Letícia - Sara - Ana - Carolina

Hello. The topic assigned to us was Hinglish, so we will talk about what it its, its origins and rise,
and also give some examples of words and phrases used in Hinglish. India has recently seen the
flexibility of its native tongue first hand. Hinglish, a hybrid of Hindi and English, has made a
name for itself as an emerging language in the country.

What is Hinglish?

Hinglish is a mix of Hindi, the official language of India, and English. It's spoken by 350 million
people in India. India contains the largest English speaking population in the world. The term
Hinglish is a blend of the words Hindi and English. It includes English sounding phrases that have
only Hinglish meanings, such as «badmash» (which means «naughty») and «glassy» ( which
means «in need of a drink»). It was created due to the lack of access to English language
learning among lower classes.

India has the second largest English speaking population in the world (at 125m), while many
speak multiple languages. English fluency is socially prestigious and important for job success.
But, acquiring fluent English (or any language) requires rich and consistent language exposure.
In India, this is largely limited to the urban upper classes. Together, these two factors - limited
English access and the desirability of becoming an English speaker - could mean that
communication styles which are more available to the masses, such as Hinglish, grow faster
than English. Close to 83% of the indian people mix English and Hindi words in their speech.
Close to 75% of the population receives WhatsApp messages/statuses written in Hinglish

The rise of Hinglish

The mixing between Hindi and English vocabulary has occurred ever since colonial times. Only
in the last few years, however, has Hinglish matured and found its place in India as an effective
communication tool.

The most obvious reason for the rise of Hinglish is the globalisation. With high speed internet
and distribution channels bringing the farthest corners of the globe into a new era of
connectivity, it's only natural for trans-language sharing to take place.

The historical connection to the British Empire. While there's no longer a direct link to England,
the English language prevails, still taught in many public and English medium schools and
spoken across India.

The most important reason is to unify the diverse languages of India. Unsurprisingly, the vast
expanse of India hosts a wide array of languages. While 40% of India's population consider Hindi
their first or second language, this is only a drop in the Indian Ocean. India's inhabitants in fact
speak more than 8 major languages, so a hybrid language of Hinglish could help to bridge the
language gap of India's diverse population.

Examples and Observations.

In a shampoo advertisement currently playing on Indian television, Priyanka Chopra, the

Bollywood actress, walks past a line of open-top sports cars, flicking her glossy hair, before
looking into the camera and saying: 'Come on girls, waqt hai shine karne ka!' Part English, part
Hindi, the line -which means 'It’s time to shine!'- is a perfect example of Hinglish, the fastest
growing language in India. While it used to be seen as the patois of the street and the
uneducated, Hinglish has now become the lingua franca of India’s young urban middle class.

This mix of Hindi and English is now the hippest slang on the streets and college campuses of
India. While once considered the resort of the uneducated, Hinglish is now the fastest-growing
language in the country. So much so, in fact, that multinational corporations have increasingly in
this century chosen to use Hinglish in their ads. A McDonald's campaign in 2004 had as its
slogan 'What your bahana is?' (What's your excuse?), while Coke also had its own Hinglish
strapline 'Life ho to aisi' (Life should be like this).

Hinglish in Bollywood

Bollywood, often known as the Bombay Film Business, is a film industry based in Mumbai, India.
It was created in 1932 by Dadasaheb Phalke and is the largest global film industry, producing
around 1000 films every year.

With the ever changing scenes in the Bollywood commercial cinema Industry, one of the
prominent changes has been seen in the change of the language and the words used by
characters. Now Bollywood is not meant solely to serve Hindi language films, it has modernized
giving rise to a new language, Hinglish.

Seeing this huge rise of Hinglish, Filmmakers had no other choice but to dive in the world of
Hinglish if they needed to grab the attention and the eyeballs of the audience towards their
movies and so they did. From movie titles, to the dialogues, even the lyrics of the songs are now
being made in Hinglish.

Well, as the Cinema is following all the steps towards serving more and more of the westernized
content in the Indian theatres, it has dived into all the experimentation that are sure to bring
them profits out of their unique content.

With the process of becoming like the West that was believed to bring modernization in Indian
Cinema, a lot has changed. From costumes to choreography everything has gone on a journey
of modernization. The same happened with the language of the Indian Cinema. When the
Indian Cinema started in the first place, it had only the Hindi language and other major regional
languages of the Indians.

With the passage of time, Bollywood gained a different shape and now it is using more of the
mixed language. This modernization is sure to entertain the youth but on the other hand it
makes the old aged audience to lose interest in the Indian Cinema, as of now. Saying, that
Hinglish may be a threat to Hindi and other Indian regional languages may not prove to be
wrong.

Now we will show you a video with some examples of indian people speaking Hinglish.

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Words that were adapted.

Bandana

The English fashion dictionary borrowed the word bandana from two Hindi words:

- Badhnu, which describes the process of tie-and-dye through which large handkerchiefs with
vibrant, distinctive designs were made;

- Bandhana meaning to tie something up.

Bungalow

Used initially in 17th century Bengal to describe the single storey homes built for early British
settlers, the English term bungalow originally derives from the Hindi word:

-'Bangla' which meant houses constructed in the style of Bengal.

Cashmere

Meaning the fabric spun from the fine downy wool of the cashmere goat, cashmere is a word
that travelled to Britain via Hindi.

The word cashmere is an old spelling of Kashmir as pronounced in Hindi, the state where shaggy
goats were once found in abundance.

Thug

A descendent of the Hindi word thag, meaning a thief or a swindler;

- It entered the English language early in the 19th century.

- The thags were organized bands of notorious thieves and robbers who would travel across
India, befriending travellers on the way before looting and killing them.

Jungle

Derived from the Hindi word jangal meaning a wild wasteland, it was used by English settlers in
India to refer to any wild or untended land, including sparsely wooded scrub landscapes and
tangled forest landscapes, overgrown with dense vegetation.

Shampoo

Becoming a part of the English language in the 18th century, the word shampoo is derived from
the Hindi word champo, meaning to squeeze, knead or massage.

In Britain, the term and concept was introduced by a Bengali trader, Sheikh Deen Mohammad,
who, along with his wife, opened a shampooing bath in Brighton in 1814.

Loot

The word derives from the Hindi word 'lut', meaning to plunder or steal, which until the 18th
century was hardly used outside north India.
The English word loot came to mean to ransack somebody, to steal from someone, or whatever
is stolen by the act of looting.

Pyjama

Denoting loose fitting sleeping clothes worn by early European settlers, the English word pyjama
was taken from the Hindi word payajama.

- Broken down, "pay" means leg and "jama" means clothing, thus referring to a pair of
comfortable, loose and lightweight trousers fitted with drawstring waistbands.

6 Hinglish phrases made and used by Indians, only!

First Class. This is the most common answer that one gives when asked «How are you? - First
class.».

Do this «na». Where has this «na» come from? After every little sentence this addition of na
simply has no relevance but just for the sake of it, everyone uses it.

"Sabse best friend" Best is already a superlative degree to describe someone of the higher social
standing. The addition of "sabse" merely adds to this sentiment of being the best friend.

"That "toh" I know" A common and popular word that fits almost everywhere. Its equivalent to
the word "tipo" in portuguese.

"Ok Boss, Suno Boss" From the waiters to the bus conductors, everyone is referred to as Boss.

"Hello Ramesh "Ji“ Addition of "Ji" as a sign of respect out of the strong held Indian traditions.

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD?

India is a country still struggling to establish an identity. It is fair to say that Hinglish has a big
role to play moving forward.

But what will this role be? Well, judging by how the language is used at present, it will remain a
prominent communication tool in the world of business and advertising, not to mention
everyday life.

Whether it makes the transition to the classroom remains to be seen. One thing that is for sure,
however, is that Hinglish will keep on developing and evolving so long as it remains in the public
space.

People are not just mixing Hindi and English words anymore, they are creatively, actively and
energetically reinventing them instead. Hinglish therefore looks likely to continue pushing the
barriers of advertising in India.