Why desis prefer to talk in english

Wow...i dont even know where to start but let me tell you my observation/experience. When you say why desis talk in english, how sure are you that both of their mother tongue was same? We come from a lot of different cultural and language backgrounds even though we are from one country. I may go to lunch with a desi colleague but we might speak different languages(like Telugu, Kannada, malayalam, tamil, hindi). I am not sure about your awareness of number of Indian languages but we have about 21 official languages per census and about 850 languages are in daily use. Now imagine the probability of two people you see in subway who are speak the same language. I totally disagree with your generalization that Indians prefer to speak in English, its just happens that english is a common language which two people from India seem to speak and understand.

 

India is so linguistically diverse which makes it hard to be ableto speak a common language. I've done this several times, start speaking Hindi only to be informed by the person that s/he speaks kannada/Tamil etc. Now I ask if the person speaks Hindi before getting too excited. Agree with you on mother-son conversation, that's funny yet not uncommon. Once a mother was scolding her 3ish yo son at the airport-"tusi sit jao, sitte kyun nahi", l chuckled.

 

In India too many people who speak regional language bring english in their conversation. That's why everyone mockingly say Hinglish, manglish etc.. I have heard hindi speaking persons speak mostly in english and a little hindi in Mumbai. Even most college going persons speak in english in India ( mostly in metro cities). About the conversation about mother and son, she will be teaching her son english words. I agree its funny listening to others conversation( sometimes) in our presence.

 

Maybe they are trying to polish their English speaking skills or show off in front of friends how well they can speak in English

Jokes apart yes we do see friends speaking English but for us we did that mostly when in a group because even if only two people were conversing we wanted all of them to know what we were speaking and not think that anyone is hiding things (ours was a large culturally diverse group, some were having same mother tongue but most were not).

Yes its fun to hear English spoken along with mother tongue. I see many people doing that now. The original flavor of languages is fast disappearing with kids now not knowing their mother tongue as most of the talks happen in English with parents.

 

correctly said..... Angrez chale gaye, par apni bhasha BHARAT mein chod gaye.

I talk to my 5-year-old son this way....."Beta, yeh kachre ke dibbe mein phek do"...but at the same time in order to make him learn few basic English words to communicate in day-to-day life, i repeat my sentence. "Beta, yeh "dustbin" mein "throw" kar do with "ACTION", so that he can understand what i want to make him understand.

I think it is not funny.....but this is

P.s.: Honestly, tell me how many of you say "Us chitrapatal/durdarshan sadhan ko chalu kar do" in your day-to-day life?

 

I am the only family in my town from my state, and it makes me feel awkward when other ladies are talking in their mother tongue at social gathering as I don't understand any of it. As most of the people mentioned here that people speak different languages in India and English is the common language everyone can understand.

Also, sometimes people do want to show off their English knowledge (generally people who really don't know much English!) and end up looking like the aunty on airport(sitte kyun nahi)- according to one proverb that says "adhura ghada chhalkata bahut hai"

 

OMG...this is hilarious...sitte kyun nahi...can't stop laughing...

 

Interesting............