 |
| English-Vinglish |
'British diplomats in India are learning Hindi
to develop a deeper understanding of the country and to identify business
opportunities for British firms – BBC news item'.
Firangis have completed full circle. They were looking for business opportunities without learning Hindi 200 years ago. Now they are coming again this time equipped with Hindi to identify business opportunities!
Last time they were keen that every Hindustani learns English but left India without learning Hindi. And now? It’s business stupid!
In India there are 22 official languages. As per one estimate there are 398 living languages & nearly 2000 dialects in India. As for the world languages, here is the list of native speakers of 10 top languages of the world published by Ethnologue in 2023 ( available in Wikipedia):
For deeper understanding of any country, learning their language is a good tool. Now every language has alphabet, grammar & phonetics or spoken words. As regards alphabet English & Hindi have similar styles as both are not pictorial like Mandarin. But a few differences are there – Hindi ‘ta’ 'त' as in Tandoor, Hindi ‘da’ 'द' sound as in ‘Dada’, Hindi da 'ड़' as in ‘Vada’ or in ‘Chidia’ are missing in English. Nasal sound as in ‘kyon’ or ‘Doston mein’ is missing in English, Pnwaar becomes Panwar, Kunwar becomes Kanwara etc.
Another peculiarity a Firangi trying to learn Hindi, must understand about Hindi dual words spoken frequently such as Khana-vana, Chota-mota, Dekha-bhala, Davaa-daaru or even English-Vinglish!
He may learn good, grammatically correct, bookish Hindi in homeland and land up in Delhi having following dialogue with our friend Harender:
Firangi: Aapkaa kiyaa haal haaii?
Harender: Baabe di full kirpa sir jee!
Firangis have completed full circle. They were looking for business opportunities without learning Hindi 200 years ago. Now they are coming again this time equipped with Hindi to identify business opportunities!
Last time they were keen that every Hindustani learns English but left India without learning Hindi. And now? It’s business stupid!
In India there are 22 official languages. As per one estimate there are 398 living languages & nearly 2000 dialects in India. As for the world languages, here is the list of native speakers of 10 top languages of the world published by Ethnologue in 2023 ( available in Wikipedia):
| Language | Native speakers (in millions) | Language family | Branch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mandarin Chinese | 941 | Sino-Tibetan | Sinitic |
| Spanish | 486 | Indo-European | Romance |
| English | 380 | Indo-European | Germanic |
| Hindi | 345 | Indo-European | Indo-Aryan |
| Bengali | 237 | Indo-European | Indo-Aryan |
| Portuguese | 236 | Indo-European | Romance |
| Russian | 148 | Indo-European | Balto-Slavic |
| Japanese | 123 | Japonic | Japanese |
| Yue Chinese | 86 | Sino-Tibetan | Sinitic |
| Vietnamese | 85 | Austroasiatic | Vietic |
For deeper understanding of any country, learning their language is a good tool. Now every language has alphabet, grammar & phonetics or spoken words. As regards alphabet English & Hindi have similar styles as both are not pictorial like Mandarin. But a few differences are there – Hindi ‘ta’ 'त' as in Tandoor, Hindi ‘da’ 'द' sound as in ‘Dada’, Hindi da 'ड़' as in ‘Vada’ or in ‘Chidia’ are missing in English. Nasal sound as in ‘kyon’ or ‘Doston mein’ is missing in English, Pnwaar becomes Panwar, Kunwar becomes Kanwara etc.
Another peculiarity a Firangi trying to learn Hindi, must understand about Hindi dual words spoken frequently such as Khana-vana, Chota-mota, Dekha-bhala, Davaa-daaru or even English-Vinglish!
He may learn good, grammatically correct, bookish Hindi in homeland and land up in Delhi having following dialogue with our friend Harender:
Firangi: Aapkaa kiyaa haal haaii?
Harender: Baabe di full kirpa sir jee!
Hmm the Firangi might not understand the reply in full. He might as well take lessons from Harender!
1 comment:
https://jogharshwardhan.blogspot.com/2012/11/sketches-from-life-baabe-di-full-kirpa.html
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