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Why isn’t Hindi a "popular" language? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4626 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes  Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 129 of 197 02 March 2014 at 10:42pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I don't think English is spoken a great deal among the Indian poor people. Certainly when you watch a
documentary about India, the less well off almost never speak English in front of a camera, while the wealthier and more educated do. The poor sectors of society vastly outnumber the prosperous so I guess they see the English language as the preserve of the elite. Edited by beano on 02 March 2014 at 10:44pm 2 persons have 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 130 of 197 02 March 2014 at 11:37pm | IP Logged | |||||
You make a keen observation. However, I would argue that the poor, who are unable to get an education, speak very diffrently than educated people. This is true for all countries. In India, this is exacerbated by the marked diglossia present in all major Indian languages. Perhaps, what India really needs are language reforms. Reforms that will bring the written language closer to the spoken form. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Gemuse Senior Member Germany Joined 4086 days ago 818 posts - 1189 votes Speaks: English Studies: German | Message 131 of 197 03 March 2014 at 3:45am | IP Logged | |||||
It is not an obstacle. lichtrausch is flat out wrong. English is no longer a language of the elite. In Bengaluru, taxi drivers, street vendors, shopkeepers speak basic English.
Knowledge of English signals education in India. That is it. It does not signal that one is elite or rich. At best, it implies that the person is at least lower middle class. but not always. I know of one poor woman who speaks English as she was taught in a Christian school. Regarding engineering and the English barrier: there are many many languages in India, unlike Japan. There needs to be one common language in Engineering/Medical school. Most students WILL have to learn a language different than their mother tongue. Its just that this second language is now English. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| linguaholic_ch Triglot Groupie IndiaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5052 days ago 69 posts - 96 votes Speaks: English, Hindi, Bengali Studies: Japanese, Esperanto, French | Message 132 of 197 03 March 2014 at 2:07pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Students who have studied in private schools have English as their first language and
they don't have any problems later on whether study Engineering, Medical or do their Majors.But there are Government schools still that do not teach English that well, and that's a problem. There was a reform of Communists in Bengal in the 80's, where English was not taught until 6th Grade, and that was a serious problem. Mostly College education is done in English, although you can opt to write your exams in your second language.Even though English may not be the mother tongue a majoriy of English medium students consider English their strong point rather their true own mother tongue(like me :P) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Gemuse Senior Member Germany Joined 4086 days ago 818 posts - 1189 votes Speaks: English Studies: German | Message 133 of 197 03 March 2014 at 3:34pm | IP Logged | |||||
Not necessarily. Students can get a reasonable grasp of English in public, non-English medium schools. linguaholic_ch, you are projecting some complex here. I know tons and tons of people who went to public school. had English as L2/L3 and who had no language problems in University. Their speaking ability might not have been that good when entering University, but usually they had been reading English literature (outside of school) since adolescence, and thus their reading and understanding was C2. What matters is the prevalence of English outside of school. If kids read English novels, have science textbooks in English, they will not have language problems after High School. But I will say that there are some people who DO have trouble in University. These are people who have neither had a decent exposure to English in school, nor had a decent exposure to literary English, and thus are not comfortable with the language. Edited by Gemuse on 03 March 2014 at 4:27pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Lugubert Heptaglot Senior Member Sweden Joined 6871 days ago 186 posts - 235 votes Speaks: Swedish*, Danish, Norwegian, EnglishC2, German, Dutch, French Studies: Mandarin, Hindi | Message 134 of 197 03 March 2014 at 3:53pm | IP Logged | |||||
OK, I'm not your typically ... anything .., but after my 8 years of fairly bland mostly conversational school English with almost no exposure to "literary" English, the transition to highly specialized tech stuff was surprisingly uneventful, not only for me, but I dare say for all of us. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Gemuse Senior Member Germany Joined 4086 days ago 818 posts - 1189 votes Speaks: English Studies: German | Message 135 of 197 03 March 2014 at 4:26pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I should have made it clear that if someone has had a decent exposure to "conversational
school English" OR a decent exposure to literary English, then University is not a problem. My bad Edited by Gemuse on 03 March 2014 at 4:28pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| horshod Pentaglot Groupie India Joined 5774 days ago 74 posts - 107 votes Speaks: Hindi, Marathi*, Bengali, Gujarati, English Studies: German, Spanish, Turkish | Message 136 of 197 03 March 2014 at 4:29pm | IP Logged | |||||
I guess English education in India is pretty different in this respect then. I started learning English in kindergarten but all of the English that I learnt was anything but conversational. At the age of 18 I (and most of my friends) may not have had any problem understanding a technical manual written in English but I had a hard time striking up a 5-minute conversation in English. ( Although that has changed now after spending a few years in the US.) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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