DomainK Posted May 10, 2009 Author Posted May 10, 2009 Well when i went to Chennai in 2006 i struggled to communicate with most of the people. Especially the autowallahs who gave me dirty looks when i tried to talk in hindi and had great difficulty when i tried to talk in english and if they knew telugu there telugu was sounding as good as tamil to me.:dontknow: Visiting South India can be very difficult sometimes....especially if you are not in the cities. Locals don't understand Hindi at all and can speak only broken English. And yes, you get plenty of dirty looks when you speak Hindi. I don't know how many south Indians got unfairly treated because they don't know English, but I have got plenty of dirty looks in south India for knowing Hindi and not knowing the local language.
graphic23 Posted May 10, 2009 Posted May 10, 2009 Visiting South India can be very difficult sometimes....especially if you are not in the cities. Locals don't understand Hindi at all and can speak only broken English. And yes, you get plenty of dirty looks when you speak Hindi. I don't know how many south Indians got unfairly treated because they don't know English, but I have got plenty of dirty looks in south India for knowing Hindi and not knowing the local language. Just wondering, when in AP, which place did you visit ?
yoda Posted May 10, 2009 Posted May 10, 2009 In effect you have castigated over 90% of Indians as village idiots right off the bat. If you do not want to be tagged yourself as an idiot for making such stupid comment I dare say you should not be making such weird comments in the first place. Here are the facts for "English speakers" in India. 100 million http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/lan_eng_spe-language-english-speakers I would be interested if you, or any of the Anglophile brigade here, can show me even 200 million English speakers in India. I will take any half decent authority on this one. 200 million number is basically less than half of Hindi speakers, so even that would not be a patch on Hindi mind you. Nutshell - By your logic if you do not know Hindi you are a idiot. Correction. Regional Language ONLY when one travels Down South. I have never heard a Hindi speaker have problems in Kashmir, Haryana, Punjab, Gujrat, Maharastra, Orissa heck even parts of Andhra (Hyderabad etc). Last time I checked they were ALL part of India. Sure it would be great to know regional language but a Hindi speaker will survive in states ranging from Assam to Kashmir, it is only South of Vindhyas that this whole "regional language" dialect starts. And I should know I have trekked all the way to Sikkim (incidentally a state most Southies wont even be able to find on a map). So lets put down the numbers shall we? 442 million (as first language...as compared to a grand 226,449 who use English as first language!). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Indian_languages_by_total_speakers Right off the bat that is 40% plus of Indians. Add the Punjabis, Haryanvis, Gujjus, Marathis, Chattisgarhi etc etc and a good chance would be anything between 60-70%. That would make 2 out of 3 Indians a Hindi speaker, 3rd one being a clueless ***** well whatever. A most fascinating piece of this whole lingo debate is that all this nonsense is basically spewed by high moral ground Hindus. Never heard a Muslim have any problems with Hindi. Most of them, if not all, know Urdu which is similar to Hindi. Half of the time I can not converse with a fellow Karnataka Hindu(unless I speak English) but no such problems with a Kannada Muslim. A tailpiece at the end. One of the posters (Flamy) mentions how some Hindi speakers were ganging up on someone who could not speak Hindi. I will take his/her word for it but I have to say I see that nonsense everyday. Heck forget personal experience I have seen "esteemed" posters berate couple of Hindi speakers right here @ICF with an angle - "Hey do you have problems with English"? Reminds me of the time in school/college where girls would berate State school students because they could not speak English! Seems like nothing has changed. And yes Hindi is Official Language NOT National Language. Why? Go ask south of Vindhyas! xxx Thanks for agreeing that Hindi is NOT THE National Language. That was the point. Rest of your gibberish about Hindus/Muslims/... is irrelevant. Last thing I want to get involved with folks on this board is some endless discussion about religions. I am sure dr wouldn't mind if you buzz him. And regarding my post about which language is essential for whom where, that is based on my personal experience. It could and should differ from yours. And before you take a personal jab at me since we dumb ass southies can't even identify any state outside of the four southern ones on the map (a cheap shot I would never take against someone btw, shows your class really), I have studied, lived and worked outside of the 4 southern states. Regarding the rest of your post about Hindi/English and the relevance of each of those, I am not interested in debating it with a Hindi zealot like you. Sorry.
EnterTheVoid Posted May 10, 2009 Posted May 10, 2009 Hindi is not the national language. If it is, than everybody is expected to read, write and speak it. I think, I understand bits and phrases. I know the language but not fluent enough to engage in a meaningful conversation, let alone read or write it.
Macj Posted May 10, 2009 Posted May 10, 2009 I thought Id ignore this thread but the irritant in me just thought Id chime in. Hindi was supposed to be the uniting factor for our country, a language that all and sundry across the length and breadth could use to build and forge a better future.I agree that one SHOULD know Hindi. That being said alas there were some grave issues that were totally ignored. Hindi or Hindivi as it was originally called is an amalgam not a pure language , it's basically modern day Hindustani a language concocted by corrupting Sanskrit and Persian, mixing Turkish and Arabic into it. Tamil is a classical language, a diglossic one, written in a script unchanged for over 2000 years and to the chauvinists pushing it back and bringing such an amalgam as Hindi to the fore and thrusting it on the largely agrarian population was seen as unwanton domination by Sanskritic forces. The theory of the Aryan invasion perculating the bylanes of TN didnt help either. If Hindus cherish the unique position of Sanskrit in Indian society, Tamilians have a similar attachment to Tamil. So it was quite obvious Tamils at the time would have a problem with Hindi as a mandatory language displacing Tamil. BTW I speak Tamil, Kannada, Hindi and 2 more languages unique to TN , have no problems speaking Hindi. If you're irked by Southies not learning Hindi, I should be peeved that Northies dont make 1 attempt at learning a south Indian dravidian language even after studying there for over 4 years.
Macj Posted May 10, 2009 Posted May 10, 2009 Take Pakistan Urdu is their official language yet its only the native tongue of 8% of their population, the Mohajirs, now everyone speaks it in an attempt to unify the country.
yoda Posted May 10, 2009 Posted May 10, 2009 Visiting South India can be very difficult sometimes....especially if you are not in the cities. Locals don't understand Hindi at all and can speak only broken English. And yes, you get plenty of dirty looks when you speak Hindi. I don't know how many south Indians got unfairly treated because they don't know English, but I have got plenty of dirty looks in south India for knowing Hindi and not knowing the local language. You think you can get by in Delhi and Mumbai by just knowing English? When I visited Bombay (which has been years ago), even bus numbers were not in English. I would have to remember the shape of the letters to even know which bus to take. WTF!
Kohum Posted May 10, 2009 Posted May 10, 2009 You think you can get by in Delhi and Mumbai by just knowing English? When I visited Bombay (which has been years ago)' date=' [b']even bus numbers were not in English. I would have to remember the shape of the letters to even know which bus to take. WTF! Just proves the point that IF you had learnt Hindi - you would have known numbers [devnagari script] But you didn't ! So enjoy madi And what IS this fixation with English??
Holysmoke Posted May 10, 2009 Posted May 10, 2009 You think you can get by in Delhi and Mumbai by just knowing English? When I visited Bombay (which has been years ago)' date=' even bus numbers were not in English. I would have to remember the shape of the letters to even know which bus to take. WTF![/quote'] Mumbai has had bus numbers in english since at least 15 years. The numbers on the front are in hindi, and the numbers on the side are in english.
Kohum Posted May 10, 2009 Posted May 10, 2009 Mumbai has had bus numbers in english since at least 15 years. The numbers on the front are in hindi' date=' and the numbers on the side are in english.[/quote'] :giggle::giggle: He didn't bother to read , he was too busy WTF'ing !!
yoda Posted May 10, 2009 Posted May 10, 2009 :giggle::giggle: He didn't bother to read , he was too busy WTF'ing !! Well, if you had bothered to read what I had typed, you would have read that I said this was "years" ago. And even if there are English numbers are on the side now, that is still very difficult cause by the time the bus comes you need to identify the right number by seeing from a distance, get yourself ready in line, etc. Can't be scrambling to read the number only after you have clear side view. But it is progress for the most progressive city in the country to finally find a place on a bus to put some English numbers.
yoda Posted May 10, 2009 Posted May 10, 2009 Just proves the point that IF you had learnt Hindi - you would have known numbers [devnagari script] But you didn't ! So enjoy madi And what IS this fixation with English?? WTF is madi? And what is this fixation with Hindi?
Holysmoke Posted May 10, 2009 Posted May 10, 2009 Well, if you had bothered to read what I had typed, you would have read that I said this was "years" ago. And even if there are English numbers are on the side now, that is still very difficult cause by the time the bus comes you need to identify the right number by seeing from a distance, get yourself ready in line, etc. Can't be scrambling to read the number only after you have clear side view. But it is progress for the most progressive city in the country to finally find a place on a bus to put some English numbers. finally? dude this has been there for MINIMUM 15 years, and thats as far as I can gaurantee because thats as far as I remember. You clearly havent been to Mumbai recently. Nowadays they have LED's with the number changing languages every 5 seconds. As for "seeing the bus from a distance", "forming a line', you are living in an idealisitic world. Try taking a bus in Mumbai nowadays, and see how many people form a line, and how it takes 15 mins since you see a bus from a distance to when the bus reaches you.
Master Blaster Posted May 10, 2009 Posted May 10, 2009 I dont know about you guys but my Hindi teacher was a hot milf, I always paid attention in that period
punjabi_khota Posted May 10, 2009 Posted May 10, 2009 I thought Id ignore this thread but the irritant in me just thought Id chime in. Hindi was supposed to be the uniting factor for our country, a language that all and sundry across the length and breadth could use to build and forge a better future.I agree that one SHOULD know Hindi. That being said alas there were some grave issues that were totally ignored. Hindi or Hindivi as it was originally called is an amalgam not a pure language , it's basically modern day Hindustani a language concocted by corrupting Sanskrit and Persian, mixing Turkish and Arabic into it. Tamil is a classical language, a diglossic one, written in a script unchanged for over 2000 years and to the chauvinists pushing it back and bringing such an amalgam as Hindi to the fore and thrusting it on the largely agrarian population was seen as unwanton domination by Sanskritic forces. The theory of the Aryan invasion perculating the bylanes of TN didnt help either. If Hindus cherish the unique position of Sanskrit in Indian society, Tamilians have a similar attachment to Tamil. So it was quite obvious Tamils at the time would have a problem with Hindi as a mandatory language displacing Tamil. BTW I speak Tamil, Kannada, Hindi and 2 more languages unique to TN , have no problems speaking Hindi. If you're irked by Southies not learning Hindi, I should be peeved that Northies dont make 1 attempt at learning a south Indian dravidian language even after studying there for over 4 years. So Tamils are special breed, different from hindus ??
Macj Posted May 10, 2009 Posted May 10, 2009 So Tamils are special breed' date=' different from hindus ??[/quote'] I know you are being wantonly facetious but truth be told non Brahmin Tamilians do not consider Sanskrit a liturgical language associated with Hinduism nor do they award any respect to it courtesy the Rationalist Movement. In fact there is a strong movement in TN to replace all Sanskrit slokas in Temples with Tamil ones.
punjabi_khota Posted May 10, 2009 Posted May 10, 2009 I know you are being wantonly facetious but truth be told non Brahmin Tamilians do not consider Sanskrit a liturgical language associated with Hinduism nor do they award any respect to it courtesy the Rationalist Movement. In fact there is a strong movement in TN to replace all Sanskrit slokas in Temples with Tamil ones. No I really wanna know..so you are saying ALL other hindus except Non Brahmin Tamilians are OK with sanskrit ? So like 95% of all hindus in India don't have a problem with sanskrit and hence, hindi ?
Macj Posted May 10, 2009 Posted May 10, 2009 No I really wanna know..so you are saying ALL other hindus except Non Brahmin Tamilians are OK with sanskrit ? So like 95% of all hindus in India don't have a problem with sanskrit and hence' date=' hindi ?[/quote'] Not sure the percentage adds up but majority of Hindus including Tamil Brahmins do not have a problem with Sanskrit hence Hindi should be easily acceptable. TN is pretty much the only state which has imposed restrictions on Sanskrit in temples, I dont think any other state has such an issue.
Guest Gunner Posted May 10, 2009 Posted May 10, 2009 This whole thread has confirmed to me that we will invaded by foreigners just like it was 800 years ago and ass****ed stupid and still wouldn't learn a damn thing. Congratulations!!
yoda Posted May 10, 2009 Posted May 10, 2009 I dont know about you guys but my Hindi teacher was a hot milf' date=' I always paid attention in that period[/quote'] :hysterical:
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