Indian English

 Major English dialects:

Indian English is a catch-all phrase for the dialects or varieties of English spoken widely in India.

The language Indians are taught in schools is essentially British English and, in particular, spellings follow British conventions. However, the British left India in 1947 and, as a result, many phrases that the British may consider antique are still popular in India. Official letters continue to include phrases like "please do the needful", "you will be intimated shortly" and "your obedient servant". Older writers who made creative (and comical) use of now obsolete forms of colloquial English, like P. G. Wodehouse, are immensely popular too, as is cricket terminology like "googly" and "bouncer".

In addition, Indian English mixes in various words from Indian languages: "bandh" or "hartal" for strikes, "challan" for a monetary receipt or a traffic ticket, and so on. Such words have been regularly entering the Oxford English Dictionary; indeed, some ("jungle", "bungalow", "pyjama") became mainstream generations ago. Words for numbers used in India are lakh (100,000) and crore (10,000,000).

The book Hobson-Jobson by Henry Yule and A.C. Burnell, first published in 1886, gives a glossary of colloquial Anglo-Indian words.

While Indian English is often the butt of jokes by the "educated" British (e.g., various works of literature from the colonial era, or Peter Sellers's brilliant portrayal of a socially-challenged Indian in The Party), more recently Indian English writers and English writers of Indian origin – notably Booker Prize winners Salman Rushdie and Arundhati Roy – have been making more creative use of it in their works.

The distinct evolution of regional variations in contemporary usage has led to terminologies such as Hinglish (Hindi + English) and Tanglish (Tamil + English). These terminologies are often referred to in a humorous, self-deprecating way, but at times they also have a derogatory connotation, with each region or stratum of society having fun at the expense of others. Hinglish, Tanglish and other unnamed variations are particularly capitalised and made popular in the field of advertising. Here the aim of reaching a large cross-section of society is fulfilled by such double-coding.

• The progressive in static verbs: I am understanding it. She is knowing the answer.
• Variations in noun number and determiners: He performed many charities. She loves to pull your legs.
• Prepositions: pay attention on, discuss about, convey him my greetings
• Tag questions: You're going, isn't it? He's here, no?
• Word order: Who you have come for? They're late always. My all friends are waiting.
• Yes and no agreeing to the form of a question, not just its content -- A: You didn't come on the bus? B: Yes, I didn't."

• cousin-brother (male cousin)
• crore (ten million)
• lakh (hundred thousand)
• Eve-teasing (harassment of women)
• godown (warehouse)
• Himalayan blunder (grave mistake)
• opticals (eyeglasses)
• nose-screw (woman's nose ornament)
• scheduled caste (lowest Hindu caste)

See also: List of English words of Indian origin