# Bangladeshi English

Bangladeshi English is an English accent heavily influenced by the Bengali language and its dialects in Bangladesh. This variety is very common among Bengalis from Bangladesh.
The code-mixed usage of Bengali/Bangla and English is known as Benglish or Banglish. The term Benglish was recorded in 1972, and Banglish slightly later, in 1975.

## Use

Bengali is the sole official and national language of Bangladesh. However, English is often used secondarily in the higher tier of the judiciary in the country. Laws were written in English during the British Raj.
Since the introduction of Bangla Bhasha Procolon Ain, all the laws by parliament and all Ordinances promulgated by the President are being enacted in Bengali in Bangladesh.
There are ten English language newspapers in Bangladesh. English medium schools are also operated in English. Mainly, the people of Bangladeshi descent residing in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the US and students of English medium schools in Bangladesh use Benglish (though the teaching of Standard English is also attempted).
However, upon public demand in 2012, the High Court of Bangladesh banned the use of Benglish, described as a slang mixture of Bengali and English, in radio and television programs "to protect local tongue".
Benglish is a term that has been used in academic papers to describe a mixture of Bangla and English. For example, Benglish verbs are described as a particular type of complex predicate that consists of an English word and a Bengali verb, such as æksiḍenṭ kôra 'to have an accident', in kôra 'to get/come/put in' or kônfyus kôra 'to confuse'.

## History

The East India Company adopted English as the official language of the empire in 1835. Replacement of the Persian language with English was followed by a surge in English language learning among Bengali babus. English remained an official language of the region until 1956 when the first constitution of Pakistan was adopted stating Bengali and Urdu as the official languages of the state following the Bengali language movement from 1947 to 1952.
After independence, Bengali became the sole official language of Bangladesh, and all English-medium universities, schools and colleges were converted to Bengali instruction in order to spread mass education.

## Literature

Bangladeshi English literature (BEL) refers to the body of literary work written in the English language in Bangladesh and the Bangladeshi diaspora. In academia, it is also now referred to as Bangladeshi Writing in English (BWE). Early prominent Bengali writers in English include Ram Mohan Roy, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Begum Rokeya, and Rabindranath Tagore. In 1905, Begum Rokeya (1880–1932) wrote Sultana's Dream, one of the earliest examples of feminist science fiction. Modern writers of the Bangladeshi diaspora include Tahmima Anam, Neamat Imam, Monica Ali, and Zia Haider Rahman.

## Numbering system

The South Asian numbering system is preferred for digit grouping. When written in words, or when spoken, numbers less than 100,000/100 000 are expressed just as they are in Standard English. Numbers including and beyond 100,000 / 100 000 are expressed in a subset of the South Asian numbering system.
Thus, the following scale is used:
| In digits | In words (long and short scales) | In words (South Asian system) |
| 10 | ten | ten |
| 100 | one hundred | one hundred |
| 1,000 | one thousand | one thousand |
| 10,000 | ten thousand | ten thousand |
| 100,000 | one hundred thousand | one lakh |
| 1,000,000 | one million | ten lakh |
| 10,000,000 | ten million | one crore |