Do Indians Know How Their English Accent Sounds? | ASIAN BOSS

[0:00]Hey everybody, it's Shetal from Asian Boss. Did you know that English is a very widely spoken language in India? In fact, whenever we do street interviews, our viewers always wonder that why people are answering in English and not in Hindi. So what do the Indians think about this? Are they actually aware of how their English accent sounds? Let's hit the streets of Mumbai to find out. If you had to take a guess, what percentage of Indian population can speak fluent English? Maybe 40. 40%, maybe. If you go into any colleges or school, no one speaks Hindi at all, because everything is written in English itself. So I think that 70 to 80% might know English. English is I think far more important than Hindi right now for Indians. So yeah, I think 40 to 45% around people speak fluent English. I guess around 75% of Indian people can speak English fluently. Most of them are from South India because they are like they are much more educated than the people living in North India. That's my opinion and my I myself South Indian so. By the way, Indian English does have a particular accent. Do you agree with that? Yeah, I think it does. It's actually proper English. So it's not accent, it's it's proper English, simple. Yes, pretty much. But it has nothing what any problem with the Indian people as such, because that is the way we talk. So for you, it is normal, right? Your accent. Yes, it's normal. As an Indian person, were you aware that foreigners often make fun of the Indian English accent? Yeah, it is actually like when I have not personally encountered this situation. But my like I have cousins who live in the US and they speak that you know US accent of English. But they still get judged because they look Indian and you know, people, I don't know why. It's basically racism. It just doesn't make sense to me basically. Yes, I was but after I went to the United States, I thought they spoke wrong English, so I made fun of their English. So it doesn't make any difference to me. I think our accent is better than theirs because I don't think they are like that good. It looks like they're spitting. Sorry, not to be offensive, but it looks like they're spitting and I think our accent is better. Yeah. No. No. I think they need to learn English from us. It's like when we hear them, we find it funny. It's lame. I don't really care what they think. Like I can speak English and I can like, you know, make other people understand what I want to say. That's enough. I don't really care what they think. Indian characters like Apu from The Simpsons have perpetuated the stereotype in Western culture that Indians sound funny when they speak English. How does that make you feel? I don't know. I think it's if you watch it, I think it's funny at times, but then it really annoys you a little that they are stereotyping us a little too much. You are taking it a little too far. We don't really sound like that at all. But okay. That is funny to you guys, to the foreigners. But it's not funny to anybody in India, because that is the way we talk. And people understand, that's the main thing. Sometimes I feel offended, but they exaggerate it more, I think. You know, we don't speak like that, firstly. But yeah, I feel offended sometimes. Very offended, to be honest. I mean, it's funny sometimes. But I'm like, "Dude, no." We do not speak like that. Stop doing that. Then to you, which English accent sounds funny or weird? Oh. I think the way Russians speak. I mean those who speak Russian or French. Those are the weirdest English speaking people around, seriously. My brother has been in Australia and his accent is literally funny. For me, the Australian accent is I really don't understand any of it. Literally any of it. I just don't understand. Not because of the accent, but maybe because of the wrong grammatical use. I find Chinese English quite funny because they don't use proper English grammar. Chinese. I must say Chinese. Their language is different. When they speak English? Exactly. They don't even pronounce words very well. Their lips don't even open for that. So why does everybody speak English as opposed to the native Indian languages? In India, I guess speaking English is a trend or maybe a something you can brag about. I think English if you know English you have lots of friends and you become the cool guy. I'll say parents. That's it. Because they want their kids to speak English so that when they go to school, they don't feel ashamed. Is that how every child is being taught from an early age? I cannot say about other children but my father, he insisted that at home, I should speak my own native language. And he pays a lot of fees for my school so it's the school's responsibility to teach me English. So I don't know how it works for everyone, but that's how I was brought up. Some people feel actually, most of the people feel that when they are educated in English, they will have better job opportunities and they dream about going to other countries for jobs. And that's their basic reason for learning English. Otherwise they would not even be interested in knowing the language. If you speak fluent English, do people treat you better? In India, yes. I I have seen that. Yeah, I guess so, yeah, when you come just across someone, you make certain assumptions about them. As soon as they start speaking, your mindset changes to, "Okay, they can speak English, yeah, okay, they must be cool," I guess. And if you're talking to a girl, she's going to be impressed by you. That's the most important thing about talking in English. When you start speaking in English and especially when you're talking really fluently, they will just they give you much more respect than they usually give to other people who are speaking in other languages. Because English is becoming such a dominant language in Indian society, are you ever concerned that traditional Indian languages might disappear? Yes, it is going on right now. I think even academically, today's generation is taught to speak in English and write English. Yes, I am afraid of that thing right now because we being the youth of India, we shall take care of this thing that we should not forget our own native languages. If this continues, perhaps that day is not far that this this will be our national language. No, I am not quite concerned about it because we often have many organizations and cultural committees who focus on other languages. So I don't think it's dying out because there are many people who support it and they want our traditional languages to last forever. Yeah, I'm I'm bit concerned because as I said before, it is like when a child is born, they are taught English first and then their mother tongue. So this is not at all a good thing for me. Like even now we are speaking about English. We are not discussing any other language here. So that's that itself shows that English is more importance to us than any other language. So if it disappear, the regional languages, what would that mean for the next generation of Indians growing up? Well, it would be really bad. I think people from other countries come to India to see the culture and everything. But we might just lose it on the way. So I just hope we don't really know, but I don't think it would really go anywhere. We will continue speaking Hindi, Marathi and everything. Learn to speak language. Language is really important. But do not forget you come from society or group of people or a different community. Do not forget that. Do not forget your roots. Well, there you have it, guys. Is English becoming dominant language in your country and how is it affecting your community? 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