India is a land of diversity in food, culture, attire, languages, geographical terrain, among many other things. But one thing where all of us are very similar from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and Kutch to Assam is our love for making English language sound like our regional languages. And mind you, it is out of pure love that we have towards English that we have dressed up this daughter of the West in an Indian attire and adorned her with indigenous jewellery too!
When one Indian asks another, “What is your good name?” And the other guy replies, “Myself, Joshi!”, neither of them find anything wrong with it. But they don't realize what they are speaking is not English, but a word-to-word translation from their mother-tongues (not, ‘mothers-tongue’), which has tampered with the sentence structure.
Such errors caused due to the ‘Mother Tongue Influence’ (MTI), particularly in speech, are known as ‘Indianisms’. However, they shouldn't be confused with ‘Indian English’. Like British English (Br.E) & American English (Am.E), Indian English (IE) is an accepted variety of English. Indianisms, on the other hand, are often the result of incorrect learning or incorrect role models and a tendency to translate literally from an Indian language to English.
Let's look at some common errors that we all make while speaking English. Most of these errors are generally habitual and can be reduced by being watchful when you speak.
1 . Prepone
You might think ‘prepone’ is the logical opposite of ‘postpone’ and is often used that way. But guess what, this word did not exist in the English language before we Indians started using it. The correct phrase is ‘to advance’. So instead of saying ‘Let's prepone the meeting to Monday’, say ‘Let's advance the meeting to Monday.’ Though it has been added to the Oxford English Dictionary, it is not used outside India. So be careful while speaking to anyone ‘not Indian.’
2 .Entry from backside only !
You might chuckle hearing this if you know that ‘backside’ really means the rear end of human anatomy (your butt). But this expression is used quite routinely, unaware that it's gross and incorrect. The correct phrase would be ‘rear entrance’.
3 . Out of Station
This is often used to mean ‘out of town’. It would have been a direct expression had we been still using trains as the only mode of transport. We would then literally be ‘out of station’. This usage is a remnant of the British Raj.
4. Revert back
We like to end all our official emails with ‘Kindly revert back’, ‘Revert back at the earliest’ or ‘Please revert’ thinking that ‘revert’ means ‘respond’. But it doesn't! Revert means ‘return to a former state’. The correct phrase could be ‘Kindly respond’, ‘Please get back’ or ‘Waiting for your response’, etc.
5. Pass out
“When did you pass out from college?” Every time someone asks me this question, I can only imagine myself lying unconscious outside my college gate. Because that is what ‘pass out’ actually means. So don't use ‘pass out’, use ‘graduate from’ instead.
6 . Give an exam
This Indianism is often a result of direct translation from Indian languages like Hindi or Marathi, into English. Students don't ‘give’ an exam, they ‘take’ it! It is the teachers who 'give' them exams, often tough ones. You can also say 'appear for' exams.
7 . Do the needful
Another gem from the numerous Indianisms we indulge in! When we say or write ‘do the needful’, what we actually want to say is ‘do what is necessary’. So why not say it? Or you could go ahead and clearly mention what you want the receiver to actually do, for instance, “Please submit the report by Monday.”
8 . Overuse of the present continuous tense
The McDonald's slogan says, ‘I am loving it!’ and so do many of us. But when we say, “I am liking this dish”, or “I am having a big family”, we are making a huge mistake! Remember, the present continuous tense is used only to talk about actions happening at the time of speaking. For instance, right now you are reading this blog post. But when you talk about likes & dislikes or things you own or your habits, remember to use the present simple tense. So ‘I like this dish’ or ‘ I have a big family’ would be the correct way of saying what you wish to say.
9 . Real sister / real brother
Yes, we all probably wish to tell others about our siblings but please avoid using ‘real brother’ or ‘real sister’ to mean ‘one born to the same mother’. Just use the word ‘sibling’ instead. Remember, ‘real’ is the opposite of ‘fake’ and none of us have a ‘fake’ brother or sister, do we?
Similarly, the children of our uncles are our ‘cousins’, not ‘cousin brother’ or ‘cousin sister’. So when you introduce someone as ‘He/She is my cousin”, one can easily come to know whether you are referring to a ‘male’ or a ‘female’ cousin.
10 . Timepass
We use this word to refer to an activity (or inactivity) that helps pass our time aimlessly. However, no such word exists for the English speaking world outside India. The phrase commonly used all over the world is ‘I am chilling’.
There are so many more Indianisms in various aspects of English language like Grammar, Sentence Structure (eg. I am agree), overuse of adjectives or adverbs (eg. Very very sorry), parts of speech and Business English which we Indians by and large don't realize are wrong! But they are!
With this in mind, try to avoid these Indianisms before some native speaker ‘does the needful’ and stops ‘reverting back’ to your emails!
-Anagha Natekar
Visiting faculty in English & German