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Why isn’t Hindi a "popular" language? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Taps Diglot Newbie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4844 days ago 15 posts - 22 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish | Message 97 of 197 29 August 2011 at 6:07am | IP Logged | |||||
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This was interesting to read through. My school (Temple University) offers a couple of Hindi classes and I'm starting
one tomorrow. Can't wait! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4913 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 98 of 197 29 August 2011 at 10:19pm | IP Logged | |||||
It has already been pointed out that Harry Potter is available in Hindi. There are other authors who are well known in India, who have books in both Hindi and English, such as Ruskin Bond. There is also a good series of children's books, Karadi Tales, which are available in English and several Indian languages, and have audio CD's. They are for kids, but will be good for an advanced beginner/intermediate Hindi learner. The official website is Karadi Tales. The wikipedia page also mentions an animated Karadi Tales series from 2009, but I know nothing about it. Wikipedia Karadi Tales The one thing I must really take you to task on is your statement that
Now if you mean desi people in Europe or America, you're probably right. But in India, there are loads of people who are happy, even thrilled, to talk Hindi to you. Beggar children can be very annoying to foreign tourists. However, engage them in conversation in Hindi, offer them a few of your biscuits, and you can practice to your heart's content. Taxi and rickshaw drivers are usually very willing to talk Hindi, if you dare to take their attention off the road! In India, don't hang out in bars, clubs, coffee shops and nice restaurants. Go to dhabas, tea shops and the like, and the patrons and owners will have little English, and will be delighted to speak in Hindi with you. Even in a city like Delhi, there are many people with little to no English at all, but these people are invisible to tourists and even most Indians. It's all about who you go to in India! 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Mela_Verde Newbie Australia anonymousangela Joined 5398 days ago 2 posts - 5 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Polish | Message 100 of 197 07 September 2011 at 2:30am | IP Logged | |||||
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My partner is Bengali from Kolkata but as he grew up in Australia, and his parents' common language was English, cannot speak it. I wanted to start learning Bengali but he tells me it is more practical to learn Hindi.
Not sure where to start...it seems very hard and I am quite intimidated by the look of the script! 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| michi Nonaglot Newbie Austria Joined 5305 days ago 33 posts - 57 votes Speaks: Dutch*, German, French, English, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Portuguese Studies: Turkish, Arabic (Written), Serbo-Croatian, Indonesian, Japanese | Message 101 of 197 09 July 2012 at 9:46am | IP Logged | |||||
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I have been considering to learn Hindi for awhile. I am quite interested in India and learning at least a bit of the languages - in the case of India one of the languages - is for me an essential part of getting to know a country. In the case of India Hindi(-Urdu) is the most obvious choice of me. When I would travel to India therefor I would rather concentrate on Hindi speaking northern India. And no matter what other people tell me, I am sure most Hindi speaking people like it when you try to speak to them in their native tongue.
However I am curious about the rest of India, where Hindi is not the native language of the population. I know there has been resistance against making Hindi the sole national language, but I have gotten the impression that this resistance mainly comes from the state of Tamil Nadu with its strong Tamil tradition. Other states seem to have much less problems with the idea of Hindi as the national language of India. Do people in the rest of India normally learn Hindi in school? Do they speak or understand it better than English? Do they like it when a foreigner adresses them in Hindi, even if it is not their mother tongue. Of course India is a large country and I can imagine there are enormous regional differences. But maybe some of you can give me some first hand experience. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| decamillisjacob Newbie Canada Joined 4736 days ago 38 posts - 63 votes | Message 102 of 197 09 July 2012 at 5:45pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I believe it's because English has taken centre stage as the language of law (to an extent), advanced education, science, and business---especially with India's call centre phenomenon. Hindi also, despite its official status, isn't the mother tongue of most Indians either, statistically-speaking, and is often laced with English.
Take a look at the diaspora, too! For example, in Vancouver, ethnic majority dictates Punjabi takes precidence over Hindi. In BC's education system in fact, Punjabi is a third language option (after French) as well as the medium of several local Indian hertiage schools---not Hindi. Punjabi is also known by a lot of local Pakistanis as well as Afghans who migrate to the Panjab region of southern Pakistan. Edited by decamillisjacob on 10 July 2012 at 6:12pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Medulin Tetraglot Senior Member Croatia Joined 4672 days ago 1199 posts - 2192 votes Speaks: Croatian*, English, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Norwegian, Hindi, Nepali | Message 103 of 197 10 July 2012 at 12:01am | IP Logged | |||||
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In Kerala (the state next to Tamil Nadu), people learn Hindi in school, but they prefer Tamil (Tamil language and Tamil movies). So, more people speak Tamil (which they learn on their own) than Hindi (which is an obligatory subject because of politics). Hindi is not popular in West Bengal either, as well as in Karnataka (in Bangalore Hindi is considered an intruder and an enemy to the state's language: Kannada), and in Andhra outside Hyderbad (in Hyderbad, Hindi-like Urdu is the language of Muslims, Telugu is the language of Hindus).
Hindi is the language of the poorest parts of India (M. Pradesh, U. Pradesh, Bihar) and the language of Bollywood (which is not popular in Southern India, because, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and A. Pradesh have their own movie industries). For Southern India, the combo Tamil+English is much more useful than Hindi. Edited by Medulin on 10 July 2012 at 12:06am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| napoleon Tetraglot Senior Member India Joined 5020 days ago 543 posts - 874 votes Speaks: Bengali*, English, Hindi, Urdu Studies: French, Arabic (Written) | Message 104 of 197 10 July 2012 at 11:40am | IP Logged | |||||
I wonder where you get your facts from. Politics and public opinion in India is not so cut and dried as some would have us believe. Its as clear as mud, even for me. If one were to follow your reasoning to its logical conclusion, one could claim that Hollywood should not be popular outside the boundaries of the US as most countries possess film industries of their own. Despite the small matter of regional film industries, Hollywood continues to entertain the world. Why should the position of Bollywood be any different in India? Edited by napoleon on 10 July 2012 at 11:44am 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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