Indian English – North Vs South!

India has already been officially declared as the world’s second largest English speaking country. However, being home land to more than a billion people with noticeable social, economic and linguistic diversity among themselves, there are a number of Englishes spoken throughout this country.

While the people living in the north claim to be comparatively better in pronunciation, those down south of the country boast of their upper hand in grammatical accuracy. Here I am posting a few non-English elements which I came to notice in the speaking habits of both south and north Indian speakers of English.

Many speakers of English in south use /s/ in place of /z/. So ‘Zen’ becomes /Sen/. ‘Jazz’ is pronounced as /jass/. Zigzag is distorted as /sigsag/. ‘Zeal’ is /seal/. Interestingly, many of them pronounce the following pairs of words in the same manner: [sip, zip], [sing, zing], [is, ease], [rice, rise], [C Tv, Z Tv] etc. The apparent reason is the lack of a corresponding sound to /z/ in many of the south Indian languages. So, they naturally tend to manage with its lookalike /s/!

Now, let’s move a little north. Many northerners find it difficult to pronounce the sound /z/. You may often hear ‘jen’ in place of ‘zen’; ‘jeero’ in place of ‘zero’ ‘joo’ for ‘zoo’ and ‘jigjag’ instead of ‘zigzag’! The reason is the same as that of the southern speakers – lack of an equivalent to /z/ in most of the north Indian tongues!

(to be contd…)

NOVA ENGLISH CAMPUS

IELTS ESSAY PARAGRAPHS MADE EASY!

These exercises show you (if you are going to take IELTS) how to develop a single piece of idea into a beautiful medium-sized paragraph which is content-rich, informative, and above all, result-oriented.

Although television is extremely helpful in the field of education in multiple ways it affects the young people in some destructive ways too. How?

The following sample paragraphs demonstrate only how to develop body paragraphs, not the introductory or concluding paragraphs.

Central idea of the paragraph: Attention from studies diverted.....

To begin with, television takes the attention of students away from their studies. Fun-packed and entertainment-oriented programmes which are aired on various channels have been attracting more number of young viewers than ever before. American Idol, Big Boss and Indian Laughter Challenge are a few classic examples for this widespread phenomenon.

Central idea of the paragraph: Misleading content.....

In addition, frequent exposure to vulgar content in many TV shows adversely affects the young minds. It is an undeniable fact that young people are more vulnerable to get misled. Such content on TV injects distorted sexual fantasies into the budding minds which lead to increasing number of sexual harassment in schools, colleges and work places. To exemplify, ______, ______ and ______ have already turned many talented children into spoilt brats.

Central idea of the paragraph: Cause aggressiveness, accidents etc.....

Apart from this, television programs can even cause fatal accidents. There are a number of such TV serials which propagate rash driving, improbable stunts and so forth as heroic deeds. Young ones, unaware that such feats are performed by experts with all the safety precautions, try to imitate them in real life, endangering themselves and others. For example, so many children lost their valuable lives after watching such programs as _____, ______ and ______.

Sentences underlined    : TOPIC SENTENCE (usually 1 sentence)

Sentences italicized      : EXPLANATORY SENTENCE (usually 2-3 sentences)

Sentences in bold         : EXAMPLE SENTENCE (usually 1-2 sentences)

CHILLAX! I'm on a STAYCATION!!

Good Evening Guys!

 Have you ever defriended someone, or organized a tweetup? Blown on a vuvuzela or bought something bargainous? If so, the Oxford Dictionary of English would like to recognize your achievements.

The World Cup, credit crunch and social networking have all made a recent mark on the way we talk. The Oxford Dictionary of English (ODE) —not to be confused with the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) — is duly paying attention. The ODE is a dictionary based on how language is used in everyday life, and has 200 new phrases in its latest edition out today.

The dictionary, which was first published in 1998 with this being its third edition, now includes words such as frenemy (a person with whom one is friendly despite a fundamental dislike), LBD (Little Black Dress), cheeseball (someone or something lacking taste, style or originality) and bromance (a close but non-sexual relationship between two men.

"The dictionary reflects the way the language has changed over the last few years," Catherine Soanes, head of online dictionaries at Oxford University Press, tells TIME. "We run the biggest language research program in the world with an online database of over two billion words."

So, do you feel it's time to chillax (calm down and relax), take a chill pill (a notional pill taken to make someone calm), or maybe even take a staycation (a holiday taken in one's home country)? Then why not curl up with some steampunk (a genre of science fiction that typically features steam-powered machinery), or even the new Oxford Dictionary of English, which NewsFeed is more than happy to call a national treasure (something regarded as emblematic of a nation's cultural heritage).




Jacob Nova English Campus
Source: Internet (http://newsfeed.time.com/)

Hi! I WILL FOOT YOUR BILL

Although English enjoys the unique status of being the international language, it confuses not only a budding user but also a confident speaker or writer, mainly because of its variety of dialects, accents and, of course, the geographically diverse vocabulary. The leading varieties of English are British English, American English and Australian English. Indian English too is fast on its way to be a prominent variety of English.

However, the leading pair are the so-called Queen's English (British English) and the American English. The confusion for a language learner that is created by the differences between these two language cousins is really big!

Here are a few most common words which are different in British English and the American variety. In each pair, the first one is British and the second, American:

BILL (n) = I will pay/foot the BILL  (British English)
CHECK (n) = I will pay the CHECK. (American English)

BISCUIT (n) = Have you got some BISCUIT? (British English)
COOKIE (n) = Do you have some COOKIES? (American English)

CANTEEN (n) = I'll meet you at the CANTEEN. (British English)
CAFETERIA (n) = I'll meet you at the CAFETERIA. (American English)

CRISPS (n) = Susan hates CRISPS. (British English)
CHIPS (n) = Susan hates CHIPS. (American English)

CUTLERY (n) = I am going to buy some CUTLERY. (British English)
SILVERWARE (n) = I am gonna buy some SILVERWARE. (American English)

JUG (n) = Give me a JUG of beer. (British English)
PITCHER (n) = Give me a PITCHER of beer. (American English)

STARTER (n) = Shall we order some STARTER before the main course?
APPETIZER (n) = Let's order some APPETIZER befor the entree? (American English)

SWEETS (n) = Jane is very fond of SWEETS. (British English)
CANDY (n) = Jane is very fond of CANDIES. (American English)

TIN (n) = May I have one more TIN of beer? (British English)
CAN (n) = Can I have one more CAN Of beer? (American English)


(Contd......)

Regards
Jacob (Nova English Campus)