If you live in a city in India, you probably have at least some facility in at least two languages. As Salman Rushdie once observed: “If you listen to the urban speech patterns there you’ll find it’s quite characteristic that a sentence will begin in one language, go through a second language and end in a third. It’s the very playful, very natural result of juggling languages. You are always reaching for the most appropriate phrase.” This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Urban Speech in India”
It’s not unusual at all in India to speak more than one language, sometimes two, sometimes three.
And I found a great quotation about this the other day from Salman Rushdie, and I wanted to share it.
If you listen to the urban speech patterns in India, you’ll find it’s quite characteristic that a sentence will begin in one language, go through a second language, and end in a third.
It’s the very playful, very natural result of juggling languages.
You’re always reaching for the most appropriate phrase.
That’s cool, right?
I think that’s really cool.
I mean, we think here about Spanglish, which is also very handy that way.
But to go through three different languages to come up with what you want to say, I love it.
But it’s all in your head, and it feels like the same inventory, right?
Well, I think you reach for what works best, right?
Right, and you risk in some cultures, for example, if I draw on a French phrase, people might just think I’m being pretentious.
But if these are both, are all three everyday languages, then it’s totally cool and normal.
Yep, love it.
