Hinglish

Hinglish, a portmanteau of the words Hindi and English, usage of Hindi and English words, combining both, in one sentence. This is more commonly seen in urban and semi-urban centers of India, but is slowly spreading its root into rural and remote areas via television and word of mouth, slowly achieving vernacular status. Many speakers do not realize that they are incorporating English words into Hindi sentences or Hindi words into English sentences.

This highly popular mixing of both the languages in most parts of northern and central India has grown from the fact that English is a popular language of choice amongst the urbane youth who finds itself comfortable in its lexicon. It is already the medium for imparting education in many schools across the nation. The advent of cable television and its pervasive growth has seen the masses exposed to a wide variety of programming from across the world.

Another factor contributing to the spread of Hinglish is the popularity of Bollywood films.

Examples

• "What is your good name?" (This is a literal translation of polite Hindi which sounds strange to Western speakers of English)
• "Dad, time kya hua hai?" (Dad, what is the time right now?).
• "I have hazaar things on my mind right now." (I have a thousand things on my mind right now.)
• "He's a postwalla" (he works in a post office; walla = "person")
• "Kiss my hote." (hote = lips)
• "Beta, slowly slowly jana" (Son, go slowly)
• "I've a feeling, August, you're going to get hazaar fucked in Madna." (starting line of English, August by Upamanyu Chatterjee)
• "I had a bheja fry." (I had a brain fry.)
• "Thank you haa." (Thank you.)
• "Come Na!." [(Don't be shy)Come.]

See also: Madras bashai

See also

• Sri Lankan English
• Taglish
• Tanglish

External links

Articles

• Scott Baldauf (November 23, 2004). A Hindi-English jumble, spoken by 350 million. Christian Science Monitor.
• Sean Coughlan (8 November 2006). It's Hinglish, innit?. BBC News.
• Rob Gifford, Baljinder Mahal (December 4, 2006). Practicing 'The Queen's Hinglish' in Central England. NPR.
• 'Learn Hindi from Bollywood movies - an audio podcast'

News

• 'Hinglish' may soon conquer the world (rediff.com), October 17, 2004

• http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6122072.stm

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