Indian people who speak very broken English - do they have hard time understanding normal English

I often run across people from India who speak English either in person or on the phone and I am shocked when I find that English is their native language and I can only understand about 20% of what they say. Some of these people sound like they are talking through a radio with a bad electronic connection that cuts in and out every 1/2 second - a really choppy form of speaking combined with what seems like mumbling and an odd way of accenting words.

Now for people who are raised to speak English in this manner I wonder if they have as difficult a time understanding people with the "standard" way of speaking English like what is common in TV and movies (which leads me to wonder if we all perceive the common language/accents on TV differently which would make me think we really do live in a Matrix like world). If they don't have a hard time understanding "normal" English then how can they even understand themselves?

There is an Indian family that runs a store near me and over the last 10 years I've talked to the owner pretty often and there are times I have to ask him to repeat himself 3-4x and I often still have absolutely no idea what he is talking about - and he considers that English.

I've listened to some audio of Hindi language and I would swear that these people are speaking Hindi and not English, I understand them about equally. It feels like I'm supposed to have a universal language decoder program running and for some reason when I talk to Indian people it doesn't work and their "native" language comes through.

For the largest English speaking country in the world I can't believe that there isn't a cultural norm for how to speak in an understandable manner. I've heard other Indian people who were raised in the US, England, Aus, etc who can't understand the broken English at all either and many of them have learned Hindi as well, so I don't think it has to do with mixing the English language and Hindi and it being a result of this.

a reply to: DigginFoTroof



This happens with the Scots accent, and the Welsh accent, and the Irish

accent too.


When I was working and there were two monthly meetings I couldn't make

out what the Irish and Scots representatives were saying!!


The Indian accent has a very Welsh lilt about it. And having spent my early

life in India I have to say I have the same difficulty.

a reply to: DigginFoTroof
I remember from schooldays that my ability to understand foreign languages like French and Latin has always been better than my ability to use them. In writing, at any rate; but I'm sure that if I went abroad I would understand the spoken language better than I could speak it myself. Following the rules to get it right is just harder work and more demanding than just grasping what the other person has said. So your Indians may well understand you better than you can understand them.

P.S. I once did some coaching work with the child of an Italian family, who had been brought up in England. I was told that when the family visited their relatives in Italy, the relatives would speak to him in Italian and he would reply to them in English. That is, he understood the language that he heard, but wasn't comfortable enough in speaking it.

originally posted by: eletheia
When I was working and there were two monthly meetings I couldn't make out what the Irish and Scots representatives were saying!!

But how well could the Scots and the Irish understand you? That's a closer parallel to the issue raised in the OP.

The reason I ask this is because the times when I have to ask him to repeat himself 3-4 times and still don't understand what he said, I'm wondering if he understood what I said to him or asked him in the first place, so that is why I'm not following what he said. So if he was replying to something he misunderstood, then it would make sense that I wouldn't understand what he was saying to me. So that is kind of why I was wondering if they had problems understanding "normalized" English.

from my point of view, If they're trying to speak the language
they deserve credit. I work with a few Indian immigrants that have
thick accents. I ask them to repeat things all the time, but I also help them
with pronunciations that are a little off.

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

I have Italian/Spanish accent. Sometimes people don't understand me until I try British accent. Off course it sounds funny.

originally posted by: acackohfcc
from my point of view, If they're trying to speak the language
they deserve credit. I work with a few Indian immigrants that have
thick accents. I ask them to repeat things all the time, but I also help them
with pronunciations that are a little off.

This right here. I was stationed in multiple countries around the world in my military days (though never India). You’d be surprised how many Americans never make an effort to learn even the minimal amount of the native language to interact on the local economy without having to find an English speaker.

I can state unequivocally that broken English spoken by Indian immigrants is more understandable than my speaking if their language.

Both my family practicioner and cardiologist are India. They have assimilated very well and we communicate efficiently...better than I can understand some full blooded lifelong US citizens at times.

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

Do you post this stuff just to get stars and flags? #. This is a conspiracy forum and this drivel is what's making it become a diluted mess.

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

At least they can speak two languages. What about you? None. Fkin Chav!

I'm a born and raised American, and I can't understand Cajun folk or some deep southerners very well. Is this just another stab at brown people?

a reply to: DigginFoTroof


Try having a meeting where several are on the phone! There is no one "Indian language" there are something like 17 major dialects. The regional dialects are over 500. While Hindi is the official language of India, the next most spoke language is... English! And it is not the 'Merican version either. They were British subjects for a while and they use British English. And then there are their updations that they revert back into the English language.

Speaking is one thing. Try reading a sentence written by Indian (from India)! I mean, c'mon, these are technical documents with technical instructions, you would think that the active voice would be used ("Put the wood in the shed") instead they prefer to use English like they speak and often use the passive voice ("The shed is where the wood will be put"). I know this because I work with a contingent and have an ear for languages. I hear a lot of Spanish/Portuguese words that have been co-opted as well. I can't tell you how many times I have heard the word, "mira", spoken while their buddy goes over to their monitor to "look" at the screen (I learned that playing soccer as a teenager as our coach would get excited and yell at us in Spanish pointing out the open player).

One more thing of note about the similarities with Spanish, the Indians tend to roll and/or trill certain words like Spanish has the rolled Rs. Over here in English we do not have anything similar except slang ("puh-leez"). Our language is also very plosive where as Indian seems, at least to my ears, less so.

One thing I do hate about Indian speakers: volume. When having a lively discussion (just bring up cricket!), they tend to argue and prove their point by being the loudest speaker of all. My guess is that it has to do with population. But a bunch of IT guys "yelling" at each other in Queen's English in passive voice is too much for me.

It gets easier with more exposure. And the world is going to get more exposure. The IT sector is already a hot spot but India has so many people that they are already branching out into other industries.

Nice BTS General Conversation topic!

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

I have several Hindu co-workers and when they get together they speak their native language, and yes you need to practice 'understanding' their English.

a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF
Yep. Many times it's about the dialect. I sometimes have trouble understanding someone from Newfoundland because of the heavy accent on words and their own regional slang. They're speaking English. I really struggle at times to understand people from Quebec when they're trying to speak English. Some of the pronunciations of words are just off enough that I'm unsure what they're trying to convey.

I've even had British friends admit they sometimes have problems understanding Cockney accents. Again, that's a regional thing in the UK.

With so many dialects of Hindi, there will be those who are not as adept at speaking English, or who have a very difficult accent. I do admit, I have a hard time with the Indian accent and often have to really focus on what they're saying and still end up asking them to repeat things. Out of several Indian coworkers, one I understand really well, two I do have to listen closely, and the other one, I almost never understand her. She speaks way too quickly as well, which makes it even more difficult.

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

There's a movement to help educate Anglos on Global English. Their grammar might be perfect, but American, British, and Canadian English speakers often can't understand the accent of people from India, Nigeria, Singapore, etc. Yes, they're native speakers. Yes, their writing is flawless. No, we haven't heard enough of their English to recognize the accent. Not their fault.

My mother was an American but we lived in another country until I was 15. English was the main language spoken in my school and community were I grew up. Then we moved to my grandparents home in southeastern Kentucky where the people were not very welcoming to my dialect. I was called Limy or other derogatory terms they could come up with. I was told to go back were I came from routinely. I remember being fed-up with a rude teacher one day and told her that I'm not a Limy and have never been in the UK. I am an American, I said angrily. I have just been living somewhere else. Then some smarta** in the back of the class yelled, he's from West Virginia. At that point, I knew it was just ignorance not prejudice.


I still get ribbed by my wife when I use terms that Americans find humorous. I still say wotta for water and mail is the post and delivered by the postman not the mailman.


Indian dialect is spoken quickly. You have to listen closely which is not an American thing. They will have asked several questions before the first one is being understood...

My major complaint with Indian English speakers are the scammers. I get two or three a day and I hate being targeted.