Growing Craze in the Use of English in Nepali Public Domains

Abstract

English in Nepal is taken as a foreign language but ground reality shows that it is one of the primary and dominant languages, which is extensively used in various spheres such as academic institutions, technology, business, tourism, social gatherings, and daily lives. This study attempts to analyze the growing craze in the use of English in Nepali public domains. We collected qualitative data from both primary and secondary sources. We purposively selected names of academic institutions, public vehicles, persons, places and things, Nepali movies, two billboards, one text from the social media, two teachers as well as our own experiences. The result reveals that there has been a growing craze in the use of English in Nepali discourses and public domains, along with code-mixing in speech and writing. Extensive use of English in naming, academic institutions, media, and everyday discourses justify that English is growing as a primary and dominant language in Nepal. Therefore, this study suggests that it is necessary to reassess the status and functions of English in Nepal and give it an official status.

Semantic Volte Face of English Words in Nepal

“…Such shifts in meaning can also be found in other varieties of English. Dewan and Saud (2022) analyzed the growing craze in the use of English in Nepali public domains, and found that there has been a growing craze in the use of English in Nepali discourses and public domains, along with code-mixing in speech and writing. Similarly, Saud's (2022) study discussed the phenomenon of mixing multilingual terms in Nepali folk pop songs and the reasons for mixing such codes from other languages, and found that the young generation is mostly attracted towards the folk pop songs with code mixing, and such songs become popular among the youths due to their multilingual flavour.…”

Head Teachers’ Ideologies Behind English Medium Instruction in the Community Schools

“…Therefore, I wondered why the use of English is spreading so fast in educational institutions. At the same time, Dewan and Saud (2022) encouraged me to work more on the growing craze of English in public schools.…”

On liberation of English from purist pundithood through nativization in Nepal

“…Because of the growing craze of English in all socio-economic and educational sectors, Giri (2015: 95) claimed that "English in Nepal has been anything but a foreign language". It is the second most widespread language after Nepali (Eagle 1999), a primary language in various sectors (Adhikari 2018;Dewan & Saud 2022;Giri 2020a), and one of the local languages in Nepal (Giri 2020b). Along with the roles or functions of English, its forms have also changed with the contact of local languages.…”