English: the Asian way

As the world's dominant international language, English comes in many flavours, some of them uniquely Asian.

Each of these Englishes tends to have its own accent, vocabulary and style, and collectively they are making a distinctly Asian contribution to the development of English worldwide.

The English language is no longer the sole possession of societies such as Britain and the USA, but is widely used as an additional language in eighty-odd countries from the Caribbean to Africa and Asia, alongside such languages as Cantonese, Hindi, Japanese, Bahasa Malaysia and Filipino.

These Asian Englishes are different from the older varieties of English such as British and US English because they are typically used by speakers who have another first language, not just by monolingual speakers of English. As a result, English in Asia is being enriched by words and concepts borrowed from Asian languages and cultures.

In societies such as Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines, which were earlier the colonies of English-speaking powers, English has been retained as a ‘second language’ for a range of practical functions in government, law and education. Even in societies such as China, Indonesia, Japan and Thailand where English has traditionally been regarded as a ‘foreign language’, English has rapidly gained ground as a working language of the internationally-minded younger elite.

Estimates of the number of English users living in Asia total over 600 million people. For example, some calculate that there are around 300 million in India (some 30 percent of the population), while in China the comparable figure is over 200 million.

Virtually every Asian city has at least one English-language newspaper, and many societies in the region also provide English-language programmes on radio and television. English is also an important language across Asia in the business world. For example, when a factory manager from Thailand sells garments to a Singaporean merchandiser, the language of business and socialising is usually English.

One trend seems clear from all this, that more and more Asian people are speaking more and more English, and very often they are speaking it to other Asians, not to so-called native speakers from Britain, the US, Australia or Canada.

When they do this they may borrow words and expressions from their own languages and cultures, or even create new words in English to refer to the texture of life in modern Asian countries.

English also plays an important cultural role in many Asian societies in the literary creativity of novelists, poets and dramatists such as Arundhati Roy and Salman Rushdie from India, Shirley Lim from Malaysia, Catherine Lim from Singapore, F. Sionil Jose of the Philippines, and Xu Xi from Hong Kong.

The British writer Robert McCrum highlighted the creative potential of such writers in the early 1990s when he wrote that “there is not one English language any more, but there are many English languages. Each of these Englishes is creating its own very special literature, which, because it doesn’t feel oppressed by the immensely influential literary tradition in England, is somehow freer.”

Asian Englishes have their own linguistic creativity as well. This is perhaps best seen in the creation of new words and the expansion of the word stock of the English language to take in new words and phrases from the Asian region. The creativity of Asian Englishes in this regard keeps dictionary-makers, such as Susan Butler, publisher of the Macquarie Dictionary of Australia, on their toes.

She says, “In this so-called globalised world, one of the most interesting uncharted territories left is that of Asian Englishes, because so many new words are coming into the English language from Asia”.

From India we have airdash and prepone – as in “The Prime Minister airdashed to Mumbai”, or “She was forced to prepone the meeting”. Other examples of contemporary Indian English vocabulary include to chargesheet (to charge with a crime), corporator (an official of a political party), country-made (pirated or bootleg goods), in-charge (someone in authority), mediaperson (journalist), pharma (pharmaceutical company), and tribals (tribal people).

In Philippine newspapers, politicians are accused of economic plunder (embezzlement of public funds), and challenged by the press in ambush interviews (surprise interviews), while corrupt cops are accused of coddling criminals (treating leniently), or mulcting (extorting money from) motorists.

In Hong Kong and Singapore, we find a host of words relating to Chinese culture and customs, including, ancestral home (place of origin of ones family in China), catty (a unit of weight), cheongsam (style of woman’s dress), chop (stamp or seal), Hungry Ghosts Festival (Chinese festival taking place each autumn), lion dance (a type of ceremonial dance), and sampan (type of boat).

Susan Butler says, “One of the thrills of doing research on Asian Englishes is coming across new words and phrases entering the English language from Asian societies”.

In the Macquarie Dictionary database in Sydney, there are such items of Thai English as acharn (a teacher at the tertiary level), farang (a white person), klong (water way or canal), krengjai (respect for people in a superior position), minor wife (a wife who is not the first wife of a man, a mistress), lamyai (a Thai fruit), sanuk (enjoyment, fun), tuktuk (a motorised tricycle), and pad thai (stir-fried noodles).

Recently the Macquarie Dictionary team compiled a list of Thai words for inclusion in the Grolier International Dictionary. Typical entries for such words can be seen here:

In Thailand, as in all Asian societies, there are often emotional debates over the teaching of English and the use of the language in society. Many Asians feel that the encroachment of English in many areas of life is a kind of ‘linguistic imperialism’.

Earlier this year (on March 16), the Bangkok Post printed a letter from Krabong Kuverakorn which criticised the cultural baggage that goes with English language teaching in Thailand. In his letter, he argues that the reaction against English in Thailand is partly due to “the current aggressive peddling of the English language” and the “constant bombardment of Hollywood-like stereotypes, as well as of a US pop culture”.

He adds: “Therefore, if the real purpose of teaching English to Thais is to bring Thailand into the world mainstream, then the present teaching system should stop forcing it and US pop culture down everyone’s throat and start teaching how to bridge the West to the Thai world.”

Susan Butler sympathises with such viewpoints, and sees that bridge going both ways. She says, “English has taken shape in new ways in Asian societies, and has the potential for providing an additional channel for that community’s culture and identity, alongside, not instead of, local languages.”

In most Asian societies today, speakers of English seem to be developing their own styles of speech and writing that are used to communicate about the realities of their own societies and cultures.

In the coming years, as the use of English spreads in Thailand, Thais may well continue making their own unique contribution to the English language, giving rise to the recognition of a special style of ‘Thai English’, alongside the other Englishes of the Asian region.

This, in turn, may increase the confidence of Thais in using English for a wide range of purposes in their professional and personal lives, and perhaps foster a more positive attitude towards the language in education, as well as in many other sectors of society.

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Last modified: September 1, 2003