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Indian Languages | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Marc Frisch Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6666 days ago 1001 posts - 1169 votes  Speaks: German*, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Persian, Tamil | Message 17 of 35 03 October 2007 at 8:47am | IP Logged | |||||
No, there's really no need for another book like that ;-) Badly written, full of clichés, and more concerned about the main character's sexual life than about the cultural idiosyncrasies of the French. I'm an expatriate living in France myself and I bought this book in the hope that it might be amusing, but I was very deceived. He writes as if he was a real authority on life in France, but he actually doesn't seem to understand the French so well. Apparently, he's written a second book, so maybe he has learned. Edited by Marc Frisch on 03 October 2007 at 8:48am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| apparition Octoglot Senior Member United States Joined 6651 days ago 600 posts - 667 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written), French, Arabic (Iraqi), Portuguese, German, Italian, Spanish Studies: Pashto | Message 18 of 35 03 October 2007 at 9:46am | IP Logged | |||||
Thanks, Shinn! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| asisea Newbie United States Joined 6265 days ago 9 posts - 8 votes | Message 19 of 35 03 October 2007 at 10:41pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I would learn Hindi if I was you but now I am learning to speak Chinese. Perhaps I will learn Hindi. By the way is French an international language, it sounds like it is only being used in France. I speak Spanish and my Russian is coming along so perhaps I should learn French. It would be a waste of time for me if I can only use it in France... oh well.
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| sumabeast Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6927 days ago 212 posts - 220 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written) | Message 20 of 35 04 October 2007 at 7:33pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Chris you sound like a real language enthusiast.
certainly India will be fascinating and intriguing as far as culture goes, but I'm not so sure that you will be fulfilled as far as language learning and usage. You see English is a near-native second language in India, and although there are hundreds of languages spoken there, and many with there own gorgeous scripts, the truth is that outside of the village and family home setting Indians more often converse in Hindi or English. I think Chinese or Portuguese will offer you as much culture to delve into with the added plus of learning and using a single vibrant language that gives much bang for the buck. Arabic will also do that BTW. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| sumabeast Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6927 days ago 212 posts - 220 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written) | Message 21 of 35 04 October 2007 at 7:38pm | IP Logged | |||||
Asisea, French is widely spoken in West & Central Africa, and Arab North africa, Lebanon, also French Canada, some Carribean islands, and Pacific islands like Tahiti and Mauritius. so it is indeed quite an international language 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6769 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 22 of 35 05 October 2007 at 2:47am | IP Logged | |||||
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Mauritius is in the Indian Ocean, but otherwise correct. :)
You could add Réunion and Madagascar to the Indian Ocean region, and Cambodia to the Asian Pacific as countries that use French. For an even better idea of who uses French, look at the membership of La Francophonie: 60 member countries and 13 observers. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| xtremelingo Trilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6288 days ago 398 posts - 515 votes Speaks: English*, Hindi*, Punjabi* Studies: German, French, Arabic (Written) | Message 23 of 35 05 October 2007 at 8:32pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Apparition,
Gujrati and Hindi are different in both script and language, although sometimes they sound really similar at first 'glance' but they are different. Gujrati also can be pretty useful too in America, as the majority of Indian immigrants in the United States are mostly Gujrati. We usually have Guju 'jokes' about Gujrati's that live in the United States, as in Indian culture they have a reputation for being cheap (often because of their business like nature, they appear to haggle over everything). In Canada and Britian, a very large portion of Indian immigrants are Punjabi. Edited by xtremelingo on 05 October 2007 at 8:33pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Emerald Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom languagedabbler.blog Joined 6246 days ago 316 posts - 340 votes Speaks: Hindi, Gujarati*, English Studies: Spanish | Message 24 of 35 21 October 2007 at 11:09am | IP Logged | |||||
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Hi Chris,
Well just for the purpose of doing business, English will suffice. It is quite difficult to pick one language to learn in India, as there is no one language that is spoken across entire country. Unless you have plans of going in specific area (which does not seem so from your post), Hindi would be the best route to go for. There are several reasons behind this: First, it's a national language. That means that most people know the language, or at least understand the basic. Thanks to the Bollywood and TV. Also, as it's national language, if you do come across situation where you need diplomacy, most officials are bound to understand Hindi. Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi are great, but they are regional languages. So they would not be much use outside that particular region. There are some similarities between the regional languages, and Hindi - at least in speech. So if you have good knowledge of Hindi, you would understand some parts of the regional languages as well - espeially if you have a good ear for listening languages. Among the regional languages you listed, I personally think Gujarati is a very beautiful language and quite interesting, because you can be a poet in that language or sound like a downright uncultured vagrant. That's the beauty of it, that it covers everything. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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