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Bollywood/Hindi Question

 Language Learning Forum : Music, Movies, TV & Radio Post Reply
13 messages over 2 pages: 1
Tenebrarum
Groupie
United States
Joined 5397 days ago

84 posts - 115 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Hindi

 
 Message 9 of 13
02 March 2012 at 11:28pm | IP Logged 
It's funny because this mention of English being mixed with Hindi is always the first
thing I hear from people who are listening to Hindi for one of the first times. As
mentioned, the amount of English varies from film to film. Jodhaa Akbar, for
instance, has one character speaking Hindi loaded with Sanskrit words, while another
speaks pure Urdu. Raajneeti too uses a more pure Hindi style, as it deals with
politics. And on the other end, you even have the recent Delhi Belly, which is
mostly in English with some lines in Hindi! I think English being mixed into these
movies often livens up the dialogues, as it creates potential for more jokes, puns, etc.

As for speaking Hindi, I don't necessarily use English as a crutch, but I suppose it's
nice to know that I can throw a word in here or there and not sound too strange. And I
sometimes hear native speakers use an English word when a non-English alternative is
perfectly acceptable (e.g. "use karna" for "to use" instead of something like "istemaal
karna").   
1 person has voted this message useful



Rajsinhasan
Diglot
Newbie
Joined 4689 days ago

24 posts - 34 votes
Speaks: English*, Creole (English)
Studies: Portuguese

 
 Message 10 of 13
03 March 2012 at 8:34am | IP Logged 
anjathilina wrote:

One exception-- I started watching one recently that is set in the time of the Mughals,
and so far that one doesn't have any English! :)



I believe the film you are referring to with the Mughals is Jodhaa Akbar. Although I
personally have no qualms with the use of English in Bollywood films, I found it
refreshing to watch a movie that was purely in Hindustani!
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Hashimi
Senior Member
Oman
Joined 6250 days ago

362 posts - 529 votes 
Speaks: Arabic (Written)*
Studies: English, Japanese

 
 Message 11 of 13
04 March 2012 at 8:33am | IP Logged 

Quote:
I
sometimes hear native speakers use an English word when a non-English alternative is
perfectly acceptable (e.g. "use karna" for "to use" instead of something like "istemaal
karna").


"use" and "istemaal", both are foreign words for Hindi speakers (one being English, and
the other Arabic.) So there is no big difference in choosing any of them.


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Jeffers
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 4900 days ago

2151 posts - 3960 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German

 
 Message 12 of 13
04 March 2012 at 11:24pm | IP Logged 
Every language has words which have come in from other languages. Presently, "istemaal" is a Hindi word which has come in from Arabic. It is still a Hindi word, just as much as "pyjama" is an English word, although it comes from Hindustani, and "ballet" is an English word, although it comes from French. "Use" is a word you will find used by Hindi speakers, but it is not presently a Hindi word.

The other word for use in Hindi is "prayog", which comes from Sanskrit. This doesn't make it more Hindi than "istemaal".
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Devashish
Diglot
Newbie
India
Joined 4599 days ago

4 posts - 7 votes
Speaks: Hindi*, English
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 13 of 13
13 April 2012 at 3:05pm | IP Logged 
The dialogues of the Bollywood films are actually the ones which are used in daily usage. This ability of Hindi to accommodate English words without distorting the meaning is wonderful. Sometimes it makes things much easier. E.g. the word for a 'cigarette' (or for that matter even a 'train') in Hindi is very complex, and we tend to use the English words for them even in formal contexts.

At the end of the day the fundamental reason behind the invention of any language is to convey the meaning, which Hindi does perfectly.


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