Let's not demean Indian English

Please, let us not demean Indian English further. This is in response to both Mr. Chandramouli's article (Will British English survive?, Sept. 2, 2001) and Mr. S.G. Prasad's letter in Your Letters (Sept. 7, 2001)

I thought Mr. Chandramouli was going to discuss spelling intricacies like "colour" (British) and "color" (American); "metre" (British) and "meter" (American), which is causing some confusion to computer-literate children of the present world. However, he wrote predominantly on Indian English and the twang present in different culture. I was, furthermore, unhappy to read Mr. Prasad's letter, which added fuel to the fire by referring to the so-called idiosyncracies of Indian English. I strongly object to the statement that Indians use words such as "cutted" and "putted". If at all, there are idiosyncracies of Indian English that extend to "Rain is coming" (correct usage: "It's raining"), and "The backside of our house (correct usage: "The backyard of our house"). This is the result of a literal translation from the vernacular Indian language to English.

While 75 percent of educated Indians speak reasonably good British English, this "generalization of Indian English" results in demoralization when such letters appear in popular dailies. It leaves us open to criticism like "Indian English source of many comedies", (cf. Ms. Scilla Woolley's letter - "Australian English", Sept.7). Why not? If our own co-patriots write without proper foundation then we must "grin and bear it".

The problem of incorrect usage is usually the result of spending their childhood in vernacular schools or having a very bad "English teacher!" It is incomprehensible to me when I see such articles that generalize. A little deeper research would not go amiss before we rush to publish our articles.

CHANDRIKA RADHA KRISHNAN

Bekasi, West Java