most Chinese people don't know english.

True - the number of people in India who speak English fluently is about 20 million out of 1 billion. Its a big advantage for those that can speak it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...total_speakers

From what I understand most government, university and major commerce is conducted in English!
Please correct me if I am wrong but this is from a reliable (Indian) source
Bodes well for strong, generic names.

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.IN is where its at!!

Absolutely. Most big company and university websites don't even have local language translations. Thats likely to change in the future, but English is definitely the key language for the middle-upper classes.

Yes certainly, I think this is one of the 'key' issues that many investors in the Indian space are counting on... I know that I am.

I've focused a lot of time and effort on common English terms and phrases, especially ones used in business and Internet.

Hello InForum ;D

It also makes things very interesting when you look at the phrases that English Speaking Indians use.

Just look at the difference between American English and, English-English. I think it's very important to keep in mind the dialectical differences also.

Right. Many Indians speak (or write) English even better than average American or English people do.

Wellkom 2 INForum, billion, thanx 4 joynin us!

Also, in addition to considering the nuances of how Indians have taken British English and made it their own, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinglish

# "Dad, time kya hua hai?" (Dad, what is the time right now?).
# "I have hazaar things on my mind right now." (I have a thousand of things on my mind right now.)
# "He's a postwalla" (he works in a post office)
# "Kiss my hote." (hote = lips)
# "I've a feeling, August, you're going to get hazaar f***ed in Madna."

But you will understand that yours interlocutor is an Indian because the majority of Indians pay only a little attention to the pronunciation of the English words but their grammar is perfect almost all the time.