First Spanglish, now Hinglish

Sent by a colleague; comments below.

Changing lingo: Hinglish in, English out

LONDON: Hinglish, Chinglish and Spanglish are as English as the language traditionally said to belong to the British Queen, a revolutionary new prescription says, arguing that new arrivals to Britain should not be taught Queen’s English but cultural mixes used by non-native speakers in territories such as India.

The new report issued by Demos, an influential think-tank that claims to represent “everyday democracy”, says “Imperial” English (is) outdated” and believes Britain will lose out despite its initial ownership of the English language unless it “adapts to the global reach of the language”.

In the boldest suggestion yet to incorporate Indianisms such as ‘aloo’, ‘airdash’, ‘eve-teasing’ and ‘pre-pone’ into more than just the rash of market-hungry, standard rash of get-rich-quick dictionary supplements routinely issued over the last few years, Demos argues that language blends such as Hinglish are the way forward.

It says the British government’s recent calls for newcomers to the UK to learn standard English are misplaced and they should be encouraged instead to learn blends such as Hinglish (Hindi/Punjabi/Urdu-English), Chinglish (Chinese-English) and Spanglish (Spanish-English) which is widespread in America, where it is also called Tex-Mex.

The Demos report says the English language is no longer the preserve of the native English-speaking peoples of the world. They, says the report, are “just one of many shareholders’ in a global asset… With non-native English speakers set to top two billion in as little as five years, Britain’s influence, relationships and access to markets across the globe are at risk unless we change our outmoded attitude to language”.

Demos says that Britain’s attitude to English “is better suited to the days of the British Empire than the modern world.” It categorically asserts that “Far from being corruptions of English, new forms of the language such as ‘Chinglish’ (and Hinglish) have values that we must learn to accommodate and relate to”.

Curzon’s comments: Frankly, I think Demos is a group of nitwits who shouldn’t be given the time of day. When you modify a language in ways that alienates you from the majority of those speaking it, you open up a can of worms that is destined to result in disaster.

Consider: if you speak Spanish and English, you can communicate with the people all over the Western Hempisphere save for Brazil and Quebec, plus many other countries and cities in Europe, Africa, Oceania, and Asia. That’s wonderful. But here’s a reality check: If you speak “Spanglish,” then you can only speak with some people in New Mexico and Miami. You get the worst of both worlds of knowing two languages.

(Speaking of which, it’s telling that there’s not even an agreement on how to spell Spanglish/Spenglish. How is a linguistic revolution supposed to spread when the name can’t even be agreed on.)

Second reality check: if you teach south Asian immigrants “Hinglish,” you are relegating them to a life of isolation and infusing them with a cultural identity crisis. And that’s just wrong, no matter how you look at it.