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This Google ad has moved people to tears across India and Pakistan

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Re: This Google ad has moved people to tears across India and Pakistan

#221

Post by srean »

cubancigar11 wrote: post #149
techtivist wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nordic languages and Hindu-Urdu are great examples of how political language is. The reason Urdu was made a separate language was because of political reasons of the Mughals. Similarly, I believe Norwegians gave a separate legal status to Norwegian to make it distinct from Danish, as a mark of defiance to Danish colonial rule of the past. TO be fair Hindi, even though it grew more organically was given a formal statu…

'there were far more Tamil' That is false. Citations please? 'and Bengali speakers' This ignores the fact that Bengali attained its status because of British who ruled India from Calcutta and enabled Bengali hegemony. No native speakers learned Bengali as second language in rest of the undivided India. Only Bengali diaspora moved to different parts of country as part of British civil services. 'Hindi... was given a f…

> Another propaganda. Hindi-Urdu (or Hindustani) was the most spoken and widely understood language in undivided India.

Disagreed, if by Hindi you mean khari boli, a language restricted to the "cow belt". You gave an explanation why Bengali was prevalent, OP's point was that Bengali was prominent. Why it was so was besides the point.

>To blame a newly formed government of an enslaved country, of 'exerting political influence'

It still does not change the fact that it was imposed. BTW I am by mo means Tamil.

Re: This Google ad has moved people to tears across India and Pakistan

#222

Post by Nux »

twic wrote: post #209
Nux wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm Romanian, as a kid in a few months I became fluent in Italian just from watching their TV channels, no dictionary involved. It was a mass phenomenon at the time since their TV channels were quite popular on cable.

It's exactly the same with English and American.

lol

Re: This Google ad has moved people to tears across India and Pakistan

#223

Post by codegeek »

eitally wrote: post #176
bhups wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

English is widely used throughout India, as it's the "national link language" according to the constitution. Most advertisements, street signs and stores contain lots of English.

I've never been to any other country where mastery of a national language was as poor as English in India. This goes for both written and spoken language.

How many countries have you been to where there are 20+ "official" languages ? The point is that English (even though official) is not the only language of importance and most states/regions/cities have their own languages that are spoken . English glues things together but more like a duct tape. Hence, a lot of people (specially the poor) don't learn English as part of their daily curriculum and that really varies depending on the region.

Re: This Google ad has moved people to tears across India and Pakistan

#224

Post by yalogin »

r0h1n wrote: post #64

Colour me cynical, but when a corporation is under fire from consumers, regulators and activists, a soppy and heartstring-tugging ad is exactly what the doctors order . It is literally Google saying, "Oh look, cute puppies!" when faced with a global barrage of criticism about its disdain for user privacy or its own past promises.

This is not the first ad Google made. Do you remember all those Chrome ads about a family? This one just happens to be even more melodramatic. Nothing sinister going on here.

Re: This Google ad has moved people to tears across India and Pakistan

#226

Post by wakeless »

mcv wrote: post #153
dsrguru wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As with the Arabic and Chinese language families, different varieties of Romance languages are similar enough in syntax and vocabulary that speakers can kind of make themselves understood to each other if they speak slowly and choose their words carefully. Same with lots of closely related languages, e.g. German and Dutch. But they're not nearly mutually intelligible to the degree that American English and most varie…

I'm Dutch, and people from the east of Netherland don't understand why I don't understand German, claiming the languages are so similar. But I have real trouble understanding German. Maybe when it's someone from the north-west of Germany who speaks very slowly and clearly. People from the east of Netherland have much less trouble, somehow. (I'm utterly unable to understand people from the Dutch province of Zeeland wh…

I'm from Australia and I can't understand from the Australian province New Zealand.

Re: This Google ad has moved people to tears across India and Pakistan

#227

Post by wavefunction »

GrinningFool wrote: post #220
r0h1n wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

a. Google isn't just another "large consumer company" b. Google being "always under fire" by consumers, regulators and activists is no reason to start letting it off the hook. In fact, it should be the converse.

a) They aren't? Why not? b) You seem to be changing the nature of your objection. First you imply that they're under fire now because of privacy issues, then when GP points out they're always under fire for something you say that's no excuse to let them off the hook. If you believe they're releasing this specifically because they're under fire, by that criteria it's never OK for them to release a "feelgood" ad. As I…

>>Google has been releasing feelgood ads for years

Starting with "don't be evil." Whether Google has lived up to those lofty goals in the intervening years of working with the Chinese Government, the NSA, etc., I will leave to the reader to decide.

Re: This Google ad has moved people to tears across India and Pakistan

#229

Post by prakashk »

Here's the story of Saroo Munshi Khan finding his home/family 26 years after he lost them with the help of Google Earth:

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2013/10/a-long-way-home-with-...

He wrote a book about his experience: "A Long Way Home" (http://www.penguin.com.au/products/9780670077045/long-way-ho...)

Re: This Google ad has moved people to tears across India and Pakistan

#230

Post by dsw2 »

saumil07 wrote: post #147
techtivist wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nordic languages and Hindu-Urdu are great examples of how political language is. The reason Urdu was made a separate language was because of political reasons of the Mughals. Similarly, I believe Norwegians gave a separate legal status to Norwegian to make it distinct from Danish, as a mark of defiance to Danish colonial rule of the past. TO be fair Hindi, even though it grew more organically was given a formal statu…

For what it's worth - the backlash is still kind of the case in the South (not speaking statistically, just from personal experience). I grew up around Mumbai and traveled to the southern part of the country 5 years ago where Hindi is not the native tongue. Hindi was not particularly well-spoken nor was it always well-received by the other person. We wound up talking in English most of the time.

In South Africa, many Tamil Hindus, when asked what their religion is, say "Tamil", not "Hindu". "Hindu" to them, refers to Hindus of North Indian descent (of Gujarati and Hindi origin). Since their ancestors came to South Africa more than 150 years ago, this sort of separatist instinct seems to long predate modern India.

http://www.quora.com/Hinduism/In-South-Africa-many-people-of...

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