Indian people generally assume that they speak and write in British English, but there are inherent differences between Indian (British) English and British English. It actually takes a little while for one to recognize this, but Indian (British) English is a distinct version of English.
A couple of weeks ago, I was contacted by a businessman in UK. He runs an internet business and he creates a number of content websites to run advertisement on; his business generates a handsome income from this. He started taking on a new project several weeks ago, and he plans to set up close to one hundred websites over time. Given the size of the project, it will cost him a fair amount of money to pay for copywriters to create the content for these websites. He knew that I have some contacts in India as I operate in India (my US company has a whole subsidiary in India) and he and I assumed that Indian people speak and write in British English. He apparently spent a fair amount of time looking for copywriters on the internet, and I also worked with a couple of people to get ready to become copywriters; I tried to provide a copywriting service to him. After we spent a couple of weeks respectively, we came to conclude that there are inherent differences between Indian (British) English and British English and that it is actually a big challenge for one to train Indian people to become copywriters if their writing needs to read just like native British English speakers (or writers).
This businessman in UK read Indian copywriters’ profiles, picked ones who had good profiles and chatted online to find out more about them. Though a fair number of Indian copywriters write well, he found that their writing looks funny. I actually went farther, sat with a couple of Indian people and spent time together to go over this particular copywriting work. I found that Indian English’s spellings and grammar are compatible with British English, and it was exactly what I was looking for. However, I also found a couple of subtle differences between Indian English and British English. Since I was trained in American English, it was not easy to observe Indian English’s whole language structure and British English’s whole language structure, compare the two and find differences, but I did find clear differences. For example, Indian people used words found in British English yet British people do not commonly use. Brinjal is a very popular vegetable in India and Indian people call it “brinjal”; the word is an English word, and it should probably be considered to be a British English word (Brinjal is called “eggplant” in American English). However, British people actually call the same vegetable “aubergine.” There is nothing incorrect about using the word “brinjal”, but if a sentence uses the word “brinjal” instead of “aubergine”, it does not exactly sound British.
This businessman in UK continued looking for Indian copywriters; he found competent copywriters, but he could not find (Indian) copywriters who write like British. While I knew that he was having a difficulty finding Indian copywriters, I found one Indian copywriter who, I can honestly say, is one of the best in India; he has a Master’s degree and he spends a fair amount of time reading publications in English everyday. He has solid language skills in English. I asked him to create a sample for us and I sent it to the man in UK, and he and I had a chat online to discuss about the potential future collaboration with regard to this work. I was fairly confident about my Indian copywriter’s language skills, but the man in UK decided to not use his service or any other Indian copywriter’s service. He actually read articles written about Indian English and he learned that Indian English is actually a distinct version of English, although its spellings and grammar are compatible with British English. He shared the knowledge with me, and there was not much I could say after that. While I am not a linguistics scholar, I personally observed that Indian English has its own flavor. Also I imagine how difficult it would be for me to write just like British people; it would be very difficult and I guessed that it would take a lot of training for me to do that. My guess is that all Indian copywriters need a lot of training also if they are required to write like British people. At this point, we basically decided that my Indian copywriter is not going to provide his service to the man in UK. I have to admit that I felt a bit disappointed, but it was a logical decision not only for the man in UK but also for me and my contractor.
There are actually a number of publications on the subject of differences between British English and Indian (British) English, so I do not repeat scholastic aspects of the subject; I am here to tell my personal experience. I find that a fair number of Indian people have very solid language skills in English. Also given the fact that the today’s education system in India puts so much emphasis on English, it is fair to guess that Indian people, in particular, those who are educated, are going to have much stronger language skills in English. However, the fact remains that there are inherent differences between Indian (British) English and British English. One takes some training to become a good copywriter, but one Indian person takes even more training to become a good copywriter for British if he/she is required to write just like British people.
Written by J. Watanabe
India, Business (India), Business (US and International) | 24.02.2007 9:15 |
This is why I will not hire an Indian to write anything for me if I were to hire someone. I also have spoken to several people on Elance.com and other places and told them not to hire Indian people because of two reasons: 1) they don’t know how to write properly, 2) they undercut Americans and that hurts US economy.
I have been an eyewitness to this many times and know for a fact, based on many conversations with Indian people that they think they are better than anyone because their so-called proper English is better than any other’s English. Indian people are very arrogant and they show it when they talk. Again, this information is based on my interviewing several Indian people and is not based on prejudicial thinking.
24.02.2007 10:21
> I also have spoken to several people on Elance.com and other places and told them not to hire Indian people because of two reasons: 1) they don’t know how to write properly …
> …
> … they think they are better than anyone because their so-called proper English is better than any other’s English.
There are number of Indian people who can speak and write in English competently; however, the problem is that a certain small percentage of Indian people love to hassle foreigners while they provide mediocre services at best. They have the mindset that they can easily target foreigners because their rates are much lower than rates in countries like US and UK, and also, since so many Americans and British people want to hire Indian people, they think that they can just keep targeting different customers and clients in US and UK; they do not really care or worry about their reputations or long term relationships. Unfortunately, there are over a billion Indian people, so this small percentage of Indian people turn out to be a large number of people. They give India a bad name.
> Indian people are very arrogant and they show it when they talk. Again, this information is based on my interviewing several Indian people and is not based on prejudicial thinking.
I’m not so sure if Harry Husted, the person made the comment is a prejudicial, but I’m afraid that the comment itself is rather prejudicial because the comment is made based on actions of a very selected and small group of Indian people.
25.02.2007 12:46
I have worked with Indians on past projects and a company that I currently work has an Indian team. No offense, but I can spot an Indian writer a mile away, as can the average reader of ads, websites and direct mail pieces in the USA.
The problem is not one of mastery of the language. I would say that in terms of proper English, many of the Indians I’ve spoken to have a better command of the language than the average US citizen.
The problem is, good copy rarely requires proper English. What’s needed for good copy is a conversational style of writing, which pretty much requires that one be part of the culture in order to do it properly.
Good copy, at least State-side anyway, requires a casualness, a kind of “hey, we’re just a couple of buddies talking about stuff” style.
I do not mean this as a slam of Indian copywriters. I have no doubt that I would have difficulty writing for an Indian audience, simply because I am not immersed in the culture. And, yes, immersion generally requires living within the culture, unless you’ve truly got a gifted ear for picking up on colloquialisms.
I wrote a piece for a Canadian firm last year, and ran the copy by a Canadian friend to make sure I was writing properly for a Canadian audience. As close as Canada and the US are physically, there are still subtle differences (and some not so subtle differences), between the cultures. My friend tweaked a few things for me.
Of course, if the deciding factor in hiring a copywriter is cost, Indian copywriters, and others located in countries where costs are lower than in the States, will win every time. But the copy may well fail to meet the employer’s expectations.
Again, no knock on Indians. I’ve rarely met more intelligent, industrious people. It’s just a matter of cultural differences in the English language from one geographic locale to another. Heck, even in the British Isles, the language varies from one part of the country to another.
25.02.2007 19:42
This is exactly what I expected to find out after reading the title There are inherent differences between Indian (British) English and British English. Thanks for informative article
14.08.2007 7:09
My company would like to hire some indians to put several comments in blogs daily. They will have to post comments in news articles or blogs and leave our webadress as signature. Just like James (comment #3) did. They do not have to be very keen at english - the main idea is that they have to know it enough to put not a single-word comment like “thanks for the info”, but leave something that is connected with the topic of the blog or ask blogger a question regarding his article. (I’m sorry, english is not my native language… But I hope I could explain what type of business i’m going to do).
Could you please point me to some special sites where I could talk to and discuss employment with indian english speacking freelancers?
Thank you
24.08.2007 4:12
Wow! I was so happy to read the article. I am an Indian writer (just a passion) and I write for a British Company’s (I do not want to name it) website. I had almost lost my confidence in writing till I had read the above passage. In fact it is very true that we (Indians) find it very difficult to write like the British. The reason could be because we do not use the language often and it ends in school.
In school we are taught British English and I have seen that everyone is very good at it. (Mind you, my scores in English, at school were very good!) But as years go by, our English language (I mean the spoken one) gets towed with words and the accent from a combination of the various Indian languages. As we know many languages, we try to incorporate the same in English or rather translate, and that definitely sounds funny.
My English has been corrected by my British boss quite often, and I would get really frustrated as I could not find any wrong in the way I have been writing. Now I know and I better accept that the two countries speak and write two different English languages. All we need is a little bit of patience, perseverance and of course practice. So, now we have the American, Indian and the British English. We need a dictionary for Indian English! Is anybody listening?
As you are reading this article I am sure, you would be laughing too at my way of writing. It is just that our writing is not idiomatic and I am sure by practice one could reach their destination. Cheers!
PS: You are welcome to correct my ‘English’!
30.08.2007 3:25
> As you are reading this article I am sure, you would be laughing too at my way of writing. It is > just that our writing is not idiomatic and I am sure by practice one could reach their
> destination. Cheers!
> PS: You are welcome to correct my ‘English’!
After I spent close to a year in India, I find quite a few problems that Indian working professionals have when it comes to English; here are some of problems.
1. Most people take it granted that they did their schooling in English, and they assume to know how to speak and write in English properly. This is not true, and this applies to both those whose native tongue is English and ESL (English as a Second Language) like Indians. You need to keep practicing; schooling just gives you the foundation.
1.2. Bookstores in India don’t have many books in English (or any other language), which implies that Indian working professionals don’t read. This is yet another problem; if you don’t read, you can’t write (though there are always exceptional individuals).
1.3. Indians need to read books, magazines and newspapers written by Americans and British. Books, magazines and newspapers written by Indian writers have so many errors that you would only copy those errors.
1.3.2. Similar thing can be said about speaking.
15.09.2007 12:41
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article There are inherent differences between Indian (British) English and British English, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.
20.09.2007 19:18
I have to say, that I could not agree with you in 100% regarding There are inherent differences between Indian (British) English and British English, but it’s just my opinion, which could be wrong 
6.10.2007 6:54
This is not true but it is definitely an interesting debate.
25.10.2007 4:26
The above conversations surely prove that ‘Racism Still Exists’! I write for lots of websites, be it American, Indian/Asian or the British and I find the only way to a good writing is practice.
Just because your native tongue is English, it doesn’t mean that you are a master in the language. I have read and corrected many write-ups of all nationalities and I find there is no difference. All are equally bad.
So the thumb rule is ‘practice’.
25.10.2007 22:55
