Languages of India • Hacker News Board

Re: Languages of India

#61

Post by Arun2009 » Wed, Jun 05, 2019, 7:54 PM UTC

Jagat wrote: post #7

It's amazing how most Indians believe that Hindi is the national language of India, when there's no such as a national language in India. There are two official languages for union government communication - Hindi and English. I've also noticed that a lot of non Indians find it funny that most Indians here in bay area companies communicate among themselves in heavily accented English instead of The Indian language.

> heavily accented English instead of The Indian language.

Over the years I have grown to think of English as an honorary Indian language, kind of like the Mother Theresa of Indian languages. Not a mother-tongue perhaps, but definitely, a beloved aunty-tongue at the very least.

Re: Languages of India

#62

Post by viewtransform » Wed, Jun 05, 2019, 7:58 PM UTC

shripadk wrote: post #57

owaislone wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While it is true they are trying to do it, it's not anything new as Delhi has for decades tried to impose Hindi on all states and the southern ones don't take it well. That said, I don't think this can result in balkanization of India as generally India is way more united in-spite of issues like Delhi seen as having way too much control over the states (which is true in my opinion). Also, IMO, balkanization of the In…

> impose Hindi on all states This is so blatantly false. I am from South and a Kannadiga and I can tell you with conviction that in my lifetime I have never had anyone impose Hindi on me. This frenzy of Hindi imposition exists only in the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala (and a little in Karnataka but has since died down once people became more aware). I blame the excessive regionalism in part but major part of the bl…

"I can tell you with conviction that in my lifetime I have never had anyone impose Hindi on me."

This is because several fellow south Indians gave up their lives to ensure that north Indian language bigots would not have their way.

Read your history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Hindi_agitations_of_Tamil...

Re: Languages of India

#63

Post by vorg » Wed, Jun 05, 2019, 8:08 PM UTC

shripadk wrote: post #57

owaislone wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While it is true they are trying to do it, it's not anything new as Delhi has for decades tried to impose Hindi on all states and the southern ones don't take it well. That said, I don't think this can result in balkanization of India as generally India is way more united in-spite of issues like Delhi seen as having way too much control over the states (which is true in my opinion). Also, IMO, balkanization of the In…

> impose Hindi on all states This is so blatantly false. I am from South and a Kannadiga and I can tell you with conviction that in my lifetime I have never had anyone impose Hindi on me. This frenzy of Hindi imposition exists only in the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala (and a little in Karnataka but has since died down once people became more aware). I blame the excessive regionalism in part but major part of the bl…

> Indian identity was split right in the middle and was done on religious lines

India and Pakistan also each have their own major river system (Ganges for India, Indus for Pakistan) which is important for food supply and low transport costs. This helps each country remain functionally independent from the other.

Re: Languages of India

#64

Post by supernova87a » Wed, Jun 05, 2019, 8:12 PM UTC

Too many languages, too many religions to govern a country like this effectively. Unpopular truth, but truth nonetheless.

Re: Languages of India

#65

Post by billfruit » Wed, Jun 05, 2019, 8:13 PM UTC

A bit strange that Sinhala is classified as Indo-European rather than as Dravidian, as one might think from geography.

Re: Languages of India

#66

Post by masklinn » Wed, Jun 05, 2019, 8:14 PM UTC

naravara wrote: post #36

_emacsomancer_ wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The original plan was, of course, to phase out English as a national language. This never happened, I suppose partially because while 'Hindustani' (as was) made sense as a symbol of unity during the time leading up to Independence, afterwards, especially as 'Hindi', it was seen more as a regional language (even if the region involved is large) and so not necessarily more deserving of official nation-level status than…

I always thought India would have functioned better if it had confederated under a Swiss style cantonment system ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantons_of_Switzerland ). They maybe could have even avoided partition this way too. And whatever paroxysms of violence from internal migration might have been mitigated against if it was all being overseen by a single government and army instead of the three-way clusterfuck…

> I always thought India would have functioned better if it had confederated under a Swiss style cantonment system (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantons_of_Switzerland). They maybe could have even avoided partition this way too.

In what way? Having even more autonomy than they have as states?

Re: Languages of India

#67

Post by shripadk » Wed, Jun 05, 2019, 8:16 PM UTC

viewtransform wrote: post #62

shripadk wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> impose Hindi on all states This is so blatantly false. I am from South and a Kannadiga and I can tell you with conviction that in my lifetime I have never had anyone impose Hindi on me. This frenzy of Hindi imposition exists only in the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala (and a little in Karnataka but has since died down once people became more aware). I blame the excessive regionalism in part but major part of the bl…

"I can tell you with conviction that in my lifetime I have never had anyone impose Hindi on me." This is because several fellow south Indians gave up their lives to ensure that north Indian language bigots would not have their way. Read your history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Hindi_agitations_of_Tamil...

> This is because several fellow south Indians gave up their lives to ensure that north Indian language bigots would not have their way.

I know everything about these agitations. There is a huge difference between what happened in 1940s and what is happening today. You are just extrapolating your fears needlessly.

When I talk about "my lifetime" I talk about 30 years of my life. I was not born in the 1940s so there is no point talking about this period. If I have never had Hindi imposed on me should I lie about it just to please your political end-goals? Or are you one of those who loves to only dwell in the past and not accept any positive changes that have happened since?

The Centre today is not talking about "imposing Hindi". It is talking about a draft proposal of making a third language compulsory for all students in India. You should be welcoming that move. If I were you, instead of protesting against Hindi, I would be asking the Centre to ensure a Dravidian language is taught as a third language in the Northern Hindi belt. Now that is a constructive! That would unite the Country rather than balkanize it! But we have bigots on both sides who believe in their own language being superior!

This is way different from the C. Rajagopalachari order of imposing Hindi as the only common language across the Nation. If you are unable to differentiate between the two then no one can help you!

Re: Languages of India

#68

Post by spaceman_2020 » Wed, Jun 05, 2019, 8:18 PM UTC

vishnugupta wrote: post #22

neuralzen wrote: post #2

When I visited Himachel Predesh I stayed a few days in a remote Himalayan village named Malana, sometimes referred to as "The Village of Taboos" due to all of the rules they have, largely concerning outsiders. Outsiders are not allowed to touch a Malanan person, touch or enter a building, or even speak the village language even if the outsider know some of it. They also claimed to be the world's oldest continuous dem…

It's a testimony to India's vastness and diversity that more than 99.5% Indians wouldn't have even heard about Malana let alone know about their unique culture and society.

On the contrary, most people I know have heard of Malana simply because of "Malana Cream", a variety of highly sought after hashish

Re: Languages of India

#69

Post by manfredo » Wed, Jun 05, 2019, 8:20 PM UTC

gwbas1c wrote: post #39

Jagat wrote: post #7

It's amazing how most Indians believe that Hindi is the national language of India, when there's no such as a national language in India. There are two official languages for union government communication - Hindi and English. I've also noticed that a lot of non Indians find it funny that most Indians here in bay area companies communicate among themselves in heavily accented English instead of The Indian language.

> It's amazing how most Indians believe that Hindi is the national language of India, when there's no such as a national language in India. It's amazing how most Americans believe that English is the national language of the US, when where's no such thing as a national language in the US.

Concluding that English is the national language of the US is totally reasonable. Most government documents are in English. The Constitution is in English. English is the language overwhelmingly taught in schools, used in the workplace, and is the most spoken language in the country by far. Saying that English isn't the official language in the US is really just highlighting the fact that the Federal government hasn't bothered to designate an official language. In fact, 32 states have designated English as an official language. For all practical purposes the official language of the US is English.

This is much different from the India where only ~40% of the population are native Hindi speakers. More than 2/3rds of the US population only speaks English, and under 10% of the population have English proficiently categorized as "less than proficient" (but often this is still enough to get by).

Re: Languages of India

#70

Post by puranjay » Wed, Jun 05, 2019, 8:24 PM UTC

vikramkr wrote: post #3

The number of languages is stunning. Does anyone know if the number of languages is just the officially named languages or if it includes creoles? The language I speak is a creole of two languages and doesnt have a name or writing system really, and I'm curious to know how that is counted.

From the top of my head as a very lay person, I can count several languages that are not only completely distinct but also completely alien to me as a Hindi speaker: Marathi, Bengali, Oriya, Assamese, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malyalam. These are major languages and form the basis of a lot of state boundaries.