What is Indlish? 
It's all these: mistranslated expressions from Indian languages; a khichri of officialese, legalese and commercialese of the eighteenth century; meaningless fad coinages; vague abstractions; automatic expressions; the use of nouns instead of action words; un-English use of the passive voice.
Many Indians unfortunately equate 'impressive' English with incomprehensible English. Clumsy Victorian English hangs like a dead albatross aroudn each educated Indian's neck. Our feudal culture frowns on directness of expression. Indian English is often no more than an Indian language in disguise.
In Indlish, Jyoti Sanyal launches an all-out war against bad English and offers modern-day antidotes to archaic Indlish.
Indlish, published by Viva Books, Delhi, is a compilation of articles on plain English first printed in his column in The Statesman.
The book is now available at all major book stores in India. Please do let us know at indlishthebook@gmail.com if you cant find the book.
About the author
Mr Jyoti Sanyal is the author of Write it Right: The Statesman Style Book, which is till date the only newspaper stylebook for English-language newspapers in India (about 415 such newspapers are published in India). The 577-page stylebook is an authoritative work on how to rid Indian English of the commercialese, officialese, legalese, jargon, and circumlocution that it reeks of.
Indian journalim's stylebook expert, Mr Sanyal, was formerly Dean of Asian College of Journalism, Bangalore, and an assistant editor with The Statesman, Calcutta.
He coached technical writers at Tektronix India, Bangalore, and edited technical copy for Stratify Inc. (formerly Purple Yogi). He edited the journal of the Vivekananda Institute of Medical Sciences, Calcutta. He conducts workshops on English communication skill and has held them in Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Bombay and Hyderabad.
In 2005, Mr Sanyal set up Clear English India along with three partners with a grant from the Plain Language Commission, UK. He now campaigns for plain language in all communication, be it from government to citizen, industry to consumer, or lawyer to client.
You can read Mr Sanyal's blog at Plainly Speaking.
Write to the author at indlishthebook@gmail.com
Read Martin Cutts' foreword to the book here.
Buy the book at any of these places: Prakash Books, Book Shop of India, Indiatimes, Ebay, Rediff Books.
Read reviews of the book here:
- An extract from Nigel Grant's review for Clarity. (Clarity is an international plain language group. This review is for Clarity’s publication of the same name.)
Excerpt from Nigel grant’s review for Clarity:
Indlish deserves a place on the shelves of anyone interested in good written English. In time, it may become a standard reference work, along the lines of Gowers’ Plain Words. It is not an academic study (though much of it could find its way into academic study), but is a fine, readable, well-researched and well-informed handbook for all writers, Indian and others, who aspire to the best standards of current usage.
One small quibble, from a reviewer who has been fascinated by Victorian writers for many years: Sanyal refers frequently to the corrupting influence of Victorian creative writers on the language habits of his countrymen. This is simply not the case. Nineteenth-century official English at home and abroad is a legitimate target, but it is wrong to confuse it with some of the best writing in the history of the language.
There. Quibble over. Indlish is a fine book that will gain a wide following. Buy it, read it, refer to it and recommend it. It is a welcome, refreshing addition to the world of English manuals, and reaches far beyond the needs of the uncertain writer. Experienced writers whose first language is English will gain from and enjoy this insight into the linguistic world of their Indian colleagues.
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Writers in all languages could learn something
PRIMARILY, THIS BOOK seeks to correct errors Indians make, and hence its name: INDLISH. And it’s not about errors just any ordinary Indian makes, but of those who get into print. But that doesn’t limit this book’s usefulness to India’s territory: it will benefit all those who use English in Bangladesh, Pakistan, the SAARC regions, south-east and east Asia, Africa, and in even those countries where English is the mother tongue of the people.
In saying that, we invite a controversy---deliberately. Three decades ago, Professor Brajbhusan Kachru floated the term Englishes. And Englishmen like David Crystal pitched in. According to them, in non-English-speaking countries (to quote Kachru, the English ‘outer circle’), spoken English has deviated from standard British or American English. English in Australia, South Africa and even in America isn’t like British English. It has been 'nativized' in those countries.
There is one other thing. In those countries, as also in Britain, there are numerous forms of English. I don’t know if Kachru and his ilk count those regional and societal variants among their ‘Englishes’. They apparently consider them to be non-standard varieties of the language.
But when it comes to English used in India, Sri Lanka, Singapore and the Philippines, they do not brand them so---because, according to them, a ‘standard’ has evolved in these places. Kachru cites many examples, which differ widely from what Prince Charles cutely describes as ‘English English’.
That sets at loggerheads ‘Englishes’ and ‘English English’. Are we supposed to accept then that there should be no standard, no acknowledged uniform grammar, and that each country is free to have its own grammar and dictionary?
The writer of this book doesn’t accept that; nor do we. We believe that there is a subtle political agenda behind ‘Englishes’ (something like “Look, we aren’t making fun of your English; we’re accepting it. So, be happy and rejoice, our language is now your language too.”)
To this day, we do adhere to a uniform grammatical discipline in all documents, testaments, newspapers and books and pamphlets. And that is the English that is taught in schools, colleges and universities, not so-called ‘Indian English’ or ‘Burmese English’; we teach and write ‘English English’.
But then, we don't fully acquire ‘English English’, do we? we bungle pretty often. And the blame goes not only to us, but also to journalists in English-language papers, about most of whom the author passes a cruel comment on page 104 (“. . . few journalists in India’s English-language papers have a better acquaintance with English than the average lower-division clerk . . .”).
But why do we bungle? Why does the ludicrous element enter our English? What might the remedy be?
That’s what the 63 articles divided into seven groups are all about. The author has several layers to his agenda. One, to show wrong usage; two, to show that plain English says it clearer than complex, formal, roundabout English that often turns vague and nonsensical (the author is a plain language campaigner), and three, to show that dialogue, picture-writing and directness breathes life into writing, instead of Latinate nouns, and the passive voice. He has other issues too, but these are most important to him.
Quite a few of the defects he notices (not only in Indian English) are related to grammar---wrong use or wrong placing of words and phrases: using a singular verb with plural subject; using transitive verbs intransitively (‘discuss about’, ‘inform to’); fumbling over ‘with regard to’; confusing the implication of ‘facility’ and ‘facilities’. We do use transitive verbs intransitively (‘I was listening him’). And there are beauties like ‘I came today only’ for ‘I came today’ or literal translation of chhoti chhoti baten into ‘small small talks’. Such errors creep in often; the author does not try to correct all of them. We have classes and teachers and usage books for those. The author’s real battle is against inflated, stilted, vague and dry English.
In the first group of articles, he presents many examples of this; in the second, a plethora of formulaic expressions in letters; in the third, examples of baboo English and East India Company commercialese; in the fourth group, examples of some errors of usage (“She is having two daughters’ instead of ‘she has two daughters’, ‘I have seen the film last week’, ‘today itself’, ‘different different tastes’) and in the fifth, tripping over the use of words such as also, as, both, only, etc. In the sixth group too, he discusses the use of words. The seventh and final group is somewhat different.
In this last group, the author argues the case for clear and vigorous writing. He wants the liveliness of picture-writing with colour and strokes, human emotions and the immediacy of dialogue instead of passive description and paraphrasing. I don’t know if he tired somewhat of writing his columns, and so lapsed into lengthy excerpts. But then, perhaps he needed those to illustrate what he sought to say. Repetition crept into his weekly columns stretched over 15 long months: he needn’t have discussed ‘different different tastes’ and ‘small small things’ over two separate articles.
Why do such errors show up in the writing of our angrezi-wallahs? Mr Sanyal justifiably traces them to various causes (Sanskrit mantras and a tradition of memorising buzzwords---the author uses the word mantra for formulaic expressions---the ornate Durbari language of the Mughal times; Victorian and the gilded baboo language of administration and commerce, and to top it all, the weight of the idioms of various languages of the sub-continent (first language intervention). All this has made a strange khichri. Mr Sanyal has traced some Indian English expressions to regional languages such as Bangla, Marathi, Kannada, Tamil, Hindi, etc. Remembered phrases from English poetry add to the mess.
Bengali readers will be happy that the author finds a great example of clear, specific, lively language in Bangla: in Parashuram. But he has not been careful in his phonetic rendering of Bangla words---his spelling of korey, kortay, korchch cannot be justified.
One can glide through this book as easily as through a thriller; the language is lively with sarcasm and wit. But then, is the Bangla in our publications, books and speeches any less stilted and wordy? Writers in all languages could learn from the book. Martin Cutts, Research Director of Plain Language Commission, has edited the book. Some of the credit for the book’s readability should no doubt go to him, though I don’t know how much. His foreword is thought-provoking though.
Sarbajit Sen’s cartoons are extraordinary. Even though his style is altogether different, they remind us of another Sen: Jatindra Kumar Sen, who drew the cartoons for Parashuram.
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Anant's review for a Marathi newspaper
In today’s competitive world, English is an important language. It’s a global language; hence we cannot afford to disdain it. It’s necessary to understand, read, write, and speak English. But we need to seriously consider if the English that we hear and speak is correct and clear. Sadly, the English that we use is absurd because it is hotchpotch. But some consider it fashionable to speak such Indlish, a hybrid between English and Indian languages. .
Renowned journalist and ex-dean of Asian College of Journalism, Bangalore, Jyoti Sanyal’s book Indlish guides us into clear English. Sanyal has over three decades of journalistic experience. Indlish is a collection of articles he wrote as a journalist with an eye on English usage. The articles were first published in his column ‘Language’ in Imprint, the Sunday supplement of The Statesman. A highlight of this book is that Martin Cutts, who heads Plain Language Commission and campaigns for clear English in an English-speaking country, has written the foreword.
Mr Cutts exhorts people, especially journalists, to use clear and simple English. Journalists, Mr Cutts feels, can influence the way most people speak and write English.
It’s khichdi, impure English that’s used in government offices and in business letters. Because of this, information that should have been easily available to the ordinary citizen becomes incomprehensible, Mr Cutts says.
Sanyal criticizes such English in a very entertaining and pointed way. His advice for us is to shun Victorian, obsolete English and embrace English in its modern-day form. Sanyal shows the common mistakes that Indians do while speaking English and also talks about ways of overcoming them.
Cartoonist Sarbajit Sen’s illustrations compliment the book’s content and make it very lively. But this book is not just for journalists or for mass communication professionals: it’s a book meant for every English-speaking Indian. Viva Books, Delhi (www.vivagroupindia.com) has published this book of 418 pages and priced at Rs 295.
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How to write well?
Viji mailed from Kolkata. Viji is from the West Coast where areca is grown. She fell in love with her Bengali classmate, convinced her parents that he was the guy, and is now happily married and living near the Bay of Bengal. She keeps saying she misses Bangalore and Hubli. “Sir, a teacher of mine has written a book ‘Indlish’. Can I send it to you?” she asked in her e-mail. I was wondering about the strange name of the book, when lo, there arrived ‘Indlish’ by courier.
The author’s name is Jyoti Sanyal. The name rang a bell and I remembered I had met him once when he was dean of Asian College of Journalism. He had invited me to be on the panel of interviewers to select students.
Sanyal has worked for The Statesman for 30 years. He is now back in Kolkata trying to create awareness about clear English. He insists that we forget the English of the Raj days and contemporary English that’s clear and easy to understand.
“Do Indians equate ‘good’ English with incomprehensible English? Unfortunately, yes. Ugly Victorian English hangs from the neck of every educated Indian like a dead vulture [Sanyal has used the term albatross, a sea bird]… Indian English is often no more than an Indian language in disguise. With this funny, quirky book Jyoti Sanyal launches an all-out war against bad English,” says the note on the back cover of the book.
People who make a big deal about how much English they know, especially smug journalists, will find many things to learn from this book.
The book is a great read and brings together Sanyal’s columns in 400 international print quality pages. In this 63-chapter book, Sanyal traces the roots of the unwieldy English that we use: “The English that we were introduced to was actually commercialese and legalese. We never learnt the language that was used by people other than traders and lawyers. That’s why we use khichri English in the letters, books, and news copy that we write.” Sanyal has given enough examples of babu and baniya English. He also questions the practice of learning essays by rote and then vomiting out: “Your writing must reflect your individual style, just as your speech does. Cramming essays down children’s throat will only curb their creativity.”
Schools in Karnataka may soon start teaching English to children from Class I. But as I read the book, I begin to get a little scared if our schools will propagate the same babu and baniya English that’s in circulation everywhere.
When I was young, Abdullah, a Moplah, used to work in our areca plantation. He’d never been to school but would utter a string of ‘Emblis’ words with great speed and impress us all. We children trusted him a lot, because he knew ‘Emblis’! It was only much later, when I reached Class V, and began to learn English that I realized that Abdullah would utter was just gibberish. After reading Indlish, I have begun to suspect it’s such gibberish that’s being taught as English in our schools. Because, Sanyal has drawn numerous examples from the editorials, picture captions, and news reports of ‘leading’ newspapers, Bangalore newspapers included.
Write brief, write clear says Sanyal, and gives many examples of powerful writing and advice on how to write well. ‘Show, not tell,’ is Sanyal’s mantra.
It is definitely a must read for people interesting in writing better English. The book is enlivened with Sarbajit Sen’s many illustrations.
Bankim’s advice
Recently, noted writer and TV personality Matturu Krishnamurthy sent me what Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, the Bengali poet who wrote Vande Mataram, had to say almost a century ago on how to write better. Bankim’s advice is very relevant today in an age when robots are being programmed to write and translate. I put them below:
Don’t write for success. If you do, neither will you be successful, nor will you write well.
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If you what write is good, success will come.
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Don’t write for money: then you will be expected to entertain. Your writing will then become hideous.
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If you have to write, write about your country, fellow human beings, or for a good cause, or if you will create beauty.
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It is a sin to write lies, to write unfair and unpleasant things.
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Don’t immediately publish what you have written: you’ll see the faults in it if you wait a while.
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Don’t write about something you don’t know.
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Don’t write to impress.
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Don’t try to do up your writing. Simplicity is the best ornament.
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Do not copy anyone: you’d just be copying their mistakes.
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Don’t write anything that you cannot prove.
It would be difficult to programme any robot with these standards, unless you install a human heart in it.
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