Show anguish for English and yet languish

The other day I heard someone saying, “Is it not a surprise that everyone in England including the sweepers speak English, the English people must bee one hundred percent literate. That is why they ruled half of the world.”

Most of our Indians, at least those having English as 2nd language are reasonably good at English, at least in the written form on par with England.  The average user of English in India generally don’t care in particular how certain phrases/idioms including syntax are commonly followed by the native English writers. That goes well with the spoken form too. But personally I think it is okay if our English is well understood in its written form and does not embarrass any business person. Perhaps, native English speakers work harder to understand us readily, what with our heavier accents thank to our multitude of regional languages and their influences on our English. Besides, our word choice in our spoken form is inclined toward being more literary than necessary, vis-à-vis the accepted common form being used by the native English speakers.

But to our Indian listeners it is enough if our English does convey our mind. All said, any language is primarily meant for easier workable communications. So, sticking to the right form is a nonissue, unless one belongs to a particular club or forum which is very conscious about the right use of the language.  Even a majority of native English speakers commits mistakes in all the forms of English usage. Even that is accepted in their world as normal.

Some of the ‘appropriate’ usages in their inaccurate form (at least to me) that I can quote off the cuff: ‘One of the writer ‘, instead of ‘One of the writers.’ ‘Will you please come with me’, instead of ‘Will you please go with me’ (depending on the situation).

Use of ‘Talk to’ and ‘talk with’ (again depending on situation) -- ‘Talk to’, with reference to someone to be corrected or inferior /child/ a subordinate to be corrected. Talk with, in reference to somebody who is an equal or otherwise respectable on par.) Some linguists say both prepositions (to and with) are right depending on the context and relevance, be the conversation bi-directional or otherwise, and the audience/s’ participation. If the audience did not care for speaker, then one can say ‘talk at’.  So we have to follow the appropriateness. And who cares as long as our listeners understand us.

The downside: In our country, ironically the home for multitude of ancient languages and dialects, everyone makes fun of every other English user, citing them as poor comparing them unfavorably with themselves. That trend should stop while the governments in the states should take the required steps to include a proper way of English speaking including its written form accepted world over in the school curriculum.

I do come up with many a bloomer myself. This is despite I was trained by some professional native English speakers and specialists in neutral English accent. The reason – I simply could not resist myself from being a nonconformist.