Chennai is caught in the throes of a cosmopolitan makeover; winds of change are sweeping the city -- food, culture and language habits are being redefined, and this change is both driven by the residents and the individuals settling or working here.
The zeal to pick up the English language is the most apparent. Doctors, engineers, college students, housewives, BPO aspirants, stenographers and numerous others have realised how the knowledge of English can make a huge difference to their personal and work lives.
They have been scrambling to enroll themselves for short-term and long-term courses in English at about 40-60 odd institutes in Chennai. Most of these English teaching institutes have only recently sprung up to cater to the growing need.
The courses range from two weeks to two months and cost anything between Rs 1,000 and Rs 4,000. The batch timings at these institutes are flexible allowing even those who are working to be able to attend the courses.
Founded in 1981, Veta offers two kinds of courses - distance education and direct class coaching. The direct coaching class main training centre has more than 500 students studying at any given time.
It has trained over 2.10 lakh students since 1996 at its 76 franchisees in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Pondicherry.
The external wing of the academy is involved in teaching communicative skills in English to employees and students in hotels, hospitals, schools and colleges in Southern India. It also has regular on-going projects with MNCs for teaching English to their employees, according to information available on its website.
"We train our students in English fluency, grammar, group discussions and role play to nurture interview skills. Our course is only for individuals interested in honing their verbal skills, there is even a module in business English," said Shankar, founder, Speak Easy.
He further remarked that a large number of individuals who sign up the for the 48-hour course spread over two months are graduates and engineers who want to upgrade their English speaking skills.
Words Work another English training institute, which is part of Advanced Learning Institute has three separate courses which teach basic, intermediate and advanced English skills.
"We usually take on a batch of not more than 20 students and train them both in verbal and written skills. There are also modules on personality development, inter-personal skills, negotiating skills. We also work on neutralising accents which are influenced by the mother tongue," said R K Menon, CEO, Words Work.
Some of the institutes are run by colleges like the one run by SSK College of Technology which trains individuals in written, verbal and reading skills. The college charges Rs 3,000 for a three-month course.
Knowledge of English has become even more important as there has been a huge influx of both domestic and international immigrants who are here on short and permanent stays.
Most of these individuals do not speak the local language and prefer English as the language of choice for communication. They work in a variety of industries including banking, IT and ITeS, bio-tech, retail, auto and hotels.
The knowledge of English also assumes importance as one of the key differentiators in the on going battle between Bangalore and Chennai to attract new IT, ITeS, telecom and other companies setting up shop in Chennai.
The message for Chennai is clear, the word for the day is English - spread the word.