4 ms·

Sort of somewhat tangentially related, I've been watching a lot of Indian youtube recipe videos recently and was a bit surprised by the amount of English phrase

Sort of somewhat tangentially related, I've been watching a lot of Indian youtube recipe videos recently and was a bit surprised by the amount of English phrases being spoken. I know there's a lot of people who know English in India but it felt like a lot of videos the presenters/chefs would switch seamelessly from what I assume is Hindi to an English sentance and then back again. It felt like around 20-30% of what was said was English, the rest I assume Hindi, but I guess what really surprised me was that it wasn't one or the other, but a mixture of both.

rurban 8y ago
India has so many different languages that's it's simply a necessity to repeat the most important parts said in English. Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Tamil are only the most important ones, but their are hundreds of them. To unify such a huge market you mix in english phrases to get the general meaning across.
wtmt 8y ago
Due to the long presence of British in India and its influence, English words have seeped into common usage across all Indian languages (except Sanskrit, which is not practically used by a substantial number of people for general conversation and communication). You'd find sentences in most languages constructed with some English words that have become common over time. The reasons for this are many, including the fact that English is considered as a language of the higher classes in society and as the one that provides better opportunities in life. What's also interesting, or surprising, is that the accents and pronunciation of the English words also change with the location and the influences of the local language. In many states in India, and more so in the south, you'd find many people who're able to converse in at least two to four languages, including English.
denzil_correa 8y ago
> Sort of somewhat tangentially related, I've been watching a lot of Indian youtube recipe videos recently and was a bit surprised by the amount of English phrases being spoken. It is called "Code-switching" which is a common theme amongst multi-linguals. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code-switching https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code-switching

rurban 8y ago

India has so many different languages that's it's simply a necessity to repeat the most important parts said in English. Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Tamil are only the most important ones, but their are hundreds of them. To unify such a huge market you mix in english phrases to get the general meaning across.

wtmt 8y ago

Due to the long presence of British in India and its influence, English words have seeped into common usage across all Indian languages (except Sanskrit, which is not practically used by a substantial number of people for general conversation and communication). You'd find sentences in most languages constructed with some English words that have become common over time. The reasons for this are many, including the fact that English is considered as a language of the higher classes in society and as the one that provides better opportunities in life. What's also interesting, or surprising, is that the accents and pronunciation of the English words also change with the location and the influences of the local language. In many states in India, and more so in the south, you'd find many people who're able to converse in at least two to four languages, including English.

denzil_correa 8y ago

> Sort of somewhat tangentially related, I've been watching a lot of Indian youtube recipe videos recently and was a bit surprised by the amount of English phrases being spoken. It is called "Code-switching" which is a common theme amongst multi-linguals. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code-switching https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code-switching