A hint of Hinglish can indeed be spicy

As the birthplace of the English language, it is but natural that the British keep a weather eye on how their baby is evolving around the world. So, the news that some school students in Portsmouth will actually be studying Hinglish — as opposed to just Indian English — formally is not surprising.

As they are the first probably to delve in-depth into Hinglish, alot will hinge on whether they eventually consider it a foreign language or just an user-friendly patois as Indians do. Hinglish as a word made its debut in major English dictionaries abroad over a decade ago, indicating an even longer presence, but it can hardly be called either familiar or popular there.

It was, of course, reported in 2012 that UK diplomats have to bone up on Hinglish before arriving in India, but Indians would probably be dumbfounded if they heard Britons spouting it. With India upping its international profile, desi hybrid English has certainly got a foreign fillip, although the suggestion that the ‘Queen’s English’ should be jettisoned in favour of a spicy kedgeree of Hinglish, Chinglish, Spanglish, Cariblish, etc, has been deservedly rejected.


But in all fairness, British children learning Hinglish should also be told of the regional variants, Benglish, Tamlish, Punjlish and many others, each of which has its own saltiness and local relevance.