Most Indians speak both, their mother tongue and English and sometimes other regional languages too. Consequently, the brain-to-language conversion method refers to a word or expression characterized by the Indian language. Indian phrases were born Indian and sometimes the same gets translated to English.
A few famous Indianisms, Indians often use, are:
‘Eating my brain’ instead of ‘Chewing my ear off.’
Indians have a dramatic meaning too. But you shouldn’t be surprised if an Indian says on a particular day of the week that someone was eating their brain. It means that they were being irritated by someone. The idiom to be used for this is Chewing my ear off.
‘Cent percent’ rather than 100%
In the office, Indians prefer to use the word cent percent and frequently see if anything is real. Don’t make the fallacy that I’m 100 percent positive or I’m right. What you have to say is that you are confident you are correct. You may even tell 100% that you are sure how sure you are.
‘Level Best’ rather than Best Level
Don’t use the ordinary “level” of Indianism if you have to pledge to someone. An Indian is very tempted to suggest that he is trying his utmost to achieve a mission. All you have to do is say you will do all you can to accomplish the mission.
‘Max to Max’ rather than At Most or Maximum
Indians often use this phrase max to Max which is an exact translation of ‘zyada se zyada’. It is widely used in India and you’ll hear it from many of your Indian colleagues. The proper way to say is ‘At most I’ll say 100 Rs’ instead of saying ‘Max to Max I’ll say 100 Rs’.
‘What is your good name?’ rather than What’s your name?
What is your good name? is another popular Indianism Indians follow. There is no good name or a bad name. The proper thing to ask is, what is your name?
‘Different Different’ rather than various kind of or just Different
AalagAalag is what it is. In India, AalagAalag is Different Different, which they use when they want to say various kinds of, so they say different and say different again.
‘She cut my call’ rather than she disconnected my call
You cannot cut a call, not without a scissor (Kidding). Indians often use this phrase when the other person on the line ends the call. The proper way to say it is ‘She disconnected my call’.
‘I passed out from college last year’ rather than I graduated from college last year
The proper way to say this is I completed my graduation or I graduated from… we’ll hear almost 90% of India population saying I passed out from college. Pass out means to faint.
‘Meeting is there’ rather than there’s a meeting
This is another Indianism many carry at work. The meeting is there is a funny phrase to hear from anyone. The proper way of saying it is, there’s a meeting.
‘Let’s discuss about the points’ rather than let’s discuss the points
When you say discuss you don’t have to say about this or that. You could just say, let’s discuss the points.
Conclusion
Indianism is seen not just at work but also in every Indian’s normal life too. It has been since childhood the surrounding has been the same for them. It’s not that those phrases are not understandable to Indians, it is very much understandable in the Indian workplace, however, for a foreign person it would be difficult to understand the meaning of it. Although Indians are used to Indianism, it is important to learn the right ways to put the words which could be generally acceptable in the world, especially, when it comes to the corporate world, you cannot say to your client who’s sitting in US that you have different different plans.