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Why isn’t Hindi a "popular" language? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| elvisrules Tetraglot Senior Member BelgiumRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5473 days ago 286 posts - 390 votes  Speaks: French, English*, Dutch, Flemish Studies: Lowland Scots, Japanese, German | Message 57 of 197 16 January 2010 at 1:46pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Why ludicrous? Those harsh rural accents are often remnants of much older forms of the language, and probably much less bastardized by language mixing. I usually find them to be a very rich form of the language.
If you're having trouble with Indians switching back to English, try calling a small Indian company. I used to have to contact many in an old job and they often couldn't speak English and would keep on asking "Hindi? Hindi? Hindi?". 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Impiegato Triglot Senior Member Sweden bsntranslation. Joined 5437 days ago 100 posts - 145 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, Italian Studies: Spanish, French, Russian | Message 58 of 197 16 January 2010 at 4:09pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I can see that a negotiation between a Westerner and an Indian has to be conducted in English, but not why it is necessary between two Indians (as far as none of them comes from one of the southern federal states). It was mentioned that speaking English is regarded as a sign of education and upper classes in society. Is there terminology in all fields of science, for example biochemistry, engineering, meteorology, maritime issues and all parts of business and economics?
The problem may be the lack of old literature. Is it true that the first books in Hindi were written and printed about only 100 years ago? The literary tradition of a language is probably important for its status and position in society. Are there many authors who write in Hindi nowadays? From this discussion I have gotten the impression that Hindi is considered a little bit rural or primarily used among friends and in family. On the other hand I have read that people in many regions speak smaller languages with their relatives and use Hindi as a lingua franca on a federal level. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| zerothinking Senior Member Australia Joined 6376 days ago 528 posts - 772 votes Speaks: English* | Message 59 of 197 17 January 2010 at 8:47am | IP Logged | |||||
Indian bashing has nothing to do with me or my preference for languages that enable me to talk to people from countries I find interesting and who are populated with women I find attractive. So don't thank me, mate. Edited by zerothinking on 17 January 2010 at 8:49am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| nadia Triglot Groupie Russian Federation Joined 5518 days ago 50 posts - 98 votes Speaks: Russian*, English, French Studies: Hindi | Message 60 of 197 17 January 2010 at 10:46am | IP Logged | |||||
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I'd love to learn Hindi... As I think Indian culture is outstanding and just fascinating, though I have to admit I don't know all that much about it. Just yesterday I was re-watching my fave Indian film -- Main Hoon Na and thought I'd love to understand every word they're saying/singing (though the Russian voice-over was excellent and funny), it's so beautiful. I'm not what you'd call a huge Bollywood fan, I've only seen about 5 Indian films in my life... But Main Hoon Na and Shahrukh Khan might just finally induce me to undertake learning Hindi...
I noticed that they spoke English quite a lot in the film and not always correctly... For instance, they often said "Avoid it" with the meaning "forget it", I s'pose, which I don't think I've ever seen/heard used by native English speakers. Or "finish the song" instead of "stop singing". Edited by nadia on 17 January 2010 at 10:48am 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| lerner Groupie Germany Joined 5822 days ago 51 posts - 79 votes Speaks: Hindi* Studies: EnglishC2, GermanC1, Spanish, Dutch | Message 61 of 197 17 January 2010 at 12:43pm | IP Logged | |||||
The think the reason why meetings even between Indians are conducted in English is because of the fact that most people simply don't possess a wide enough Hindi vocabulary, so as to be able to converse almost entirely using Hindi words. And constantly switching between English and Hindi is a bit odd, sometimes even a bit annoying. So people, especially while conducting business meetings at the higher levels of an organisation, stick to English as the medium of communication. However when you come to team meetings within an office, colleagues do converse with one another in Hindi (or whatever the local language in that area is) almost always. I believe that the widespread use of English has more to do with accommodating people whose native language isn't Hindi than any sort of prestige being associated with English. The latter might have been true while India was still under British occupation or shortly afterwards, but with rising literacy rates, the "upper class" notion associated with English is steadily declining. You make a very good point concerning the vocabulary. I'm an engineer, so I can definitely say that as far as engineers go, English terms are quite common. Even if the Hindi terms for things like Stress, Strain or Fatigue exist, they've long disappeared into oblivion.
Well, even the Hindi spoken in movies is sometimes always not that correct in case the actor plays an Indian from the southern or north-eastern parts of India. That sort of English is there because it supposed to be incorrect, amusing or maybe even downright ludicrous. However that doesn't mean that Indians not in movies are speaking particularly good English. Edited by lerner on 17 January 2010 at 12:46pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
 Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5851 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map | Message 62 of 197 17 January 2010 at 12:57pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Very interesting post, lerner. It makes clear to me how the business usage of English versus Hindi is in India. I never really understood at which occasions Indians use English and at which occasions they use the native Indian languages. This post has given me more insight.
Fasulye Edited by Fasulye on 17 January 2010 at 1:01pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| nadia Triglot Groupie Russian Federation Joined 5518 days ago 50 posts - 98 votes Speaks: Russian*, English, French Studies: Hindi | Message 63 of 197 17 January 2010 at 12:58pm | IP Logged | |||||
Oh, yes, why didn't I think about it? Of course that must be it. And I was wondering why the English spoken in the film was a bit strange and couldn't they get somebody to check that everything is right. :) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Deji Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5444 days ago 116 posts - 182 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Hindi, Bengali | Message 64 of 197 17 January 2010 at 11:21pm | IP Logged | |||||
If I just hear what they say it could be interesting. But if I imitate them my Calcutta friends would laugh at me! And do imitations. I think the rural issue depends where you are and how educated the people are. In Maihar I heard a kid refer to his mother in male gender. But if I get truly desperate I'll definitely try your idea about small Indian companies. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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