View of A STUDY ON THE OVERUSE OF ENGLISH ON INDIAN CONSUMER PRODUCTS

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ACCENT JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS ECOLOGY & ENGINEERING

Peer Reviewed and Refereed Journal IMPACT FACTOR: 2.104 (INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL) UGC APPROVED NO. 48767, (ISSN NO. 2456-1037)

Vol. 02, Issue 09,September 2017 Available Online: www.ajeee.co.in/index.php/AJEEE

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A STUDY ON THE OVERUSE OF ENGLISH ON INDIAN CONSUMER PRODUCTS

Dr. Jitendra Rathi

Associate Professor English, Government Degree College BB Nagar Bulandshahr

Abstract- The study assumes that the current Indian consumer market has too much English for consumer product logos, captions, and usage. To test this hypothesis, the purpose of this study was to assess the level of English usage for four major types of consumer products (convenience, shopping, specialty, and undesirable). To achieve the above goals, this study used direct observation and content analysis as the two main data collection tools. Fifty-five consumer goods were randomly selected for study testing. For data analysis, the study used descriptive statistics. This study revealed some notable facts and discoveries. This is the main result of the study. (I) English has proved to be the most widely used language not only for logos and branding, but also for explaining how to use the product, as 93% of the products use English. (Ii) Most popular spice brands such as MDH and Everest advertise their products in multiple languages. (Iii) Almost all FMCG companies and advertisers use both English and Romnagri (Latin in Hindi) for product localization and most important globalization purposes.

Keywords: Consumer goods, consumption, Indian market, convenience, shopping, specialty, undesirable.

1. INTRODUCTION

India is a museum of 1721 languages according to the Census of India (2011), but the study found that the current Indian consumer market makes heavy use of English for logos, captions and how to use consumer products. I'm assuming.

The need for the use of English in the Indian market is increasing as globalization is a daily occurrence, but it is also the national society that Romnagri (Hindi in Latin) suppresses this Devanagari. It puts your linguistic identity at risk.

1.1 Objectives of the Study

Assessing the degree of using English on four major types (convenience, shopping, speciality, and unsought) of consumer products for logos, captions, and directions for use.

To attain the objective set above, the study poses a pertinent research question below.

1.2 Questions of the Study

What is the degree of using English on consumer products in terms of their logos, captions, and directions-for-use?

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

Given the novelty of research topics, there is a great lack of sufficient literature, as few researchers shed light on the topic under discussion. It is important to note that neither the advertising field nor the marketing field touches on the current topic of assessing the level of use of English and other Indian languages in Indian consumer products. However, this section sets the theoretical assumptions that you can approach the above research questions with appropriate justifications, hypotheses, and supporting ideas. Some of the literature selected for the current study is "Understanding Indian Culture is the Key to Business" by Smith (2014) and

"Strong Brands and Local Languages" by Mayflower (2015). Conflict between”,

“Language as Consumer Law India”, Hegde (2016),“ Advertising and Marketing in Rural India ”: Language, Culture, Communication“ Bhatia (2007) ”, Global Marketing Guide: India. For example,

"United Language Group" by Norvet (2016) and "Potential and Benefits of Language Localization in India" by Recalde (2016).

Indian Language Diversity is commonly known as the 1721 Language

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2 Museum (Census, 2011). This seems to make it difficult for both Indian and multinational companies to enter the Indian market. However, the Constitution of India, in its eighth appendix, identifies 22 official languages in 11 different scriptures. Now, looking at the use of these languages in consumer products, we can see that Indian packaging and labeling regulations require English and Hindi. To promote Hindi and regional languages in consumer products, the Ministry of HRD has stated that all goods and products sold domestically will be immediately in Hindi and another regional language, regardless of where they are manufactured. Suggested that labels and instructions could be attached (Chopra, 2016).

To confirm the impact of the HRD Ministry's proposal, this study directly examines 100 products from four major genera (convenience, specialty, shopping, and unnecessary) and the language in which they are used (logo). Brands, and instructions. All four types of consumer goods should be briefly described as follows:

Convenience products are consumer products that customers purchase on a regular and frequent basis.

Convenience products primarily include household items such as hand soaps, laundry detergents, groceries, magazines, sugar, toothpaste and personal care products. Tokusanhin are consumer goods that are highly selective to customers and are relatively expensive products. Specialty products include luxury luxury cars, Rolls-Royce cars, photographic equipment, Rolex watches and expensive champagne. Shoppers are more interested in psychological benefits than convenient products, so they buy less often. I'm worried because they are more expensive. Such products include briefcases, clothing, personal services, electronic products, home appliances and more. Items that are not searched are items that were purchased unexpectedly.

Products not searched include life

insurance, funeral preparations, thesauruses, etc. (Claessens, 2015).

3. METHODOLOGY

For this study, a quantitative method was adopted as the first and second research questions required gathering quantitative data.

3.1 Methods of Data Collection and Analysis

The study used direct observation and content analysis as two primary data gathering tools. The study used descriptive statistics to analyse quantitative data gathered in response to the research question. The descriptive statistics used only percentile scale to show the degree of using English language used on the consumer products.

4. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

This section discusses the findings by presenting the statistical figure of using English on four major types of consumer products, namely: convenience, specialty, shopping, and unsought in terms of percentage; secondly, it also presents the degree of using English for three distinct variables namely logo, brand-caption, and instructions separately.

4.1 The Degree of Using English on Consumer Products

Answering the research question, the researcher took front and back side photos of 55 consumer products in order to see what language(s) were used for three distinct variables: logo, brand- caption, and instructions for the products. Before we see the degree of language use for the stated three variables, it is desirable to see the degree of using different languages for four types of consumer products.

Analysis of the bar graph (Figure 1) reveals 10 prominent facts about language usage levels.

1. With an average percentage of products using English of 82%,

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3 Hindi was found to be the next most widely used language, not only for logos and branding, but also for how to use the product.

2. Baba Ram Dev, Shri Ravi Shankar, and other indigenous and natural products of Ayurvedic products always use English and Hindi to display product instructions.

3. Most popular spice brands such as MDH and Everest advertise their products in several languages.

4. For cosmetics, be sure to use English for your logo and specifications.

5. The study found that English was used more in marketing and promoting products in India and other countries than in Hindi and other regional languages. The results also proved that the number of non-native speakers is higher than the number of native speakers because non-native speakers can speak English and therefore use English for marketing and advertising.

6. Almost all FMCG companies and advertisers use both English and Romnagri for product localization and, most importantly, globalization.

7. The date of manufacture and expiration date are always in English.

8. The English levels used for convenience, specialty, shopping, and unsolicited product logos are 95%, 99%, 95%, and 55%, respectively. On the other hand, the English levels used for branding the same product are 95%, 97%, 99%

and 65%, respectively.

9. The English levels of the instruction manual are 70%, 95%, 98% and 65%, respectively. This means that English is once again the main language, with an average of 82 when it comes to writing instruction manuals. Percentages of products with instruction manuals were found in English.

10. English (Roman numerals) takes precedence over writing Hindi brand names. One such approach to writing Hindi using English/Romaji is called Romnagri here. The use of Romnagri poses a threat to Devnagri Lipi.

5. CONCLUSION

To answer a single survey question, this article presents 10 key findings on the degree of English usage of logos, captions, and how to use consumer goods. Needless to say, English remains the main language in the Indian consumer market.

Given this scenario, if Indian consumers want to accept English or Romnaguri as the Indian marketing language, it contradicts Indian interests and blatantly and undermines Indian culture and identity. Nevertheless, the debate about the use of language from a sociolinguistic point of view remains unresolved. In conclusion, it is time for Indian consumers to move forward in English while maintaining the linguistic holiness of their native language not only for the socio-economic growth of the country but also for sociolinguistic growth.

REFERENCES

1. Bhatia, T. K. (2007). “Advertising & Marketing in Rural India”: Language, Culture, and Communication. Laxmi Publications.

2. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (2011).

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India from

http://old.fssai.gov.in/Portals/0/Pdf/Food%

20Safety%20and%20standards%20%28Packa ging%20and%20Labelling%29%20regulation,

%202011.pdf

3. Mayflower (2015). The Conflict between a Strong Brand and Local Language. from https://www.mayflowerlanguages.com/the- conflict-between-a-strong-brand-and-local- language/

4. Hegde, V. (2016). Language as a Consumer Right in India. from

http://info.moravia.com/blog/language-as-a- consumer-right-in-india-yes-the-day-is-near- deep-dive

5. Norvet, A. (2016). Global Marketing Guides:

India | United Language Group. from http://unitedlanguagegroup.com/stories/edit orials/global-marketing-guides-india/

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6. Recalde, D. (2016). The Potential and Benefits of Language Localization in India. from https://www.daytranslations.com/blog/2016

/11/potential-benefits-language-localization- india-8078.