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Why isn’t Hindi a "popular" language? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Nemo Newbie India Joined 5142 days ago 1 posts - 21 votes | Message 65 of 197 03 November 2010 at 7:23pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hello all, this is my first post here. i am not really sure if i am doing the right thing as the last post here was nearly an year ago but i stumbled across this forum, this particular topic rather (incidentally i forgot how i reached here :|) and after browsing around and reading stuff, i actually like this place.
I am from India, New Delhi to be precise and would like to share my views regarding the topic. First some facts, Hindi, though is the official language of India is not a native language for nearly 40% of the population, mainly south and in east. English is thought in schools from kindergarten in all cities and even in rural areas, in govt run schools, English is to be taught from std V (now that the implementation is shoddy is another matter) so you can say nearly all indians that come in contact with a foreigner have a fair knowledge of English, unless of course the foreigner sets off to some rural area with the single minded approach of conversing with a local. These two reasons are why hindi is not as important for a foreigner vising (mostly for economic reasons) india to know compared to chinese in china, but of course there are a no. of other reasons for anyone to pick this language, the rich texts, epics that hindi offers are stupendous. I belong in the norther part of the country, from the hindi speaking belt actually, Delhi-UP and am proficient in both hindi and English and love using them but unfortunately not many share the same enthusiasm. Keeping the non hindi states aside as for them to not know the language is pretty obvious (funny story, i once ventured to the eastern most part of Bengal state and i found some locals there unable to understand hindi, was a bit shocking tbh), i am appalled at the way the native hindi speakers treat our language. The idea that hindi is a language of backwardness while speaking English makes one an elite is very much present in our psyche. In fact i have had some spirited debates in my school years with a teacher (with huge colonial hangover if i may add) when she scolded me for conversing in hindi with my classmates (her reason being, 'its an English medium school'). I have also seen people giving interviews in English even if the reporter asks in hindi and in some cases even when the person speaking has a very obvious discomfort in speaking English. This attitude saddens me. Its is, imo the biggest reason why hindi has a negligible presence in world linguistics, i mean we ourselves do not respect it, how can or why a foreigner will ? I take a pride at our proficiency in English and that we have more English speakers than the whole of UK. In today's economic atmosphere its impossible to survive with out the knowledge of English, learning English should be encourages, by all means but at the same time one should not derogate one's mother tongue. The best way to promote any language is by its texts and rich history. When i look around rarely, if ever, do i see my peers (18-25) are group showing an interest in hindi novels, poetry or even gossip magazines. I dont like bollywood but i thank it for being the single biggest promoter of hindi, even though its mostly incorrect in grammar but then again, correctness is mostly subjective as languages evolve. This is one medium which can really catapult hindi as a language to the western world. I apologize if my post looks like a one big rant (it probably is :p) but i had to write what i feel. I hope and want that coming generation of indians take pride in hindi and speak/use it more often.
hey hi, good to see you have an interest in hindi movies, anyway, the terms you mentioned are mostly slang which obviously are almost never to be taken in a literal sense. 21 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| lichtrausch Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5967 days ago 525 posts - 1072 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Japanese Studies: Korean, Mandarin | Message 66 of 197 03 November 2010 at 8:24pm | IP Logged | ||
Good post and I especially agree with this part above. In my view, the worst neglect of Hindi, indeed the root of Hindi's problems, is in the Indian education system. Hindi is treated as utterly inferior to English as a language of instruction. The result is that the prestige attached to Hindi is almost non-existent. The worship of English and the neglect of Hindi are two sides of the same coin. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6557 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 67 of 197 04 November 2010 at 12:50am | IP Logged | ||
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Nice post Nemo. My Indian co-workers confirm what you said.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Deji Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5447 days ago 116 posts - 182 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Hindi, Bengali | Message 68 of 197 19 November 2010 at 6:25pm | IP Logged | ||
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Yes, good point, Nemo.
In 30 years of trying (less lately) to practice my hindi with hindi-speakers I could support your post with countless examples but one sticks out in my mind. Years ago I got into conversation with someone from North India, speaking Hindi. He was surprised and remarked on my speaking, etc. Yes, I replied, I had been studying it etc etc. "Thank you" he said 'for taking an interest in such a unsophisticated language" !!! Of course, later I thought of the perfect reply. "Who told you that? The English?" (which is unjust to many English people, but the colonial British could take every opportunity to down the rebellious subjects and their entire culture. Also easy to do if you never understood it in the first place.) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Juаn Senior Member Colombia Joined 5352 days ago 727 posts - 1830 votes Speaks: Spanish* | Message 69 of 197 19 November 2010 at 8:49pm | IP Logged | ||
Actually, it was English education which sparked the Bengali Renaissance, which lead to modern Indian literature. At any rate, I don't think one can understand India today without studying its native languages and literatures. Indian literature in English is unrepresentative in a number of ways, and much of what is written in Indian languages remains without competent translation. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Deji Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5447 days ago 116 posts - 182 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Hindi, Bengali | Message 70 of 197 20 November 2010 at 4:16am | IP Logged | ||
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Well, I can tell you, my British cousins came out with some pretty astoundingly patronizing comments re Indian
culture! On the other hand, not only did British education spark the Bengali Renaissance, but many English linguists (and even missionaries) did very important early work with dictionaries in many Indian languages, not to mention historical research, especially in the early days. A complicated question. But basically I think there is no arguing that Hindi and Indian languages do not receive their due. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Metamucil Groupie United States Joined 5882 days ago 43 posts - 51 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 71 of 197 23 December 2010 at 4:35am | IP Logged | ||
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Can anyone provide a list on which provinces specifically where Hindi is spoken as a native tongue? It's basically the north central part of India if I recall.
and where is it a secondary language? I'm assuming perhaps not eastern Bengal like Nemo mentioned and perhaps not Tamil Nadu. Or is the number and geographical spread of people who don't speak Hindi as a native or second language even wider and more complicated? I still think it the most useful indian language to learn, I believe Bengali is the second most based on pure numbers. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Lucky Charms Diglot Senior Member Japan lapacifica.net Joined 6956 days ago 752 posts - 1711 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: German, Spanish | Message 72 of 197 23 December 2010 at 8:26am | IP Logged | ||
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I also found Nemo's post very enlightening. It's sad to hear that Hindi speakers (and presumably, speakers of other Indian languages) feel that way about their own mother tongue.
Does anyone know if the situation is the same with Urdu speakers in Pakistan? I don't think I could feel very motivated to study a language whose speakers have such a great general command of English as in India, and who don't view their own language as worth studying to boot, but if this is not the case with Urdu then I might be interested in studying that. Edited by Lucky Charms on 23 December 2010 at 8:26am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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