[autoexec]

It's interesting to see where it came from, but why does it persist? Is consuming English language media and the largest internet sites uncommon for English speaking people in India? I imagine I'd notice pretty quickly that English speakers in TV, movies, and on youtube, don't speak the way they did in the 1800s.

[jtrip]

So, India inherited the British civil services system wholesale. The formal pseudo legal language used in the system, instituted by the British, continued. It was different enough from the language taught in schools that when someone was exposed to it or had to use it tried to conform to it's idiosyncrasies.

Over time, isolated from the cultural changes happening to the English world, it developed in it's own way. Like the albino and blind animals evolved in the seclusion of an isolated cave system.

Today, the best way to observe this secluded language branch is to read official Indian government announcements.

It has started to meld back into the main branch [0][1] as younger and younger, more exposed to the global English culture, take over responsibilities.

[0] https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetailm.aspx?PRID=1888208

[1] https://indianrailways.gov.in/railwayboard/uploads/directora...

[bryanrasmussen]

>I imagine I'd notice pretty quickly that English speakers in TV, movies, and on youtube, don't speak the way they did in the 1800s.

What about English speakers in Indian TV, movies, and on YouTube - which I assume might be more popular fare for an Indian audience?

[raincom]

Most of the IT workers in India pick up English from colleagues, bosses, etc, not so much from the English media.