Did you know that English is a very widely spoken language in India?

In fact, whenever we do the Sweden interviews, viewers always wonder why people are answering in English and not in Hindi.

So what do Indians think about this?

Are they actually aware of how their accent sounds?

Let's hit the streets of Mumbai to find out if you had to take a guess what percentage of Indian population can speak fluent English.

Maybe 40 maybe if you go to any colleges or school, no one speaks Hindi at all.

It's everything related to English itself.

So I think that 70 to 80% might know English.

English is I think far more important than Hindi right now for Indians.

So, yeah, I think 40 to 45% around people speak fluent English.

I guess around 75% of Indian people can speak English fluently.

Most of them are from South India because they are like they are much more educated than the people living in North India.

So that's my opinion.

And I am myself a South Indian.

So by the way, Indian English does have a particular accent.

Do you agree with that?

Yeah, I think it does.

It's actually proper English.

So it's not accent.

It's, it's proper English.

Simple.

Yes, pretty much.

But it has nothing.

Got any problem with Indian people as such because that is the way we talk.

So, for you, it is normal.

Right.

Your accent?

Yes, it's normal as an Indian person.

Were you aware that foreigners often make fun of the Indian English accent?

Yeah.

It is actually like when I have not personally encountered the situation but my, like, I have cousins who live in the US, they speak that, you know, us, accent of English.

But still they get judged like this person looks Indian and, you know, people, I don't know why it's basically racism and it's just senseless to me basically.

Yes, I was.

But after I went to United States, I thought they spoke English so I made fun of their English.

So it doesn't make any difference to me.

I think our accent is better than theirs because they, I think they are like, not that good.

It looks like they are spitting, I think, sorry, sorry, not offensive.

It looks like they're spitting and I think our accent is better.

Yeah.

No, no, I think they need to learn English from us.

It is like when we are them, we find it funny.

It's lame.

I don't really care what they think.

Like I can speak English and I can, like, you know, make other people understand what I want to say.

That's enough.

I don't really care what they think Indian characters like Apu From The Simpsons have perpetuated stereotype in western culture.

That Indians sound funny when they speak English.

How does that make you feel?

I don't know.

I think it's, uh, if you watch it, I think it's funny at times but then it really annoys you a little, like, you know, you are stereotyping us a little too much.

You are taking a little too far.

Like, we don't really sound like that at all times.

But OK, that is funny to you guys, to the foreigners and it's not funny to anybody in India because that is the way we talk.

So, and people understand that's the main thing.

Sometimes I feel offended but they exaggerated more.

I think, you know, we don't speak like that firstly.

But yeah, I feel offended sometimes very offended to be honest.

I mean, it's funny for some time and like, don't know, we do not speak like that.

Stop doing that then to you, which English accent sounds funny or weird.

Oh, I think the way Russians speak, I mean, the people, those who have their language as Russian or French, those are the weirdest English speaking people around.

Seriously.

My brother has been in Australia and his accent is literally funny for me.

Australian accent is I really don't understand any of it.

Literally.

I just don't understand not because of the accent, maybe because of the wrong grammatical use.

I find Chinese English quite funny because they don't use proper, you know, grammatical things, Chinese, I must say Chinese.

So their language is exactly, they even don't pronounce it very well.

Their lips even don't open for that.

So why does everybody speak English as opposed to the native Indian languages in India?

I guess speaking English is a trend or maybe a it is like a show off or something.

I think if you know English, you have lots of friends and you are, you're the cool guy.

I'll say parents, that's it because they want the kids to speak English.

So that when they go to the school, they don't feel ashamed is that how every child is taught from an early young age, I cannot say about other child.

But my father, he insisted at my home, I should speak my own native language and he pays good fees for my school.

So it's the school's responsibility to teach me English.

So I don't know how does everyone works, but that's how I was water.

Some people feel not actually most of the people feel that when they are educated in English, they will have higher job opportunities and then they dream about going to other countries for jobs.

And that's the basic reason for them learning English.

Otherwise they would not even be interested in knowing the language if you speak fluent English do people treat you better in India?

Yes, I have seen that.

Yeah, I guess so.

Yeah, when you just come across someone you have a sort of mindset towards them.

As soon as they start speaking, your mindset changes, like, ok, they can speak English.

Yeah.

Ok.

They must be, like, cool, I guess.

And if you're talking before a girl, she is going to be impressed by you, that's the most important thing ever talking English when you start talking in English.

And especially when you're talking really fluently, they just, they give you much more respect than they usually give to other people who are talking in other languages because English is becoming such a dominant language in Indian society.

Are you ever concerned that traditional Indian languages might disappear?

Yes, it is going on right now.

I think even academically, today's generation is taught to speak in English and write English.

Yes, I am afraid of that thing right now because we being the youth of India, we shall take care of this thing that we should not forget our own native language.

If this continues, perhaps that day is not far that this, this will be our national language.

No, I'm not quite concerned about it because we often have many organizations and cultural committees who focus on other languages.

So I don't think it is dying out because there are many people who support it and they want our traditional languages to last forever.

Yeah, I, I'm a bit concerned because as I said before, it is like when a child is born, they are taught English first and then the mother tongue.

So this is not at all a good thing for me.

Like even now we are speaking about English, we are not discussing any other language here.

So that, that itself shows how we give English more importance than any other languages.

So if it did disappear the regional languages, what would that mean for the next generation of Indians growing up?

Well, it would be really bad.

I think people from other countries come to India to see the culture and everything and we might just lose it on the way.

So I just hope we don't really know, but I don't think it would really go anywhere.

We will continue speaking Hindi and learn to speak language.

Language is really important but do not forget you come from society or group of people or a different community.

Do not forget that.

Do not forget your roots.

Well, there you have it guys, is English becoming dominant language in your country and how is it affecting your community?

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