An Indian Can Be A "Native English Speaker" Too!

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Way too often, we hear the term "native English speaker" and invariably the notion is seemingly towards nationals of countries like the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand or at the most South Africa.

So in a sense, the allusion seems towards the (presumed) "fact" that nationals of countries other than the ones mentioned above, cannot possibly be "native" to the English language.

This is really such a false notion! I cannot even imagine as to how on Earth did this presumption come along?!

After all, if I take my country, viz. India, there are millions of individuals like me who are very well versed with the English language, to an extent wherein they can read and write fluently in it, without any spelling and grammar issues. Yes, there are some idioms or phrases which a lot of Indians tend to use in a manner as though those phrases and idioms are global to the English language (which they are in fact NOT and purely an Indianized form of usage), but by and large I would say that a very large number of Indians use the English language just as well as nationals from countries I mentioned right in the beginning of this article.

Specific to freelancing, what annoys me to no end is the fact that there are bids on freelance sites which are often declined by clients purely because the freelancer in question happened to be from India, or some such perceived "non native country". This is simply outrageous as well as preposterous in my opinion. 

Nationality and nativity are really TWO DIFFERENT THINGS - and one need not necessarily be correlated to the other. This is an aspect which I had emphatically pointed out in the following video on my freelancing specific YouTube channel, which you can see below:

As you will note, this whole (outright false) assumption around nationals from countries other than the ones I mentioned right at the outset NOT being native to the English language is one which annoys me to no end - and one which I am passionate about to an extent wherein I really would like to try and change the mentality of clients around this aspect.

I want them to realize that they should not write off writers from countries like India, Pakistan among others, simply because they happen to be from these countries. India in particular has a very long "English language legacy" which has come down from the British, over a period spanning centuries.

For instance, I would like to point out that:

• Most official correspondence in India, say at a governmental or administrative level, invariably takes place in the English language.
• Students, including myself (viz. back in the day when I was a "student" in the real sense, although the learning part is of course taking place even till date, and will continue till I am alive) study and learn in the English language, almost entirely. Naturally, by the time they reach college and beyond, they are in a commanding position as far as their comprehension of and comfort with the English language is concerned.
• India has seen Booker Prize winners of the likes of Arundhati Roy, as well as a host of other prize winners in the realm of English language literature.
• The largest circulated English language daily is in fact an Indian one, The Times of India.

There are instances galore...I could simply go on and on.

Fact of the matter is that freelance websites like Elance (to a relatively lesser extent), oDesk, Freelancer, Guru, etc. see job postings with some of the most pathetic pay scales, which in turn leads to freelancers on these sites being some of the most low grade in quality. That is the reason, while it may be (perhaps is) true that English language freelance writers on these sites are not really the best quality, it does not in anyway mean that Indians as a whole are not comfortable or well versed with the English language.

If I take my own instance, if you pay me well, I will gladly work for you and provide you with the best possible quality of output, comparable with the level of output which any other freelancer in any other part of the world could provide you. If you do not pay me well, not that I will NOT provide you good quality work; just that I will work for you grudgingly, or more likely, not work with you at all...

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