India Broadband Forum

just4kix

Is learning the national language important?

Punch Farce

I already know a National Language ;-) (and it is not Hindi)

-F

just4kix

Aw! Touched some raw nerves, didn't I? Why are SI's so sensitive against Hindi? As an Indian, one should be proud to learn Hindi which is our national language.

Punch Farce

This is why ;-)

-F


National language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


From the above link...
Republic of India
Main articles: Languages of India and Official languages of India
Neither the Constitution of India nor Indian law specifies a National language. Article 343 of the constitution specifies that the official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script. Article 354 specifies that the legislature of a State may by law adopt any one or more of the languages in use in the State or Hindi as the Language or Languages to be used for all or any of the official purposes of that State.[7] Section 8 of The Official Languages Act of 1963 (as amended in 1967) empowers the Union Government to make rules regarding the languages which may be used for the official purposes of the Union, for transaction of business in Parliament, and for communication between the Union Government and the states.[8] Section 3 of G.S.R. 1053, titled "Rules, 1976 (As Amended, 1987)" specifies that communications from a Central (Union) Government office to a State or a Union Territory in shall, save in exceptional cases (Region "A") or shall ordinarily (Region "B"), be in Hindi, and if any communication is issued to any of them in English it shall be accompanied by a Hindi translation thereof. Section 3 of G.S.R. 1053, titled "Rules, 1976 states Communications from a Central Government office to State or Union Territory in Region "C" or to any office (not being a Central Government office) or person in such State shall be in English. Region C covers Tamil Nadu, Kerala , Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh [9]

just4kix

Well, I don't want to start a fight. But I feel that it is closed minded view.

Punch Farce

Fair enough, I disagree with your view but I respect it and your right to it.

thanks
-F

just4kix

Not at all. All I saying that be open about it. What is the harm in learning a language that 70~80% of India speaks?

Logik

>>>>>>>>goes to yard

panchabhut

India does not have a National Language.
The government of India has given 22 "languages of the 8th Schedule" the status of official language.
And Hindi is one of them.
Hindi (or a variant) is language of ten Indian States. Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi. Which implies there are at least as many Indian States where Hindi is not the main language.
Nothing to fight about, but its definitely not the main language of a large part of the Indian population.
As per the 2001 Census, there were 42 Cr. Hindi speaking Indians, followed by 18 Cr. speaking Bengali, 7.5 Cr. speaking Telegu, 7 Cr. speaking Marathi, 6 Cr. speaking Tamil, 5 Cr. speaking Gujrati, 5 Cr. speaking Urdu, 3 Cr. speaking Punjabi, 3 Cr. speaking Oriya and so on.
Which makes the non-Hindi speaking Indians a far greater majority than the Hindi speaking ones.

"Region A" means the States of Bihar, Jharkhand, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and the Union Territories of Delhi and Andaman and Nicobar Islands;
"Region B" means the States of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Punjab and the Union Territory of Chandigarh ;
"Region C" means the States and the Union Territories other than those referred to in Region A & B

just4kix

Guys,

There is no need to fight here.

But I disagree with the assessment made by Wikipedia. Let me give example of Maharashtra (because I am from this state), Gujarat (because I lived there for quite a while) and MP/AP (because what I am saying has some bearing on these states).

It was Nehru's decision to form states based on language. So Andhra Pradesh was the first state carved out on this idea (circa 1960). This was quickly followed by Maharashtra and Gujarat.

Before this happened, the Vidarbha region was part of a greater state known as Central Provinces. Some northern states of MH were part of a state known as Berar. The Marathwada region of MH was part of the Nizam state. And Western Maharashtra from Mumbai and Northward till almost Ahemedabad was known as state of Bombay. The rest of Gujarat was in two states known as Kathiawad and Kutch.

When the states were formed, the demarcation was made as it exists.

But know that 80% of Maharashtra (CP, Berar, Nizam) spoke two languages - Marathi and Marathi influenced Hindi. In fact Marathi spoken by these disctricts in MH is heavily influenced by Hindi. The state of Maharashtra has no antagonism to Hindi. In fact more than 80% of MH speaks Hindi, though not perfect.

Same holds trues for Gujarat too.

As far as AP is concerned, the entire region of the former Nizam state is conversant in Hindi.

I have never found any anti Hindi bias in any state of India other than Tamil Nadu and to small extent in Kerala and South Karnataka.

So to sum up, it is wrong to state that there is a majority of non-Hindi speaking people in India. If you consider Hindi as mother tongue, then yes, the fact that non-Hindi speakers are more, is true. But stats are misleading as always. The true fact is that 75% or more of India speaks and understands Hindi.

What is puzzling to me is that educated people in TN come out in anti-Hindi protests. They say that this is destroying their language, culture, etc. It is an invasion by North on South. Why is such a feeling? The same people have no such qualms against English! What is the harm in learning a new language, a language that is understood and spoken in 75% of India?

Some years ago (around early 90s), I had visited Chennai (Madras as it then was). I had trouble communicating. People used to shut off their TVs during the DD's National Program (it was those days when cable was yet to arrive). Yet, when I went to see a (Hindi) movie, the hall was house-full (and I can bet that 70% were people who never spoke Hindi).

So why this xenophobia people?

__________________

rupu1983

I think we should learn hindi at least just for communication
Even in 2005-06 i have faced big problem of language in Erode,Coimbatore Nagercoil,Tirunelveli (TamilNadu).Once i was thinking how can i communicate with those person.
but kix did you ever feel that now in hindi also so many urdu word is present.Common people is using lot of urdu word in last few decade in hindi.So hindi become the mixed language of Sanskrit & hindi.
Like most of the people says "Intezar" not "pratiksha" or "ummed" not "Asha"

request
I think this is good debate so thread can get a place in general off topic section

just4kix

Urdu is a language born in India and derived from Parsi, Hindi and Arabic. And yes, Urdu has a strong influence on Hindi. Such things cannot be helped.

Every language gets influenced by some other language.

I could move the thread to off-topic but I do not want this to become a war.

But when it is quoted "National Language = Hindi", there are widespread protests. The constitution, official documents just say "Hindi is one of the official languages" to avoid political controversy. But that does not hide the fact that Hindi is indeed the language the nation speaks.

BTW, I have nothing against any language and I am a non-Hindi speaker.

I could move the thread to off-topic but I do not want this to become a war.

But when it is quoted "National Language = Hindi", there are widespread protests. The constitution, official documents just say "Hindi is one of the official languages" to avoid political controversy. But that does not hide the fact that Hindi is indeed the language the nation speaks.

BTW, I have nothing against any language and I am a non-Hindi speaker.

itsmemad

Even I don't understand why people of TN have that mentality...
I've never been there... But my friends who had been there.. told me that local people there don't respond if you say something in hindi... even if they know hindi!

I won't say more on this topic... As I had already said enough on another similar thread (Learning Hindi Online or thruu Books??)...

panchabhut

The "xenophobia" is the reaction of 50 years of "Official" efforts to impose Hindi on everybody in India. Whether they understand it or not. (As evident from the Official Language Act).
The frenzie has now come to such an extent that many in the Hindi belt refuse to accept any other language, including English. (Please have a look at the SP manifesto for better understanding - a thread is also active on this issue). Recently I was on the Interview Board for recruitment of Accounts Clerks for my office and several candidates from the Hindi Belt actually asked me to translate my technical terms in Hindi when all that were asked was basic Accounting Terms like Journal, Ledger and Trial Balance.

Theres nothing wrong with accepting hindi as one of the means of communication. But it is this mentality of the Hindi belt to isolate themselves in their hindi-only capsule and then expect the whole country to also follow that results in the backlash from the non-hindi speaking belts.

just4kix

Well said, pachabhut.

Hindi speaking people who behave this way are equally at fault.

itsmemad

Yeah... There are few Hindi enforcers/political parties who try to impose it on everyone... Thats wrong...

But still I feel everyone should learn Hindi as its understood by many in India... Just for the sake of normal communication... Nothing official about it!

Punch Farce

Well, that's your opinion that everyone should learn Hindi.
In the same vein it is MY opinion that everyone does not
need to learn Hindi.

Let's live with that.

-F

p.s and if you want to live/work in the south
why don't you make an effort to learn a few phrases
in the local language an/or speak in English?

Just because You come to the South and find it
difficult to communicate you want everyone here
to learn your language???? ;-)

Also I wouldn't categorize my feelings as xenophobia.
I don't fear Hindi nor do I dislike Hindi. I watch
Hindi movies, I have lots of Hindi friends, and
I love Tandoori chicken. What I don't like is the
attitude of some people who say "Thou shalt learn Hindi"

ShAdOwCoN

That is not true ..... well being there i can say that most people in TN dont know Hindi ..... I can safely say that there are 10 times more ppl who speak English than those who speak Hindi ... ofcourse every body speaks Tamil+some south Indian language like Telugu,Malayalam etc

There is very less chance that Ethnic Tamilians speak Hindi ... that may be the reason y ppl dont respond when u talk in Hindi


Anti-Hindi movement was fully politically motivated and is not reflected by the average Tamilian's sentiments

itsmemad

Thats alright...

Thanks for responding shadow... Your effort has undoubtedly cleared some presumptions I had in my mind...

Rep for you.

just4kix

@farce,

I am saying the same thing. People must try to learn the local language. I am definitely saying that when North Indians move South (or vice versa), they should not only try to learn the local language but learn to enjoy local customs, food, festivals, also. I will definitely frown on someone who says that they are unable to get good alu parathas in Villupuram or that tasty sambar is not available in Nabha.