English is like a second language in India.  The English used there has its own distinct differences to the English spoken in other parts of the world.  While most people desire to learn English from either a British or American perspective, it is easy to argue a case for other global Englishes such as the English from India.

So what does English from India look like?  Here is an example:

“The ground reality is that there are some people who are boondoggling in lieu of some favour. Please do not react otherwise it may boomerang your reputation. I do not give you much weightage. I consider you a figure among the cypher. Please do not behave like a child. I have excericsed my fundamental right. It seems to me that you have no patience to take criticism on you. You look fluttered.”

I wonder what form English will take in China if Indian English textbooks become a major part of English training as the article suggests?

Across the US and Canada, there are several variations of so-called correct pronunciation. Most usage guides do not go into the class or social divisions that these variations may be connected to. But some simple observations can highlight some of them. In fact, even though literature is more in line with the written form, it will attempt to mimic these variations of the spoken form.

“I is done it. Hush , now. Ain’t I told you you can’t go up there.”
William Faulkner – The Sound and The Fury

“I coulda told you that,’ said George. ‘Well, I wasn’t hurtin’ ‘em none. I jus’ had mine in my lap pettin’ it.” John Steinbeck – Of Mice and Men

“Boy, Coyote sit up straight. Them eyes pop open. That tail stop wagging. That one swallow that smile.” Thomas King – The One About Coyote Going West.

“And if she thought anything, it was No. No. Nono. Nonono. Simple. She just flew. Collected every bit of life she had made, all the parts of her that were precious and fine and beautiful, and carried, pushed, dragged them through the veil, out, away, over there where no one could hurt them.”
Toni Morrison – Beloved

By the way, I know that it is not grammatically correct to say “more perfect” or “too perfect”, but linguistically, these imperfections are a part of the language and very common to see.

Companies that provide this type of training really help make their workers more productive.  One Resident Care Giver that we trained found that her accent was often a trigger that caused frustrations and even outbursts from elderly patients.  Getting Accent Reduction Training made her job easier and more enjoyable.  Another client struggled with email communication.  She felt she often had to preface her email requests by explaining that English was not her first language since she knew that sometimes her requests seemed too direct and caused tension.  For her, the Writing Course has given her some set patterns to soften her tone.  She doesn’t need to explain her weakness anymore.

We would just like to thank our most recent corporate client, Royal Bank of Canada, for aknowledging the value of incorporating language support at work. RBC is joining our ever growing list of companies who value the skills immigrants bring to their workplace.

Basically, anthropologists have studied the ways in which people speak and here is an overview of some basic findings.  Let me start by saying that many studies are inconclusive in showing that men speak one way and that women speak another, but for simplicity, I will make two headings: Feminine Speech and Masculine Speech.

In Feminine Speech, there is a higher frequency of honorific devices such as Mr., Sir, Please, Pardon, etc.

In Masculine Speech, using first names, last names, or nicknames are more frequent such as “Hi John, Good morning Hatcher, or Hey Smitty.”

In Feminine Speech, there is a higher frequency of softening devices such as kind of, sort of, a bit, etc.

In Masculine Speech, there is more directness.  “That is red.  We have a problem”

In Feminine Speech, more sentence patterns end with a rising inflection. “Do I use this next?”

In Masculine Speech, more sentence patterns end with falling inflection. “Use this next.”

Here is an example:

Woman: “Hello Mr. Smith, do you have a minute? It’s kind of important.  It seems that we might have a bit of a problem.  Mr. Lee called me earlier and he was a little concerned.  Do you think you can call him back?  I think we should give him an extension, don’t you think so?

Man: “Hey Tony, come here for a minute.  Mr Lee called when you were out and he’s unhappy with your service.  Give him a call and tell you what; if he is still upset, give him an extension.

Of course, both men and women can talk in these ways.  Sometimes the way people communicate changes because of social class, authority level, and comfort level but interestingly these patterns are often called Feminine Speech patterns.

The correct pronunciation of words mostly occurs with foreign words.  If a person with a “foreign” name becomes famous, there will be much debate about how to pronounce the name correctly.  I recall this debate with Barack Obama when he began running for President, though many people now know his name.  Currently there is a lot of talk over how to correctly pronounce the name of the volcano erupting in Iceland.  Mount Eyjafjallajokull is not easy for a native speaker to say.  Foreign food and products are also frequently mispronounced.  Correcting someone can show that you are more worldly than others.

Most interestingly, is the mispronunciation is often attributed to social class.  I recall being taught to say “Joan saw my sister and I.” and not to say “Joan saw me and my sister.”  Both are grammatically correct.  There are some I was never taught such as “What kind of bird is that?” which apparently should be “What kind of a bird is that?”

Here is a list of words that apparently show class distinctions.  Native speakers of English will sometimes correct one another with the so-called correct pronunciation.  Correcting someone on these words can make you sound pretentious; perhaps that feeling was why my client was not often corrected during her high school days in Canada.

Word        Upper Class Pronunciation         Lower Class Pronunciation

asked                             askt                                         ast

coupon                         koo-pon                              kyoo-pon

escape                           es-kayp                               ek-skayp

fifth                                fifth                                        fith

height                            hIt                                         hItth

library                          laI-brer-ee                         li-ber-ee

nuclear                        noo-klee-*r                        noo-ky*-l*r

often                              of-*n                                    of-ten

toward                          tord                                      twahrd

*=schwa

Respect our country pronounced as “Respect are country. ”

Don’t say our – just say R.

Let’s Practice-  our car- R car, our house-R house, our book- R book, our lunch- R lunch, our dog- R dog, our kitchen- R kitchen, our couch- R couch,  our garage- R garage,  our school-R school,  our fireplace- R fireplace,  our cat- R cat.

None of the programs he mentioned included any aspect of monitored progress, which we feel is what makes the L2 Accent Reduction online course so distinct.

Many programs require the user to listen to audio CD’s and memorize phrases.  Even Matt Gross mentions that the differences are that some help you to “remember it better”.  Of course the problem is: what is the point of remembering a phrase if you can’t properly pronounce it?  Youtube is full of videos from people who will ask random strangers to give feedback on their pronunciation.  Here is one example: CLICK HERE

Of course, most people don’t want to go to the lengths of broadcasting themselves.  Besides, the feedback of an untrained person is rarely helpful.

Would you spend $4420.00 for an online course?