TL;DR: Some words Indian English speakers use in interviews are true fillers — "basically," "actually," "like," "you know," "I mean," a "so" that opens every sentence. Others aren't fillers at all; they're ordinary Indian English grammar — "only," "itself," "means," "na," "haan," "matlab," "toh" — that a panel trained on a different variety of English may still read as noise. Nobody can hear their own fillers reliably without a recording. This guide covers both lists and the routine for catching yours.
You cannot hear your own filler words while you're speaking. This isn't a discipline problem — it's how speech production works. Your attention is on meaning while you talk, not on the surface form of every word leaving your mouth, so the "um" or the "so basically" slips out and past your own notice at the same time. The only reliable fix is hearing a recording of yourself, which is also where a second, more specific problem shows up: not every word that sounds like a filler to an interview panel actually is one.
Which Words Are True Fillers in Indian English?
These are the words doing no grammatical work — they can be deleted from the sentence and nothing about the meaning changes. In practice, they show up doing one of two jobs: buying time while you find the next word, or softening a sentence so it doesn't sound too blunt.
- "Basically" — opens an explanation that didn't need one. "Basically, I worked on the backend" says the same thing as "I worked on the backend."
- "Actually" — works as a throat-clear before a sentence, not as a signal of genuine contrast or correction.
- "Like" — used as a placeholder mid-sentence, unrelated to its role as a comparison word.
- "You know" — dropped in as a check-in with the listener, more habit than question.
- "I mean" — used to restart a sentence that's already underway, rather than to clarify something.
- A "so" that opens every new sentence — one "so" transitions well; a "so" at the start of five sentences in a row starts to read as a stall.
None of these carry meaning on their own. Cutting them doesn't change what you're saying — it just makes the sentence arrive faster.
Which Words Are Grammar, Not Fillers — But Sound Like Fillers to an Outside Panel?
This list is different, and it's worth being precise about the difference. These words are doing real grammatical work in Indian English — they're standard constructions, not slips — but a panel trained on American or British English patterns, or an AI system trained mostly on those varieties, may still flag them as noise because the pattern isn't one it recognizes.
- "Only," as emphasis — "I am from Pune only" uses "only" to emphasize the place, a standard Indian English construction, not the restrictive "only" of "I have only one pen."
- "Itself" — "I'll do it today itself" emphasizes immediacy; it isn't the reflexive "itself" of "the machine itself was broken."
- "Means" — used as a connector between an idea and its restatement, doing work closer to "that is" than to true filler.
- "Na," "haan," "matlab," "toh" — discourse markers borrowed from Hindi that manage the rhythm of a sentence or check in with the listener, playing a role similar to "right?" or "you know?" in other English varieties.
These aren't errors, and they aren't a reason to feel self-conscious about how you speak. The practical reality is narrower: in a formal interview with a panel unfamiliar with Indian English, a cluster of them can read as informal or as hesitation, even though nothing about the sentence is actually wrong. Knowing which list a word belongs to is what lets you make that call deliberately instead of guessing.
Why Can't You Hear Your Own Fillers?
Fillers are produced automatically, below the level of conscious monitoring — your brain is managing word choice, grammar, and the listener's reaction all at once, and the filler slips out while your attention is on the content of what you're saying, not its surface form. This is also why a friend or a panel hears your fillers as they happen, while your own attention stays on the content: they're listening to you, and you're thinking through you. A recording closes that gap because it lets you listen back the way someone else hears you the first time.
What's the Recording Routine That Actually Catches Them?
- Record two minutes of you answering a real interview question, out loud, at the pace you'd actually use.
- Play it back once for content only — don't hunt for fillers yet, just listen to whether the answer makes sense.
- Play it back a second time and mark every filler you hear, writing down the actual word each time rather than just a tally mark.
- Sort what you marked into the two lists above. Some entries are true fillers worth cutting outright; others might be grammar you don't need to change, only be aware of in a formal setting.
- Re-record the same answer, focused only on the true fillers. Don't try to fix everything on the same pass.
Does SpeakUp Catch Both Kinds?
Only part of the first group, and it's worth being precise about which part rather than implying more than is true. SpeakUp's filler detector currently flags "basically," "actually," and "you know." It does not currently flag "like" or "I mean," and a sentence-opening "so" isn't treated as a filler at all — the detector reads "so" as a transition word, not a stall. None of the second list — "only," "itself," "means," "na," "haan," "matlab," "toh" — is flagged either, because folding ordinary Indian English grammar into a filler count would misrepresent your speech rather than describe it. For anything the detector doesn't catch yet, the marking routine above is still the way to do it by ear. Practice it now to see what it counts today.
FAQ
Is it wrong to use words like "only" or "itself" the Indian English way?
No. They're correct, standard constructions in Indian English, not mistakes. The only reason to think about them at all is that a panel unfamiliar with the variety might misread a cluster of them as hesitation in a formal interview — that's a question of audience, not correctness.
How many filler words is too many in an interview answer?
There's no fixed number that applies to everyone, because it depends on the length and pace of your answer. A better test than counting is playback: if you notice the fillers yourself on a second listen, before you've even started hunting for them, a panel will notice them too.
Should I try to eliminate every filler word completely?
No — a completely filler-free answer can read as stiff and over-rehearsed instead of natural. The goal is noticing which ones cluster in your speech and cutting the worst offenders, not reaching zero.
Why do fillers get worse when I'm nervous?
Nervousness adds pressure to find the next word quickly, and fillers are exactly what fills that gap while your brain searches. The fix isn't willpower in the moment — it's enough practice beforehand that the words come more easily, which leaves less of a gap for a filler to fill.
Hearing your own speech accurately is the hardest part of fixing it — not because the fix is complicated, but because you're the one person in the room who can't hear it live. Record, mark, sort into the two lists, and cut only what's actually a filler. For the structure to build your interview answers around in the first place, tell me about yourself in 60 seconds and HR round questions for freshers cover the rest of the round.
Practice free: SpeakUp's placement interview practice.