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Evolving Language

Interesting article about good and bad English and now non-native speakers can figure out what the others are saying even if their brand of English has localization they don't know about. The native speakers are being called out to become more inclusive:

..the onus shouldn't be on non-native speakers but rather on native English speakers to improve their comprehension of accents different from their own.

Take a page out of non-native speakers' book, says Hansen, by modifying your English to be more inclusive. That means no more confusing idioms, jargon and sports references ... so no "touching base on improving synergy with your teammates."

Another suggestion from Hansen: Instead of policing others' accents, native English speakers can focus on changing their own enunciation to be more understandable. For example, research shows that clearly enunciating hard "t" and "r" sounds in your speech makes it easier for non-native English speakers to understand you.

I am trying to map that advisory back to Bangla and Hindi the other languages I speak. Both are stuck in the past and I sound out of date and out of touch when I speak with friends and family in India. I speak well enough but I have completely missed the organic growth of the languages in the last few decades. I try to make up for this gap by watching movies in both languages but it does not do the trick. 

It seems to me that in India the type of inclusion the Hansen is speaking of occurs organically as populations move from one state to the other bringing their native languages to their new domicile. Over time as these populations root in, the local language is enriched and transformed by what they add to it. My uncle S when in stress starts to speak in very refined Bangla that harkens to how characters in the 1940s movies used to talk. I hear him use words that have disappeared from circulation for a long time and it takes a minute to grasp what he is saying. I wonder if this has something to do with returning to a time and place when such language was common as a source of comfort when present conditions are quite dire.

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