Pakistani English vs. International English: What to Keep, What to Change
Pakistani English is a real variety, not a broken one. The question is whether your audience will understand it. Here is how to decide, with a table of common expressions and safer alternatives.
It is not "wrong" English, but it is not the same English everywhere
English in Pakistan has developed its own vocabulary, phrases and habits, as English has in India, Nigeria, Singapore, Jamaica and many other places. A lot of what people call "mistakes" are in fact normal, consistent features of a regional variety. Inside Pakistan, most of them are understood perfectly well and nobody blinks.
The problem is only about audience. Some expressions mean something different elsewhere, some are unknown outside South Asia, and some are just padding. If your listener or reader is an IELTS examiner, an international interviewer, a university admissions office abroad or a remote client, the more widely understood form is the safer choice. If you are talking to friends and colleagues in Lahore, use whatever works.
This guide does not tell you to abandon your English. It gives you a list of common expressions, what they can be misread as, and a safer alternative, so that you can choose consciously.
A three-question test
- Would someone from another country understand it? If the word is unknown outside South Asia (prepone), they may not.
- Does it mean something different elsewhere? Passed out and doubt are the classic cases.
- Is it padding? Phrases like kindly do the needful or revert back add words without adding meaning.
If the answer to any of these is yes, consider the alternative in the table below when the audience is international.
Expressions to know
| You may say | You mean | Possible problem elsewhere | Safer version |
|---|---|---|---|
| "I passed out from UET in 2024." | I graduated. | Elsewhere "pass out" means to faint. (In British English "passing out" is also used for finishing military training, which adds confusion.) | "I graduated from UET in 2024." |
| "I have a doubt." | I have a question. | "Doubt" suggests you are skeptical or suspicious. | "I have a question." / "I'm not sure about..." |
| "Can we prepone the meeting?" | Move it to an earlier time. | Widely used in South Asia, but not a word many speakers elsewhere know. | "Can we move the meeting earlier?" / "bring it forward" |
| "My cousin brother is a doctor." | My (male) cousin. | "Cousin" already covers male and female, so the extra word sounds redundant, or confusing, to those who do not know the expression. | "My cousin is a doctor." (add "he/she" or "male cousin" if needed) |
| "Please revert back to me." | Please reply. | "Revert" means return to a previous state, and "back" repeats it. | "Please get back to me." / "Please reply." |
| "Kindly do the needful." | Please take the necessary action. | Vague and old-fashioned; many readers find it stiff or puzzling. | Say what you need: "Could you send me the signed form by Friday?" |
| "Myself Ali." | I'm Ali. | "Myself" is not used as a subject in standard English. | "I'm Ali." / "My name is Ali." |
| "What is your good name?" | What is your name? | Sounds unusually formal or stilted. | "What's your name?" |
| "I'll come tomorrow only." / "I met him yesterday only." | I'll come tomorrow itself (as early as tomorrow). / I met him just yesterday. | From Urdu hi (emphasis). Elsewhere "only" after a time word does not carry that emphasis; it can sound like a limit or a sales promotion ("today only"). | "I'll come as early as tomorrow." / "I only met him yesterday." / "It was just yesterday that I met him." |
| "Do one thing, call him." | Here's a suggestion: call him. | Sounds like an odd, abrupt instruction. | "Why don't you call him?" / "I'd suggest calling him." |
| "He is out of station." | He is out of town. | Many speakers elsewhere would think of a railway station. | "He is out of town." |
| "It was just time pass." | It was just to pass the time. | Not standard. | "It was just something to pass the time." |
| "Let's eat at the hotel." | Let's eat at the restaurant. | Elsewhere a hotel is a place to stay. | "Let's eat at the restaurant." |
| "The current went." / "There is load shedding." | There is a power cut. | "Load shedding" is understood in South Asia and South Africa; "current" for electricity is not widely understood outside South Asia. | "The power went out." / "There's a power cut." |
| "You are coming, isn't it?" | You are coming, aren't you? | Non-standard fixed tag. | "You're coming, aren't you?" |
Letters, emails and forms: a different set of habits
A lot of English taught in Pakistani schools comes from a formal letter-writing tradition that can read as extremely deferential or old-fashioned today. This matters if you are applying abroad or emailing an international company.
| Traditional | Modern international email |
|---|---|
| "Respected Sir, I humbly request you to kindly grant me leave." | "Dear Dr Ahmed, I'd like to request leave from 10 to 12 March." |
| "Yours obediently" (application letters) | "Kind regards" or "Best regards" |
| "Please do the needful at the earliest." | "Could you confirm by Thursday?" |
| "With due respect, Sir, I disagree." | "I see it a little differently. Here's why..." |
Address forms are another difference. In many workplaces and universities in the UK, the US, Canada and Australia, people use first names or "Dr Khan" rather than "Sir" or "Madam". If you are not sure, copy how the other person signs their own emails.
Which situations call for which version
| Situation | Recommended |
|---|---|
| IELTS, TOEFL or similar tests | International standard. The tests are designed to be taken by candidates from every country. |
| Interviews with international companies; remote clients | International standard for anything that could be misread. |
| University applications, scholarship essays, statements of purpose | International standard. |
| Local workplace, classroom, friends | Your choice. Local usage is normal. |
| Mixed audience (some Pakistani, some international) | Use the version everyone will understand. |
What about mixing Urdu words into English?
Switching between Urdu and English in the middle of a sentence (called code-switching) is completely natural among people who share both languages. Words without a good English equivalent (paratha, dupatta, iftar, mohalla, chai) are fine in English speech and writing; just make clear from context what they mean. In an exam or interview, though, stay in English so that you are heard at your best, and avoid Urdu fillers like matlab or yaani. If you catch yourself reaching for one, a short pause or "what I mean is..." works in English.
Keep your accent, choose your words
The point of this guide is not to make you sound British or American. It is to give you a choice: the same idea can be expressed in a way that a wider set of people will understand immediately. Someone who can move between "prepone" with friends and "bring forward" with an international client has more range, not less identity.
FAQ
Will using "prepone" or "cousin brother" lose me marks in IELTS?
There is no published list of banned words, and nobody outside the test can tell you how a particular examiner will treat a particular word. What the public descriptors reward is precise, natural, accurate vocabulary. A widely understood alternative removes the guesswork, so if you are preparing for a test it is the lower-risk choice, especially in writing where the reader cannot ask what you meant.
Is Pakistani English "incorrect" in general?
No. It is a variety of English with its own consistent patterns, in the same way British, Australian and Indian English are varieties. The question is not "correct or incorrect" but "understood by this audience or not".
How do I know whether a phrase I use is local or standard?
Search for the phrase in quotation marks alongside the words "meaning" or "usage", check whether a mainstream dictionary lists it and how it labels it (dictionaries mark regional usage), or ask someone from another English-speaking country. If it is labelled Indian or South Asian English, or not found at all, treat it as local.
Speak & Fix corrects your sentences in conversation and saves the standard versions as flashcards, so you can build a set of alternatives you can switch to whenever your audience is international. Try a conversation.