Overview
- Official language is Hindi and English
- Most Indians speak Hindi, but 59% speak another dialect. (i.e. Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, and Urdu)
- Hindi is the primary language to northern India (also referred to as ‘Hindi-belt’ or ‘cow-belt’)
- Most languages developed from Indo-Aryan, Dravidian languages, Austro-Asiatic languages, and Tibeto-Burman linguistic languages
- Each language is particular to a specific region, although some are spoken nationally
- Immigrant languages: Arabic, Chinese, Iranian Persian, Armenian, Northern Pashto, Uyghur, Walungge, Judeo-Iraq Arabic
- Dead population: 10,000,000+
- 461 dialects (447 existing and 14 extinct)
- Most Indians speak Hindi, but 59% speak another dialect. (i.e. Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, and Urdu)
- Hindi is the primary language to northern India (also referred to as ‘Hindi-belt’ or ‘cow-belt’)
- Most languages developed from Indo-Aryan, Dravidian languages, Austro-Asiatic languages, and Tibeto-Burman linguistic languages
- Each language is particular to a specific region, although some are spoken nationally
- Immigrant languages: Arabic, Chinese, Iranian Persian, Armenian, Northern Pashto, Uyghur, Walungge, Judeo-Iraq Arabic
- Dead population: 10,000,000+
- 461 dialects (447 existing and 14 extinct)
Statistics and Linguistic Geography
Understanding indian ells' challenges
Alphabet
Phonology Grammar Vocabulary |
Hindi versus English - Contains 10 vowels and 40 consonants
- Characterized by bars on top of the symbols - Highly phonetic. Easily able to pronounce new words from their written form - Has half as many vowels and double the amount of consonants
- Does not have the pronunciation of “S” in words like ‘pleasure’ - Less common to have consonant clusters at the beginning or end of words - Weaker, but predictable word stress - Emphasis of a word is completed by higher pitch instead of heavier articulation like in English - Contains similar verb tenses as the English language, but different when expressing various meanings
- Does not have the verb “do” - Future tense is dependent on their first conditional sentence, such as “if you will help me, I will help you.” - Sentence structure is Subject-Object-Verb - Incorporates a lot of English words
--> These English words are pronounced differently |
Difficulties Indians might have in Learning English - English is not highly phonetic and so ELLs may struggle with spelling
- ELLs may mispronounce words when they first read the word * Use alphabet flashcards: Reinforce alphabet sounds and how * Use sight words/vocabulary flashcards: Train how to break down words by syllables - Examples of challenging phonemes: Sad/said, par/paw, vet/wet
- ELLs will have problems pronouncing words with th (i.e. this, thing, months) - Examples of consonant cluster words: Straight (Indians will say ‘istraight), fly (faly), film (filam) - Difficulty in irregular stress patterns. (i.e. photograph versus photograph) Will articulate first unstressed syllables (i.e. tomorrow, intelligent) and other usually weakly stressed words in English (i.e. has, and, was, to) * Demonstrate how to physically/orally produce these sounds * Use songs to teach pronunciation and stress patterns *Read rhyme storybooks to practice phonemes - ELLs will overuse present continuous tense when present simple tense is required (i.e. “I am always playing golf on Sundays” versus “I am not knowing the answer”)
- ELLs’ commonly make mistakes like “when you got married?” rather than “when did you get married?” - To avoid this mistake, ELLs may ask questions based on their only their intonation, such as “she has a brother?” - Sentence structure is Subject-Verb-Object - ELLs may choose the wrong preposition. (i.e. “They were sitting ON the table” instead of “They were sitting AT the table”) *Use cue cards and write out different nouns, verbs, objects of a sentence. Scramble and have ELL rearrange. (Design word cards that the ELL is working towards. For example, the use of the verb "do" and it's tenses) - The change in pronunciation of these borrowed English words will affect ELLs’ comprehension in oral English
* Continue to encourage the use of their first language and using borrowed English words. Model how to pronounce these words with a peer |