Indian English

Mr. Chandramouli's article Will British English survive? (The Jakarta Post, Sept. 2, 2001) was enlightening.

I would like to add some of my observations on "Indian English".

Throughout the world, when natives meet outside their country, they immediately switch to their own language. Indians are the only souls who take pride in switching over to English rather than conversing in their mother tongue. Of course, they do converse in their mother tongue, but interspersed with mostly English words.

Some of the interesting tidbits on the usage of Indian English: * I can't able to do this. * I cutted my finger. * I putted the things into the cup. * One person wanted to say: "I am taking this opportunity to introduce my wife to all the ladies in this party". But what he said was: "I am introducing all wives to my wife in this party". * I saw you with my wife at the theater yesterday. What he meant was: "He and his wife saw his friend at the theater".

S.G. PRASAD

Jakarta