This is the last lesson in this series and finishes my tribute to India. While I was traveling in India, I often had to go through metal detectors and then get a quick non-invasive pat down.
At the Taj Mahal, security was a bit tighter and they go through everything you're carrying(no food, toys?, etc.). When I was going through it I had my copy of the Lonely Planet book Indian English in my pocket and the security guard asked me to take it out. When he saw the book he just laughed and said Ok. hahaha
Today, I am going to talk about some common misunderstandings between speakers of standard English and Indian English.
latrines
In Indian English it means toilets, it probably came from British soldiers since the only time I've ever heard this word was in a military context, like: "You guys go dig the latrines!".
Where are the latrines?
curd
This means yoghurt in standard English.
bearer
This means waiter, it comes from the verb to bear which means to carry. It isn't used so often in standard English anymore. From the U.S. Constitutions 2nd Amendment:
The right to bear arms.
Where's the bearer?
Ground Floor
Just like in most of Europe the first floor(North America) is G and then the 2nd floor is 1F. It's kind of confusing to me... ^_-
nose cut
This doesn't mean that you cut your nose. It actually means humiliation, in Japanese 凌虐 (りょうぎゃく) .
I was totally nose cut.
Meaning "I was totally humiliated".
tight
In Indian English it means broke or すっからかん.
I'm tight.
Meaning "I'm broke".
Ok that's all for this series, I'll try and post a new lesson this weekend.
Phil
Showing posts with label dialect. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dialect. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Indian English, Part 2
On aspect of Indian English is the use of Hinglish. Hinglish is a mix of Hindi and English. Today we're gonna look at some common Hinglish expressions.
discount hai
This means discounted and comes from the Hindi "There is a discount". So hai basically means ある in Japanese.
A: Where are you going?
B: To the mall, discount hai bags~!
sale ka maal
This means goods for sale, from the Hindi maal(goods) and ka(for).
rail roko
This is a blockade of trains as a form of political or social protest. From the Hindi, roko meaning stop.
When I was in India there was a rail roko by Gujjars on the Delhi-Mumbai train route.
line maroing
This means flirting. It's from the Hindi, maro meaning to hit.
That guys always line maroing, you shouldn't trust him.
maha idiot
Meaning a mega-idiot. Maha is Hindi for very so I guess it is similar to the Japanese, チョー 《超》(ちょう).
That guys a real maha idiot!
kya problem hai?
What's the problem? From the Hindi kya for what.
love mein
Meaning to be in love, from the Hindi mein for in.
A: Kya problem hai?
B: I'm love mein but she's married.
A: That's terrible yaar.
Yaar means buddy or friend in Hindi.
bahut bore
This means very boring. Bahut in Hindi means alot.
The movie Kiss of Death is bahut bore! It sucks man.
Well, I think that's enough for now, time to make dinner. Have a nice weekend yaar~!
Phil
discount hai
This means discounted and comes from the Hindi "There is a discount". So hai basically means ある in Japanese.
A: Where are you going?
B: To the mall, discount hai bags~!
sale ka maal
This means goods for sale, from the Hindi maal(goods) and ka(for).
rail roko
This is a blockade of trains as a form of political or social protest. From the Hindi, roko meaning stop.
When I was in India there was a rail roko by Gujjars on the Delhi-Mumbai train route.
line maroing
This means flirting. It's from the Hindi, maro meaning to hit.
That guys always line maroing, you shouldn't trust him.
maha idiot
Meaning a mega-idiot. Maha is Hindi for very so I guess it is similar to the Japanese, チョー 《超》(ちょう).
That guys a real maha idiot!
kya problem hai?
What's the problem? From the Hindi kya for what.
love mein
Meaning to be in love, from the Hindi mein for in.
A: Kya problem hai?
B: I'm love mein but she's married.
A: That's terrible yaar.
Yaar means buddy or friend in Hindi.
bahut bore
This means very boring. Bahut in Hindi means alot.
The movie Kiss of Death is bahut bore! It sucks man.
Well, I think that's enough for now, time to make dinner. Have a nice weekend yaar~!
Phil
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Indian English, Part 1
Happy New Year everyone! I am now back in Japan after my trip to India. Overall, it was a good trip with some amazing sights. So in honor of my trip, I am going to have three mini-lessons on:
Indian English
Indian English is an English dialect spoken in India. It is a mix of English and other Indian languages with some local grammatical structures which sound wrong or strange to speakers of standard English. I learned about it from Lonely Planets, Indian English: Language & Culture which is a fun little book.
I am going to start today's lesson with the different uses of the word black in Indian English.
black = a dark complexion
Complexion means: skin color/texture/appearance, especially of the face.
blacker = darker
A bit strange but understandable in standard English.
blackened = reputation dragged through the mud
It is more natural for me to say you tarnished my reputation. Tarnish means to lose luster, to discolor. It is most often used with metals like brass which slowly turn black if they aren't polished regularly.
black-black = jet black, 漆黒 (しっこく)
It's a very deep rich black.
black heart = having wicked thoughts
This is old English meaning someone is evil/mean. He has a black heart.
black deeds = cruelty
In old English it means a bad action.
Redbeard the pirate's black deeds were infamous.
black face = ashamed
In standard English, black face is when a white actor would use black make-up to paint himself to pretend to be a black person. This is considered racist these days but was quite common in early cinema/TV.
blackout = power failure or fainting
This is pretty much the same in standard English:
There was a blackout yesterday.
She drank so much she blacked out.
Notice in standard English when using blackout to mean fainting it is the phrasal verb black out NOT the noun blackout.
Well, I hope you enjoyed this lesson I will try and post 6 times this month. Wish me luck~!
Phil
Indian English
Indian English is an English dialect spoken in India. It is a mix of English and other Indian languages with some local grammatical structures which sound wrong or strange to speakers of standard English. I learned about it from Lonely Planets, Indian English: Language & Culture which is a fun little book.
I am going to start today's lesson with the different uses of the word black in Indian English.
black = a dark complexion
Complexion means: skin color/texture/appearance, especially of the face.
blacker = darker
A bit strange but understandable in standard English.
blackened = reputation dragged through the mud
It is more natural for me to say you tarnished my reputation. Tarnish means to lose luster, to discolor. It is most often used with metals like brass which slowly turn black if they aren't polished regularly.
black-black = jet black, 漆黒 (しっこく)
It's a very deep rich black.
black heart = having wicked thoughts
This is old English meaning someone is evil/mean. He has a black heart.
black deeds = cruelty
In old English it means a bad action.
Redbeard the pirate's black deeds were infamous.
black face = ashamed
In standard English, black face is when a white actor would use black make-up to paint himself to pretend to be a black person. This is considered racist these days but was quite common in early cinema/TV.
blackout = power failure or fainting
This is pretty much the same in standard English:
There was a blackout yesterday.
She drank so much she blacked out.
Notice in standard English when using blackout to mean fainting it is the phrasal verb black out NOT the noun blackout.
Well, I hope you enjoyed this lesson I will try and post 6 times this month. Wish me luck~!
Phil
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Thailish or Tinglish
Hey everyone, sorry for not posting in awhile but I was in Thailand where I took a thai massage course and relaxed on my summer vacation. So, today's lesson will talk about Thailish or Tinglish which is the English dialect(ben, like Kansai-ben) spoken in Thailand.
Probably the most famous example of Tinglish is:
Same Same
This means "onaji" in Japanese. It just means that two things or situations are similar. Then there is the related expression:
Same Same but Different
This means that two things are a bit similar but also different in some way.
ex: Mandarins (mikans) and oranges are same same but different.
Khun or k
This is the same as san in Japanese but instead of Philip-san you would say Khun Philip or K Philip.
la
This is the same as the Japanese question particle ka.
ex: Where did you go la?
Kha and Krub
This is a particle used to be more polite and is added at the end of the sentence.
Hello kha (women)
Hello khrub (men)
no have
This is broken English but in Thailish it means "I don't have".
High-so and Low-so
This is Thailish slang meaning High society, upper class type person and Low society which means a lower class type person.
sleep
When getting a massage they might say "sleep" but they really mean "lie down".
Alright, now you know a few expressions in Thailish. If you want to know more check out these links:
wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinglish
Thai food and stuff website:
http://thaifoodandstuff.com/index1.html
And here you can read some sample dialogs in Thailish:
http://forbescomm.wordpress.com/the-tinglish-files/tinglish-for-room-service/
Probably the most famous example of Tinglish is:
Same Same
This means "onaji" in Japanese. It just means that two things or situations are similar. Then there is the related expression:
Same Same but Different
This means that two things are a bit similar but also different in some way.
ex: Mandarins (mikans) and oranges are same same but different.
Khun or k
This is the same as san in Japanese but instead of Philip-san you would say Khun Philip or K Philip.
la
This is the same as the Japanese question particle ka.
ex: Where did you go la?
Kha and Krub
This is a particle used to be more polite and is added at the end of the sentence.
Hello kha (women)
Hello khrub (men)
no have
This is broken English but in Thailish it means "I don't have".
High-so and Low-so
This is Thailish slang meaning High society, upper class type person and Low society which means a lower class type person.
sleep
When getting a massage they might say "sleep" but they really mean "lie down".
Alright, now you know a few expressions in Thailish. If you want to know more check out these links:
wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinglish
Thai food and stuff website:
http://thaifoodandstuff.com/index1.html
And here you can read some sample dialogs in Thailish:
http://forbescomm.wordpress.com/the-tinglish-files/tinglish-for-room-service/
Monday, June 29, 2009
Montreal English
Hey everyone, I am in my hometown of Montreal and so I decided to write a bit of a short post about Montreal English. Here most people speak French fluently, so the French language has a big influence on how people speak English. I am going to talk about some of those differences ^_^
First off, when talking about apartments we use a 1 1/2 system. A 1 1/2 (one and a half) is a one room studio apartment with a bathroom(which is the half 1/2). So a 3 1/2 (three and a half) is a one bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom apartment. Interesting no?
When talking about what language some speaks, especially their mother tongue(first language spoken) we use anglophone for an English speaker, francophone for a French speaker and an allophone for someone who has a mother tongue other than English or French.
In Montreal, I think most people say breakfast, lunch and supper... Because dinner is too similar to diner which is French for lunch. While supper is the same as the French souper. So to avoid people getting mixed up when making plans to meet for a meal we use the words that are least likely to cause people to get confused¬!
Here are 5 words that are common in Montreal English:
5 - autoroute, this is French for highway but is commonly used by English speakers
4 - guichet, this means ATM and is short for guichet automatique
3 - stage, which is French for apprenticeship or internship
2 - all dressed, which is used for hot dogs, hamburgers and other foods with all the toppings, lettuce, onions, relish, mustard... but strangely all dressed does not include ketchup!!!
1 - depanneur or DEP, this is my FAVORITE Montreal English word! It means convenience store and is from French. I really love this word it is the shortest word for convenience store, konbini, corner store, 7/11... that I have heard in any language!
Ok everyone, I gotta go to the dep see you later!
Phil
First off, when talking about apartments we use a 1 1/2 system. A 1 1/2 (one and a half) is a one room studio apartment with a bathroom(which is the half 1/2). So a 3 1/2 (three and a half) is a one bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom apartment. Interesting no?
When talking about what language some speaks, especially their mother tongue(first language spoken) we use anglophone for an English speaker, francophone for a French speaker and an allophone for someone who has a mother tongue other than English or French.
In Montreal, I think most people say breakfast, lunch and supper... Because dinner is too similar to diner which is French for lunch. While supper is the same as the French souper. So to avoid people getting mixed up when making plans to meet for a meal we use the words that are least likely to cause people to get confused¬!
Here are 5 words that are common in Montreal English:
5 - autoroute, this is French for highway but is commonly used by English speakers
4 - guichet, this means ATM and is short for guichet automatique
3 - stage, which is French for apprenticeship or internship
2 - all dressed, which is used for hot dogs, hamburgers and other foods with all the toppings, lettuce, onions, relish, mustard... but strangely all dressed does not include ketchup!!!
1 - depanneur or DEP, this is my FAVORITE Montreal English word! It means convenience store and is from French. I really love this word it is the shortest word for convenience store, konbini, corner store, 7/11... that I have heard in any language!
Ok everyone, I gotta go to the dep see you later!
Phil
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