English or Indglish?

In his article called Language in India, professor Michael J. Toolan says that “there may be more native speakers of English in India than in the UK”. For many reasons, this claim, made in 2009, is worth looking into 11 years later. Do so many people in India really speak English natively? Are English teachers still needed in India? What do we need to know about Indian English if we happen to work with Indians? This article is too short to fully answer these questions, but it might serve as a good starting point for those of you who wonder what those answers might be.

Does everyone in India speak perfect English?

Based on the available data, there are some 130 million Indian English speakers among the 1.3 billion inhabitants. That means that although English is one of the official languages in India, only about 10% of Indians speak English. Out of that, 5% speak very basic English, 90% speak elementary or intermediate English and only 5% can use English for work and related purposes to some degree of efficiency. Since only 0.2% of Indians claim that English is their mother tongue, it seems that most people start learning English at school.

Are English teachers still needed in India?

Of course! The rising middle class of Indians are aware of the importance of English. They are eager to learn but it is hard for them to find a good teacher since many Indian teachers both at schools and on the Internet tend to have strong accents when pronouncing English (see, for example, Dr. Tandon, an expert on the English language whose own English pronunciation is easily recognizable as Indian). In order to sound American instead of “Indglish”, many people watch Netflix or play PC games, which cannot in itself lead to success.

Why English matters in India and why India matters to English?

Although there are 22 official languages in India, it is English that everyone wants to learn and it is the most frequent second language for all Indians. This is not just because of India’s colonial history. Speaking English is associated with higher status and it is no doubt related to material advantages — people who speak it can earn more and can hope to study and work abroad. In the last 20 years, India has witnessed a 143% rise in emmigration. Nowadays, over 17 million Indians live abroad, which makes India the largest source country for international migrants globally. Considering these numbers, Indian English is slowly but surely becoming the most frequent non-native variety of English and is therefore worth discovering. If your colleague, client or classmate is Indian, you might want to check this article out to learn some frequently used vocabulary or this sitcom to find out more about the cultural clashes and other obstacles you will probably face when dealing with an Indian English speaker.