I have had the privilege of residing in different parts of India for varying periods of time: Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Bangalore. A fascinating aspect of this, is the different "forms" of English I have come across - I call it "Regional English"! In each of the four "original" metropolitan cities of India I have come across erudite people who have believed that the English spoken by them, with particular emphasis on pronunciation, is the "correct" English ! Such people were also not averse to ridiculing the English spoken in other regions of India.
My oldest memories go back to my schooldays in Kolkata when even teachers and parents of friends, would take a dig at "south Indian" English, about how it was "yum" and not "em" and so on, conveniently overlooking that in "Bengali English" a bird was the same as a bard ! Poets had wings, in a manner of speaking !! In Bengali English you could never make out which was what - the 'w' was just not there. It was "huitch" and hot, "you" was "jew" and "we" was "bhee" ! When the average Bengali spoke of "sleep" you could not be sure if he was talking of repose or a piece of paper (which most of us would call a "slip" - pun intended!).
When I moved to Delhi, for the first time in my life I heard of men with "good mammary" (the Delhi version of "memory") !! Of course for the biologically-challenged it would not make a difference! "Sport" had its own interpretation, and you would never be short of support (in fact a lot of people needed s'port in learning English!). They would often talk of "hair" which was neither here nor there !! "Cheers" often referred to contraptions that you sat in, and imagine the effect of someone saying on a hot afternoon in the zoo, "oh, look! beer!" !!
In Mumbai, of course, they do not speak any particular language ! "Aisa kya?" "Aisa-itch, mamu" ! It is also a good place to forget whatever Hindi you made the valiant effort to learn, in school !
In Chennai, the intelligentsia believed (as did their counterparts in Kolkata) that their English was the "correct" English. You would have difficulty, however, in distinguishing between the word "yes" and the letter "s" ? Did I mean "yes" ? "s" !!
What amuses me most, however, is the claim I hear some Bangaloreans make, that their English is the correct one ! You will rarely hear of what anyone said here - it is often "what I told?"!! There is also no dearth of people doing something only !! "Like that-aa?" "Like that only"!
My oldest memories go back to my schooldays in Kolkata when even teachers and parents of friends, would take a dig at "south Indian" English, about how it was "yum" and not "em" and so on, conveniently overlooking that in "Bengali English" a bird was the same as a bard ! Poets had wings, in a manner of speaking !! In Bengali English you could never make out which was what - the 'w' was just not there. It was "huitch" and hot, "you" was "jew" and "we" was "bhee" ! When the average Bengali spoke of "sleep" you could not be sure if he was talking of repose or a piece of paper (which most of us would call a "slip" - pun intended!).
When I moved to Delhi, for the first time in my life I heard of men with "good mammary" (the Delhi version of "memory") !! Of course for the biologically-challenged it would not make a difference! "Sport" had its own interpretation, and you would never be short of support (in fact a lot of people needed s'port in learning English!). They would often talk of "hair" which was neither here nor there !! "Cheers" often referred to contraptions that you sat in, and imagine the effect of someone saying on a hot afternoon in the zoo, "oh, look! beer!" !!
In Mumbai, of course, they do not speak any particular language ! "Aisa kya?" "Aisa-itch, mamu" ! It is also a good place to forget whatever Hindi you made the valiant effort to learn, in school !
In Chennai, the intelligentsia believed (as did their counterparts in Kolkata) that their English was the "correct" English. You would have difficulty, however, in distinguishing between the word "yes" and the letter "s" ? Did I mean "yes" ? "s" !!
What amuses me most, however, is the claim I hear some Bangaloreans make, that their English is the correct one ! You will rarely hear of what anyone said here - it is often "what I told?"!! There is also no dearth of people doing something only !! "Like that-aa?" "Like that only"!
Ha,ha!
ReplyDeleteLooks like ur getting into blogs in a big way, Swami. Try expanding your blog horizon given your experience.
Cheers,
Ashok M
www.facebook.com/rottenenglish and this article of yours is very different. People might pronounce differently in various locations, but English & the spelling of words can't change.
ReplyDeleteI have found boys & girls writing XYZ Collage of Engineering. Plain & simple, the word is 'college' irrespective of whichever way it's pronounced.
There are no end to such hopeless English.