English usage in 21st century India:

Introduction

English language experiences a reputable status in India. The language is used as: an educationalandan official medium for almost a century from the British rule of Colonial English,and still the language dominatesa similar kind of status at many parts of the country. The Digital India: this costly status is given to the country only due to English (in dailies, journals, & magazines) and its readers and learner who use it as a material for life achieving are growing in numbers every day. Travelling on a newer vehicle called Multimedia, the English language has gained into a larger momentum as time has passed into the digitalized21st century India.

Why English cannot withstand the next century in India? Predictively, the language may lose its predominant status and people may gain focus to their regional language. Nonetheless the language will not vanish unwitnessingly. The global trade lies on a common medium (English) of contact. The Common medium of language will be the database for any business. Obliging this theory, English starts to conceal the status of Mandrid in China, a neighboring country of India. Chinese, the ardent articulators of their mother tongue, started expressing interest in learning the English language for trade purposes. Similarly in India the people know the importance of the language and its required competence to get a good job. Hither and thither Spoken English tuitions have mushroomed especially to mint money through competence required in Job interviews and manage corporate scenarios. English is learnt for the global communication i.e., National and International trade bonding. Nevertheless, other language which is used for a restricted region and purposes seldom equals the worldwide usage. The English language can be termed as Digital English . From the syllabus booksto black boards; from the black boards to notice boards; and now to notice boards to electronic digital boards the language mightily rules any state of

provinces. Hence, we can prefer to call Digital English to Colonial Englishand in another few decades, more an embedding term can be christened.

English on Plank cards, Aluminum tin &Digital Boards: We have observed English instructions on signs in public spaces, recipe books, in operating manuals, on packets of food, and a variety of other places. Examples as follows: Keep off the grass( at park) Stop when lights show ( at traffic) Now add the garlic and tomatoes (at recipe books) Shake before use (at tonic rappers) Re-connect the plug to the power socket(at plugs) Run for winter offers ( LED screens) Chinese Cuisine (LED screens) Save MMS, Airtel Internet, Airtel live &BharthiMMS settings now as default on your phone. (Mobile Display LCD screen) Please recharge your DTH to continue watching your favorite programs (Digitalized Television) The roles and functions of English in India have changed significantly over the last few years. A high degree of proficiency in English language and excellent communication skills are now considered essential prerequisites for better employment since the language is becoming a common usage as examples mentioned above. According to Oxford (9) the aim of language learning strategies is to develop communicative competence. These strategies are specific actions, behaviors, tactics or techniques used by language learners in order to facilitate the acquisition, storage, retention, recall, and use of new information.

6 5 4 Series 1 3 2 1 0 Literate Monoilingual Multilingualnon-literate Series 2 Series 3

Fig 1: Usage of Regional(red), other (green) and English(blue) language a stratergy

While English is being the common language of literate, the rest of the people can understand their regional language and near by regional languages in India. English instruction are prevalently used in common places of India. The figurative bar chart indicates and classifies four set of people in India differenciated on the basis of ability to speak more than 2 languages, who are: literates, monolingualist, Multilingualist, and non-literates. Blue graph indicates the learned English language. Red indicates the regional language. Green indicates the influence of other languages. Out come of this chart proves that English had influenced the regional languge in usage.

Nowadays, the language common language is used to instruct at public places. The practice has been dramatically increased. In order to process new information and to perform tasks in the office, technical and non-technical English classroom acts as the instructional medium. The strategyis obtained to make sure the recipients understand the articulation in a class of heterogeneous students who are classified on the basisof language, majoring subject, and age.

This is the status of English usage in 21st century India.

Bibliography
Raman Sharma. (2004). Technical Communication. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. Ravinder, P. (2007). Interface 1. New Delhi: Cambridge House. Walter, E., Woodford, K., & Brookes, I. (2011). Collins Easy Learning English Library. Glasgow: Harpercollins.

Officially English has a status of assistant language, but in fact it is the most important language of India. After Hindi it is the most commonly spoken language in India and probably the most read and written language in India. Indians who know English will always try to show that they know English. English symbolizes in Indians minds, better education, better culture and higher intellect. Indians who know English often mingle it with Indian languages in their conversations. It is also usual among Indians to abruptly move to speak fluent English in the middle of their conversations. English also serves as the communicator among Indians who speak different language. English is very important in some systems legal, financial, educational, business in India. Until the beginning of 1990s, foreign movies in India werent translated or dubbed in Indian languages, but were broadcast in English and were meant for English speakers only. The reason Indians give such importance to English is related to the fact that India was a British colony (see Europeans in India). When the British started ruling India, they searched for Indian mediators who could help them to administer India. The British turned to high caste Indians to work for them. Many high caste Indians, especially the Brahmans worked for them. The British policy was to create an Indian class who should think like the British, or as it was said then in Britain Indians in blood and color but English in taste, in opinions and morals and intellect. The British also established in India universities based on British models with emphasis on English. These Indians also got their education in British universities. The English Christianmissionaries came to India from 1813 and they also built schools at primary level for Indians in which the language of instruction was local language. Later on the missionaries built high schools with English as the language of instruction which obliged the Indians who wanted to study to have a good knowledge of English. The British rulers began building their universities in India from 1857. English became the first language in Indian education. The modern leaders of that era in India also supported English language and claimed it to be the main key towards success. Indians who knew good English were seen as the new elite of India. Many new schools were established in which the language of instruction was English. According to the British laws the language of instruction at university level was English and therefore schools that emphasized English were preferred by ambitious Indians. Even after Indias independence, English remained the main language of India. Officially it was given a status of an assistant language and was supposed to terminate officially after 15 years of Indias independence, but it still remains the important language of India. Even today schools in India that emphasis English are considered better schools and the same is the case at university levels, even though there is a trend towards Indianization. In the 1970s and 1980s about one third of the Indian schools had English as their first language. For most of these students, English is their first language and it is easier for them to communicate, read and write in English than in Indian languages, including their mother tongues.

Just like the Americans, Australians or even the British who have their unique English words and phrases, the Indians also have their own unique English. The Indians and the Indian English language press uses many words derived from Indian languages, especially from Hindi. Other than that, the Indian accent is sometimes difficult for non-Indians to understand. There are some Indian pronunciations that dont exist in non Indian languages. The British also had problems with that and they caused some changes in Indian words so that they could pronounce them. Even the Indians started using these changed words and made them part of their English. Two examples of such changed words are currey and sari.