Did you know the informal word for man or fellow – Bloke comes from the Indian word loke? Or even the longest word that can be spelt without repeating a letter is Uncopyrightable. It’s it fun to know these small things from our daily usage in the English language?
India has the second highest number of English-speaking community but the language is still alien for many. Even though, speaking incorrect English is perceived as embarrassing. Where regional languages are in vogue, a lot of vocabulary and grammar errors slip into an average speaker.
Speaking and writing English as a non-native speaker has its own set of problems. Errors come in many forms and can easily confuse. Some common mistakes are with tenses, preposition, spelling, punctuation and parts of speech. For example, if someone asks you “What is you’re name?” Tell him: “Replace you’re with your. Then I’ll tell you?”
We all grew up watching Zabaan Sambhalke or Mind Your Language. These TV shows not only gave us entertainment but also, taught us various things about languages (Hindi and English).
One definite and best way to improve English is to read the newspaper and good books. Nowadays there are a lot of handy applications and programs available to learn English in an interesting way. But there is another fun way to improve English, that is, The English Nut, available on Facebook, Instagram and Youtube channel.
The English Nut, a project by Sumanto Chattopadhyay, takes a humorous approach to provide nuggets of knowledge about the English language. Its focus is on the quirks of Indian English.
Through witty videos and memes, the page traces the Indian origin of many English words, correct common English errors made by Indians, provides useful tips on English usage and highlights interesting facts about the language. The main idea is to make people smile while learning something in the bargain.
Sumanto, whose day job is as a creative director in advertising, started The English Nut in January 2019.
“For me, the English language is a passion. I'm a grammar nazi, when I hear people making mistake I always want to correct them. The other part is I love words. I love to gain knowledge of the origin of words. There are many English words that are originated in India. I always try to find that out. This subject has always been an area of interest.” Sumanto says, adding, “Apart from working in advertising, I love to do acting and writing scripts as well. I have been thinking about this idea for a very long time. In 2018, I made a resolution to combine my three passions of English, acting and script writing. So I started this channel called the English nuts.”
He terms this project as ‘edutainment’, a term that combines entertainment and education, “I was very clear that The English nut, while it was about teaching something interesting to people had to be very entertaining as well. So as a creative person that was my motivation for doing it. I keep on observing what typical mistakes my friends and colleagues are making and then I start making a note for it. He added.
Recalling his childhood, Sumanto says, “I was born in the UK when I was a few weeks old my parents left for India. But then again, when I was 6-7 year old we were back to the UK, Manchester. When I was in India, learning in Calcutta school I remember learning c.a.t – cat, b.a.t- bat. And then suddenly when we were shifted to Manchester school, my experience was completely different. I can still picture myself sitting in a classroom, I remember I wassitting quietly for at least 2-3 weeks because everybody was talking and I couldn’t follow them properly, and I just suddenly one day I just started speaking in English. Out of nowhere, I just absorbed all the English words and started speaking nonstop after that.” Rest is history.
