Sam Alexandroni listens in at a Mumbai espresso bar

A: Kya Bataoon Yaar. I'm thoda bored. Need some masti in my life. Getting really pukkaoed.
(What say, dude? I'm a little bored. Need some excitement in my life. Getting really bored.)

B: Chill man. Chal let's go for a picchar.
(Chill, man. Come on, let's go to a movie.)

A: No rey. Don't have any paisa.
(No, dude. Don't have any money.)

In India, English has long been the language of the government and the educated elite, and anyone who mixed Hindi and English was jeered at. Now that is changing. "Hinglish" has become the hip voice of urban India, and thanks to the spread of cable TV and the popularity of Bollywood films its influence is reaching far beyond the cities. In a country with 16 national languages and more than 1,000 dialects, Hinglish is turning into a common tongue.

Businesses have been quick to catch on. "Hungry kya?" asks one Domino's Pizza advert, while Ford has sold the Ikon as the "josh car" (meaning exciting) and McDonald's has come up with the slogan "What your bahana is?" (meaning "What's your excuse?").

A fad of no importance? Wrong, according to David Crystal, professor of linguistics at the University of Wales in Bangor, who suggests that, given India's huge population and its industrial and cultural influence, Hinglish could soon become the most widely spoken form of English in the world.

Post your comment

Please note: you will need to login or register before you can comment on the website