How important is Hindi????

[S.A.T.A]

In India's long and distinguished historical tradition there has been no instance where one major linguistic tradition replaced another at any significant level,where one could be dispensed for the other.English,inspite of its versatility and adaptability,is unlikely to be an exception.The advantage English enjoys is result of the bureaucratic lethargy of newly constituted sovereign nation,unwilling to tinker drastically to the administrative setup it inherited.In our case the lethargy has lasted longer than expected,nor exactly unintentional,this lethargy was also forced upon and at times even useful.

English also benefits from being the language of choice for the most powerful economic,intellectual,political spheres of the world,hence India and other developing world,whose contemporary socio-economic-politcal history were shaped by our interaction with these spheres,being supplicant societies,cultivated deep ties with the language.It must be remembered that the English vs native tongue tussle is particularly peculiar to these developing countries,including India.

This will change in the coming decades as India,perhaps others,increasingly develop their own economic,commercial and intellectual capabilities.These capabilities which are currently restricted in the elitist,English adapted circles,will soon appear predominately from those section of our society where vernaculars will be the language of choice.The use of non native language system will diminish when regional states begin to develop and sustain capabilities locally,where the language of convenient communication will always be the dominant local language system.

We place great emphasis on a so called lingua franca which will allow Indians to communicate with other Indians,in a language commonly understood by all.This emphasis is misconstrued if not entirely misplaced.The example i gave where somebody in Bangalore can speak more two or three non native language will be true to many major cosmopolitan cities.Eventually we will see that,thanks to our natural ability to be polyglots,we will be capable of corresponding in several languages other than his own mother tongue.So somebody in Bangalore would be able communicate in Tamil,Telugu or Malayalam,somebody in Bombay would be able to communicate in Marathi,Gujarati or Konkani,etc.This will probably do away with the need for common languae.

 

[LurkerBaba]

Not sure that's going to happen. English will become more and more popular, but the other languages will not 'die'. At least not in our lifetimes. And within our lifetimes, "Yankee wannabeness" will become less and less attractive, reflecting geopilitical and economic shifts.

To be replaced by Chinese//<other dominant economic power with a major language> wannabeness ? Don't you think that is just sad ?

We'll never be a major cultural power if we can't even have some kind of lingustic arrogance

Official Lanugages of the United Nations

Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish

And this is the list of languages by number of native speakers (from highest to lowest)

Mandarin Sino-Tibetan,

Spanish

English

Hindi-Urdu

Arabic

Bengali
...
...
Marathi

French

Tamil
......

......

Ofcourse I'm not suggesting replacing every language by Hindi, my suggestion is more

I don't even remember the borders of the Vijayanagara empire at the moment. AFAIK there were multiple languages in the empire, just like there are multiple languages in India today?

I asked it because of my crazy solution

You see, large empires in North India have had a single center of power i.e the fertile Indo Gangetic plains. This lead to large parts of it having a common/similar script and language. South Indian empires generally had many centers of power AFAIK, with exceptions being Vijaynagara Empire.

Can't we have a similar arrangement in South India, something like the Vijaynagara Empire ?

On the whole, India can be designated into two "cultural" "zones" (overlaying maps of Gupta and Vijaynagara empire)

Maybe strive for something like this in the future

Pretty insane no ? But without it , I see India losing all it's "culture" in the far future

 

[Oracle]

/\/\/\ Bengali rates much higher than Tamil.

Hmmmm...

Ban all bongs from this forum, starting with A.V.

Ban all Hindi Northies too.

 

[The Messiah]

ndtv yesterday at dinner time had a program regarding this very subject and javed akthar said word for word what ive been saying in this forum. he said if italian, russian etc pronounces an english work wrongly then we will ignore it but if fellow Indian pronounces it wrongly then he is laughed at and mocked for being an uneducated fool. then he sarcastically said we Indians must master the english language because we have to get approval from our masters (british) and distance ourselves from our Indian languages.

 

[KS]

Well, I see from a certain no to a maybe. This is a refreshing change.

Never thought highly about your comprehension skills and this post tells why I should continue to do so.

 

[The Messiah]

Never thought highly about your comprehension skills and this post tells why I should continue to do so.

are you Indian or tamilian ?

 

[Singh]

Please avoid ad hominem attacks. Such posts will only derail the thread. Do you think the other member will not retaliate to your attack ?

If you have any issue with the said member's post, report it. We go through each and every reported post and take appropriate action.

 

[KS]

are you Indian or tamilian ?

Can you comprehend it fully if I said BOTH ?

Just because you north Indians have no unique state/linguistic identity doesn't mean we south Indians,maharashtrians etc who have our own additional linguistic identities are any less patriotic or any less Indian than you guys.If you ppl have trouble comprehending that, sorry that's none of my heartache.

 

[The Messiah]

Can you comprehend it fully if I said BOTH ?

Just because you north Indians have no unique state/linguistic identity doesn't mean we south Indians,maharashtrians etc who have our own additional linguistic identities are any less patriotic or any less Indian than you guys.If you ppl have trouble comprehending that, sorry that's none of my heartache.

are you that girl (delhi blog) in disguise ?

answer clearly which comes first. unlike you i have no qualms...India comes first.

 

[KS]

are you that girl (delhi blog) in disguise ?

answer clearly which comes first. unlike you i have no qualms...India comes first.

Your question is as juvenile as aasking which eye is most important..I have already just because youl lack other identities doesn't mean others who have one must also forsake it to soothe your ego.

 

[The Messiah]

Your question is as juvenile as aasking which eye is most important..I have already just because youl lack other identities doesn't mean others who have one must also forsake it to soothe your ego.

Your lack of a clear answer suggests you are tamilian first and then Indian.

If you take pride then why not let it come out in the open ? and your eye analogy doesn't hold water since tamil nadu isn't equal to India whilst both eyes are equal. tamil nadu is a part of India not whole of India.

 

[Singh]

Nothing wrong with being a Tamilian first and an Indian second ? Even if you think a member suffers from dichotomy in his identities, so be it. Nobody has a monopoly over patriotism nor the sole power to declare who and who is not a patriot.

 

[The Messiah]

भारत माता की जय

 

[Singh]

Can you comprehend it fully if I said BOTH ?

Just because you north Indians have no unique state/linguistic identity doesn't mean we south Indians,maharashtrians etc who have our own additional linguistic identities are any less patriotic or any less Indian than you guys.If you ppl have trouble comprehending that, sorry that's none of my heartache.

Can you please elaborate on this please ?

Most of the "North Indians" adopted Hindi in deference to the feelings of patriotic fervor and national unity. Nobody is doubting your patriotism, you have a right to preserver your culture and way of life.

 

[KS]

Your lack of a clear answer suggests you are tamilian first and then Indian.

If you take pride then why not let it come out in the open ? and your eye analogy doesn't hold water since tamil nadu isn't equal to India whilst both eyes are equal. tamil nadu is a part of India not whole of India.

As I said, if you fail to comprehend the depth of my post that is not my heartache.

Brain is just a part of the body but can you reduce its importance ? Thats Tamil Nadu for me.

I am both Indian and Tamil simultaneously and yeah that is possible being both at the same time. Not only that , I am a Hindu, I am a Kounder all at the same time. One need not be subservient to another.

भारत माता की जय

இந்தியா வாழ்க !!! தமிழ் வாழ்க !!!!

 

[KS]

Nothing wrong with being a Tamilian first and an Indian second ? Even if you think a member suffers from dichotomy in his identities, so be it. Nobody has a monopoly over patriotism nor the sole power to declare who and who is not a patriot.

I did not say so !. Just because you guys think like that it doesn't become the truth.

As for the second part I agree - patriotism cant be questioned on the basis of language and I have never questioned anyone's patriotism just because they spoke hindi or punjabi an I expect the same thing from Northies to stop this utterly stupid linking up our patriotism with our pride in our language/culture/.

Can you please elaborate on this please ?

In the sense almost the whole of North India speak the same language albeit with varying dialects and they have been part of various kingdoms with different capitals. But we people have a unique culture.separate language and were ruled only by our kings and we obvioulsy take pride in our language based identity which the North Indians (except maybe the Punjabis) lack.

Most of the "North Indians" adopted Hindi in deference to the feelings of patriotic fervor and national unity.

This is the core of the problem dude. What makes "adopting" HIndi the criteria for patriotism and national unity ?

Nobody is doubting your patriotism, you have a right preserver your culture and of life.

Yeah better not doubt that.Because that is just ridiculous. And yeah we have been Indians for just 64 years but Tamilians for 4000 years. So expecting us to make that pride subservient to anything is just not acceptable.

 

[JayATL]

Not one bit, unless I'm back in India and then too practically everyone speaks english in some form or other there ( Bombay). so for me - holds no importance. But it does help that I know the curse words --- when in America. I've been debating to teach my 8 yr old son to say " abe saaaaaale!" or " teri nana ke tang"

 

[tarunraju]

The main reason why India is holding its diversity much better than Pakistan (which, despite its far lower ethnic diversity, is facing a ton of ethnic clashes), is because our constitution dictates that all our ethnicities work as "partners", and that in which no ethnicity, however big in size, impose itself over smaller ones.

In Pakistan, the Pak-Punjabis tried to homogenize the country by imposing what they deemed "de facto" language and culture over not only their contiguous provinces, but even East Pakistan. In the process, they lost half their country in 1971, even to date, there are bloody ethnic clashes in what remains of Pakistan.

Once again, the irrelevance of Hindi in the not only the south, but all linguistic states, should not be interpreted as a rejection of the Hindi, or animosity towards Hindi-speakers. At the same time, Hindi-speakers should not believe that theirs is the de facto language of India, or theirs is the de facto ethnicity, and expect non-Hindis to adopt to them. The onus is on the Hindi-speakers to adopt to the environment they're living in.

English, although a "foreign" language, is widely accepted by the linguistic states as a "neutral" language, because that language doesn't come with ethnic baggage. If someone from Chennai wants to do business with someone from Ludhiana, English is a mutually-acceptable middle-ground.

Wanna go live/work in Coimbatore? Get a freaking Spoken English course first, then learn Tamil in Coimbatore.

 

[KS]

The main reason why India is holding its diversity much better than Pakistan (which, despite its far lower ethnic diversity, is facing a ton of ethnic clashes), is because our constitution dictates that all our ethnicities work as "partners", and that in which no ethnicity, however big in size, impose itself over smaller ones.

In Pakistan, the Pak-Punjabis tried to homogenize the country by imposing what they deemed "de facto" language and culture over not only their contiguous provinces, but even East Pakistan. In the process, they lost half their country in 1971, even to date, there are bloody ethnic clashes in what remains of Pakistan.

Once again, the irrelevance of Hindi in the not only the south, but all linguistic states, should not be interpreted as a rejection of the Hindi, or animosity towards Hindi-speakers. At the same time, Hindi-speakers should not believe that theirs is the de facto language of India, or theirs is the de facto ethnicity, and expect non-Hindis to adopt to them. The onus is on the Hindi-speakers to adopt to the environment they're living in.

English, although a "foreign" language, is widely accepted by the linguistic states as a "neutral" language, because that language doesn't come with ethnic baggage. If someone from Chennai wants to do business with someone from Ludhiana, English is a mutually-acceptable middle-ground.

Wanna go live/work in Coimbatore? Get a freaking Spoken English course first, then learn Tamil in Coimbatore ASAP.

The bolded part is the crux of the issue which the Hindi belt refuses to acknowledge due to their arrogance/ignorance.

BTW the choice of Coimbatore was just as that ? Or have you been here ?

 

[pmaitra]

My take on this igneous debate:

Hindi is very important. English is not spoken by most Indians. Many Indians who can read and write English, will not be able to speak English. It is easy to relate to Hindi vocabulary than English. However, personally, it was also easy for me to relate to Telugu and Malayalam vocabulary. The reason is same for all languages; closeness to Sanskrit.

I have been to Chennai countless number of times and spent much time there. What I noticed the last time was that taxi or auto drivers were speaking in Hindi while I was speaking in English. Even in big cities, purchasing a chapstick from the footpath store would be easier in Hindi than English.

Those who think that English has become the lingua franca of India, are disappointingly living in denial and in a closed bubble. Hindi is still more important than English for day to day life activities. It is more useful in the North, but not altogether irrelevant in the South. While it is absolutely reasonable for a person to cultivate his skills in his lingua materna or lingua nativa, it is not a matter of choice but an undeniable fact that Hindi alone will get a person further than English alone, or for that matter any other local language; i.e. if the whole of India is considered.