Adil Najam
A friend sent these to me as examples of Pinglish. Supposedly, they are examples of actual language used in letters and applications of various types. Even if they are not real, they are funny.
A candidate’s application:
“This has reference to your advertisement calling for a ‘typist and an accountant–Male or Female’… As I am both for the past several years and I can handle both, I am applying for the post.”An employee applied for leave as follows:
“Since I have to go to my village to sell my land along with my wife, please sanction me one-week leave.”Student writing to headmaster:
“As I am studying in this school I am suffering from headache. I request you to leave me today.”Student writing to teacher:
“I am suffering from fever, please declare holiday to the school.”Letter to boss, requesting leave:
“As my Mother-in-law has expired and I am responsible for it, please grant me 10 days leave.”Opening line in a letter to a friend:
“I am well here and hope you are also in the same well.”
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Def. Pin-glish. For our purpose we will define Pinglish as a particualr variety of ‘Pakistani English’ which emerges when (a) English words are mixed with words of a Pakistani language (usually, but not solely, Urdu); or (b) an English sentence is constructed through the direct and exact translation of a thought in a Pakistani language and in the syntax of the latter, or vice versa; or (c) formal English is made even more uncomfortably formal by merging with the formality of Urdu idiom; or (d) Words in English and any Pakistani language are purposely and purposefully amalgamated for effect; or (e) any other way in which English is ‘Pakistanized’.
(Repost: Originally posted on June 22, 2006)
@ Oh !! you are n9t as pacifist billigerent as you
give impression, please teach us Fa’el, fail, maf’ool,
sigha, Tarha, tasalsul, barjastah, etc etc !!
thanks
Adil Najam sahib I honestly didn’t expect a substandard post as this by someone whose livelihood is research work. The examples you quoted here can be seen circulating in chain mails and posted on jokes sites as samples from the Indian school system. For all I know they may be made up to make fun of Indians, and now you’ve extended it to Pakistanis. You could’ve looked it up somewhere, you need to reference what you quote. At least the ones people posted in their comments are original.
Leave English aside for a moment, do we realise that most of us speak Urdu so wrong that it makes you cringe at times. Let alone the grammar that we seem to bend and break, lets speak of something more fundamental – the pronunciation, and i’m not talking of accents but pronunciation: how many of us distinguish well between the sounds of ‘th'(thay, a cano
“Why should we worry if some people speak bad English. It is NOT our language.
I am sure or English is much better than the Urdu spoken by Britishers!”
If we can not speak correct English, why don’t we just leave it be? Why do we have to be dependent on it? Of course the British(??) don’t need to learn Urdu, we don’t do it ourselves, why should they? Talking of Urdu, how many can speak correct Urdu?
Wonderful writeup. I just loved it!!
Why should we worry if some people speak bad English. It is NOT our language.
I am sure or English is much better than the Urdu spoken by Britishers!