Vocabulary of INDIANS IN SPEAKING ENGLISH

Vocabulary of INDIANS IN SPEAKING ENGLISH

In order to describe things typical of India, it is convenient to loan words from Indian languages and mix them into English. Particularly in a conversation exclusively among Indians, it seems that they feel it more comfortable to speak English in such ways.

  And when they use English, big words are preferred because

Indians are exposed much more to written English. Besides, as a result of putting a special emphasis on written English, complicated, old-fashioned and bureaucratic expressions such as “do the needful”, “I invite your kind reference to my letter.” Are still frequently used. The following are the typical examples of words in Indian English.

Lok Sabha (Lower House of the central parliament), Rajya Sabha

(Upper House of the central parliament), chamchagiri (flattering), rasta

aur rel roko ( stoppage of the traffic in a general strike), bandh

(stoppage of work), dal ( lentil, lentil soup), roti (cf. dal-roti=bread and

butter = bread), sabzi, sabji (vegetable, vegetable curry), paneer

(cottage cheese), pandit, pundit (brahmin), paan (betal leaf. It is

chewed with tobacco, lime, nuts and so on.

*hotel: restaurant), mandi (wholesale vegetable market), bazaar

(marketplace), mess (hostel dining hall. a system in a hostel where the

residents arrange to have meals prepared), …wallah (person doing …,

person doing … as his/her occupation [ e.g. rickshaw wallah (rickshaw

driver), tonga wallah (tonga driver, driver of a two-wheeled horsedrawn

vehicle), doodh wallah (milk seller)]), peon cf.

chaprasi, bearer (office attendant, office messenger boy), ayah ( child

nurse, maid servant), mali (gardener), jawan (soldier), Akashvani

 (indigenous name of All India Radio), Doordarshan (television, usually

used to mean India’s national television), guru (teacher. Traditional

spiritual master),.. ji [e.g. Verma ji, guru ji (equivalent to Mr/Ms.

Used with familiarity), ... sahib (sahiba) Sri ..., Srimati ...(equivalent

to Mr/Ms. Originally for Muslims, but now used to address the superior ),

autorickshaw (auto- three-wheeled vehicle with a engine. Usually used

as a taxi or a lorry), hill station e.g. Ootacamund (seasonal holiday

resort in the hill area), masala film (the most popular type of Indian film

with fights, songs, dance, jokes and romance), Bollywood ( [=Bombay +

Hollywood], Bombay’s film industry), good name (used when asking a

name. Polite usage), lakh (a hundred thousand), crore (ten million),

dowry (wife’s present to her husband when they get married), goonda

(rowdy), SC (=Scheduled Caste cf. untouchable: non-twice-born Hindus

who are considered out of caste and discriminated), Lathi-charge (v, for

the police to use lathi [stave] to break up a mob), NRI (non-resident

Indians, overseas Indians), disvestment (withdrawal of investment cf.

Divestment).