Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Book Review – “Indlish – The Book for Every English-Speaking Indian”




Ever thought twice before saying/writing/typing something? Sure, you have. But have you thought four or five or maybe ten times before doing the same? This book makes you do that.
I have always been proud of my English and my command over the language compared to my peers. Having stayed in different parts of India, I am well aware of how English spoken in an area reflects the structure and grammar of the local language of that region. This book goes one (a few, actually) step further and examines how Indians have learnt and (ab/mis)used English from the British times and how it was further perpetrated by us in different forms. It talks about Officialese,commercialese and journalese, the three main ways through which English changed hands (or lips) from the Britons to the Indians before Independence.
In the beginning, It does talk about some common mistakes that Indians make. Well, anyone who has read books since childhood can spot this. But the book goes on to give some more examples of misuse/abuse of the language by Indians speaking different tongues. At the end of it, you realise that the average Indian does not speak English at all, but speaks Indlish indeed. Ok. Even the above average Indian speaks Indlish, not English.
If you are an Indian and if you ever thought your english was better than your peers, read the book to know how wrong you’ve been all these years
The book is authored by Jyoti Sanyal (worked for 30 years with “The Statesman” and Dean of Asian College of Journalism, Bangalore, India in 1997), Edited by Martin Cutts(Author of the Oxford Guide to Plain English) and illustrated by Sarbajit Sen.

- Srinivasan C