Hindi Language History
A historical perspective on Hindi is very useful to those who are thinking of learning the Hindi language.
Firstly, English words like juggernaut, sherbet, and dungarees originate from the Hindi language, so it is not to be perceived as an old language, distant from English. Hindi, as we all know, Is India’s official language. Hindi is widely used in South Asia, in countries like Pakistan and Nepal. Because the British, in the Empire days, exported many migrant workers to other colonies, places like Fiji and Trinidad have large portions of their population who are Hindi speakers.
Fiji has had many coups in its history, but the second to last coup was as a result of indigenous Fijians revolting against the first Indian prime minister to be elected. And the most recent military-led coup claims to have as its motivation a desire for a fairer constitution which recognizes as equals the large Hindi-speaking population of Fiji, who ironically have contributed to the wealth of those who revolted against them. But that is enough of the politics.
After English and Mandarin, Hindi is the third most spoken language in the world. Because Sanskrit is where Hindi came from, and Sanscript writing is very logical and ordered, Hindi is actually a relatively easy language to learn. Hindi script is unusual to us, as it contains no capital letters. Alphabetically, there are 33 consonants and 11 vowels in Hindi. While many languages have two tiers of address, formal and informal, Hindi goes one step further and has three – formal, familiar, and intimate.
English, Portuguese, Turkish and Farsi have all influenced and enriched Hindi.
The Hindi language is broadly similar to Urdu, the official language of Pakistan. While many of the words have been softened for general speech purposes, most come from equivalent Sanskrit words. Classical works of literature about in this epic rich language.
Learning Hindi is essential as a gateway to one of the oldest civilizations. Without understanding Hindi, it is next to impossible to grasp the unique elements of Indian civilization.
If you are thinking of Hindi as an ancient language, you might be surprised to realize that it only became the official language of India in 1950, by constitutional amendment.
Who has not heard of Bollywood? – Hindi movies are huge.
In conclusion, for those seeking to understand Indian culture, and to study a language steeped in epic and classical literature works, Hindi is the correct choice. Hindi is useful from a business perspective also, as the Indian economy has opened up, and many companies, from call centers to software development houses, have operations based in or outsourced to India.
The author operates a Language website. You are invited to view his Learning Hindi Language Recommendations.
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