not fluent in English so safer bet for them is to switch to Hindi.
I have often met with them, and spoke about the challenges that the states face in terms of "Hindi imposition", their response varies but one point is always at the base.

"Whatever language helps them earn money and livelihood...they'll adapt to it. Some even said that if talking in Sinhalese will help them get better life, they'll switch to that."

This suits well if we understand the root cause of language issues. Those who're locals and their life is set in their local language, for them learning a new language is a burden. Hence they'll resist. I know some "North indians" in Bengaluru who speak fluent Kannada, there are relatives in Mumbai/Pune who speak fluent Marathi. However, folks who're from industries like IT or sectors like Bank where xfers are pretty common in every 2-3 years...for them learning new language doesn't offer any incentive.