Thread: Indian English vs. American English

Wikipedia has a decent page on Indian English which can be helpful for Indian writers who are trying to sell into the U.S. market.

It may not be fair, but the realities of the Internet market are that most buyers want content written in standard mid-Western American English.

Many Indian content developers would be able to double their rates if they were able to successfully modify their writing styles.

Ha! I also have "issues" with British vs. American English. I know that most potential visitors to my sites will be searching using American English, but when I'm writing website content, I just can't bring myself to omit my beloved unnecessary "u"s or write "centre" differently, etc.

Well that page helped me too! And the thing that sucks to me, like Dr. Stavros says, is to me that Color & Colour is the same. But for some people they can really kill me because I make the mistake because of the British & American English.

But heck, I don't care a lot about it, I'm doing my best and I hope people can read what I write, that's it -- If you understand what I mean, we're both happy

I used British English most of the time.

I use both British English and American English but there seem to only be really tiny differences between both of them.

Indeed a decent page, Will. But I'm sure it's not just about usage of some words or phrases but also the sentence structure. I'm not against Indian writers because some of them are really good, talented and full of creative ideas. But even after being an Indian, I must admit that many Indian writers don't have that flow. The sentences are complicated and compound as if they think in Hindi and translate the same to English. The sentences and the flow of content should be easy and fun-to-read. Many expert Indian writers with great command on English are out of this but most of the beginners do have this problem. Only this page won't help them. They need to follow some good copywriting blogs as well as tips and tricks by expert copywriters like John Carlton, Michel Fortin, Brian Keith Voile etc.

Originally Posted by ChillingBreeze

.. it's not just about usage of some words or phrases but also the sentence structure. ... I must admit that many Indian writers don't have that flow. The sentences are complicated and compound as if they think in Hindi and translate the same to English.

Yes, exactly! I work with a lot of Indian writers who have not "converted" yet and the writing is very wordy and almost stilted. The ratio of "connector words" to "content words" is just so high as to drive me crazy trying to read.

The model American writer is Ernest Hemingway. He is a famous American novelist who started as a newspaper writer. His writing is famous for using short sentences made up of short words, yet his writing is intensely evocative and compelling. Indian writers tend to manufacture sentences which are, as you say, "complicated and compound." It's very hard to read. It feels like they are making things overly complex on purpose!

I don't want to say that one style of writing is better than the other, but longer sentences are harder to read. Almost every writer I've worked with could improve the readability of their works by using shorter sentences.

Will the wikipedia link you have provided is so much fun! I will share this with my friends and other Indian members.

Hi,

Great links Will,

Thanks again for this important link.

I am sending this link to my writer who is belong from india and its also very helpful for me.

Thanks

Originally Posted by Netdogz

Hi,

Great links Will,

Thanks again for this important link.

I am sending this link to my writer who is belong from india and its also very helpful for me.

Thanks

No hard feelings do have a look at it yourself also.