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Working with Indians? Get ready to ‘do the needful’ and complete ‘chotu motu’ tasks
After working with Indian coworkers, foreign employers share phrases commonly used by Indians.
Indians working with multinational corporations often have to work with foreign clients and managers, which sometimes leads to amusing results. For instance, X user John recently shared how working with Indian colleagues made him say "today morning" in a meeting. The correct phrase, of course, is “this morning” - but Indians often use “today morning” while speaking. This is just one example of the many Indianisms that characterise the unique form of English spoken in India.
“I’ve had Indian coworkers for so long I just said “today morning” in stand up,” X user John posted earlier this week.
Take a look at the post here:
Since the post went viral with over 2.7 million views, users started sharing their mixed opinions. Some X users started sharing other phrases that Indians use, such as "doing the needful".
While a user supported Indians by saying "For most Indians, it's 3rd or 4th language".
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Here's how people reacted to the post:
One user named Mahesh Balakrishnan pointed out how Shakespeare himself had used the phrase “today morning.”
"I should have given it to you today morning, but as a madman’s epistles are no gospels, so it skills not much when they are delivered. — Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, decidedly not Indian,” Balakrishnan wrote.
A second user, Shreya Pattar, commented, “Haha well in Hindi for example we say ‘aaj subah…’ which literally translates into ‘today morning’ - I guess that’s where it comes from.”
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Some shared how their own language had been affected by working with Indians. Christina MacDonald Sikand, shared a post with the caption, "Today I told my French boss that I had "a lot of chotu motu tasks" to finish...Having an Indian spouse and trying to raise a Hindi-speaking bebe has left me messy at best."
This viral post was shared on August 26, 2024, and since then, the post has gained 2.6 million views and 340 comments.
