Despite the connections to England and the Commonwealth, English is a very lightly used language. Even in the office in which I work which is exclusively designed to assist the American customer base, English is only spoken when interacting with customers. There are signs every three feet reminding people that this is an English Only Area but even management does not abide by these strictures. I commented to my manager that maybe Coaches and Trainers should be speaking to Agents in English to continually practice English skills and he said "Definitely, it is your job to make them speak English." then turned to another person and started speaking Hindi.
Even in the Service Industry, English speakers are hard to find. Taxi drivers, Rickshaw Drivers, Restaurant Workers, Hoteliers and Shopkeepers rarely speak English. I estimate it is less than one in five people in these job types that speak any English. At my hotel, I am pretty confident that all of the support staff, all of the security staff and all of the restaurant staff have less than rudimentary English skills. Even the Desk Clerks cannot put together full sentences "Room clean?" (Do I want my room cleaned") "Holiday today?" (Am I not going to work today?). The Manager speaks fairly good English so I usually have to work through him but when he is not there, I must rely on Hinglish (my slowly growing vocabulary in Hindi and some simple English words and liberal use of Brand Names) and a lot of gesturing and pointing.
Pani (pah nee) is water, eka (ekg) is one or a (the article), do (doh) is two, tina (ty nah) is three, cara (ka rah) is four and pamca (pon che) is five so if you do not need to order more than five bottles of water, you should be able to book your trip now. If you need to know how much that water will cost, try kitne (keyt na). If you don't want water then order doodh (dude) or milk. Strangely, however, mixing in Hindi words doesn't always help because the Hindi listeners are still thinking you are speaking English. Ordering at my pantry is worthy of a Laurel and Hardy sketch comedy. I say milk, and they reach into the fridge and grab a juice, so I say doodh and I get a Mountain Dew. More pointing and several more misguesses later, there are about five things on the counter, fortunately at least one of them is a milk so I just buy them all, it's easier than explaining, costs less than the price of one bottle of pop in NA and besides, i need to try different things while I am here.
If you see English spelt words or name places, the pronunciation is not always obvious. 'Th' is not the same as in the or think, it is more like 'take' or 'time', and an 'e' at the end of a word is not usually silent like in 'tune' or 'some' but is likely pronounced with a hard 'a' sound. So, for example, the city of Thane which may seem obvious is pronounced tah nay. 'V' and 'W' are interchangeable but always pronounced with a 'wuh' sound, Vashi (wash ee) and Divali (Dee wah lee). Just like English though, the rules are not constant, 'via' is pronounced 'why a' but Punvale which you should now think is 'poon wah lay' is just 'puhn vayl'.
Reread my post entitled "Could You Repeat..." and the post on "Just Nod If..." and keep this in the forefront of your mind when speaking English in India. An Indian will not let you know they do not understand English. Before you get into the Rickshaw or Taxi or whatever, be absolutely certain he knows where you want to go and how much it will cost. If they do not understand the most likely response is none at all. No head movement is likely that they do not understand but do not want you to know it either.
How many Indians can you stand on the head of a pin?
Even in the Service Industry, English speakers are hard to find. Taxi drivers, Rickshaw Drivers, Restaurant Workers, Hoteliers and Shopkeepers rarely speak English. I estimate it is less than one in five people in these job types that speak any English. At my hotel, I am pretty confident that all of the support staff, all of the security staff and all of the restaurant staff have less than rudimentary English skills. Even the Desk Clerks cannot put together full sentences "Room clean?" (Do I want my room cleaned") "Holiday today?" (Am I not going to work today?). The Manager speaks fairly good English so I usually have to work through him but when he is not there, I must rely on Hinglish (my slowly growing vocabulary in Hindi and some simple English words and liberal use of Brand Names) and a lot of gesturing and pointing.
Pani (pah nee) is water, eka (ekg) is one or a (the article), do (doh) is two, tina (ty nah) is three, cara (ka rah) is four and pamca (pon che) is five so if you do not need to order more than five bottles of water, you should be able to book your trip now. If you need to know how much that water will cost, try kitne (keyt na). If you don't want water then order doodh (dude) or milk. Strangely, however, mixing in Hindi words doesn't always help because the Hindi listeners are still thinking you are speaking English. Ordering at my pantry is worthy of a Laurel and Hardy sketch comedy. I say milk, and they reach into the fridge and grab a juice, so I say doodh and I get a Mountain Dew. More pointing and several more misguesses later, there are about five things on the counter, fortunately at least one of them is a milk so I just buy them all, it's easier than explaining, costs less than the price of one bottle of pop in NA and besides, i need to try different things while I am here.If you see English spelt words or name places, the pronunciation is not always obvious. 'Th' is not the same as in the or think, it is more like 'take' or 'time', and an 'e' at the end of a word is not usually silent like in 'tune' or 'some' but is likely pronounced with a hard 'a' sound. So, for example, the city of Thane which may seem obvious is pronounced tah nay. 'V' and 'W' are interchangeable but always pronounced with a 'wuh' sound, Vashi (wash ee) and Divali (Dee wah lee). Just like English though, the rules are not constant, 'via' is pronounced 'why a' but Punvale which you should now think is 'poon wah lay' is just 'puhn vayl'.
Reread my post entitled "Could You Repeat..." and the post on "Just Nod If..." and keep this in the forefront of your mind when speaking English in India. An Indian will not let you know they do not understand English. Before you get into the Rickshaw or Taxi or whatever, be absolutely certain he knows where you want to go and how much it will cost. If they do not understand the most likely response is none at all. No head movement is likely that they do not understand but do not want you to know it either.
How many Indians can you stand on the head of a pin?
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