# Marathi in Bombay and Pune.



## panjabigator

How important is knowing Marathi (or even Gujarati) in Bombay? Would one get by knowing just Hindi or just Marathi?  I know the Maharashtrian government is trying to augment the importance of Marathi and outright prefers its usage to Hindi in the political spheres, but how far has this tendency trickled down to the lower levels?  Bombay is famous for its street urchin Hindi (_Bambaiya_ slang) and I'm sure Bollywood has done a great deal to promulgate Hindi's usage and importance there, but I never heard/read that one must or should know Marathi to live in Bombay.  I'm also curious about Pune in this same regard: with such a large non-Maharashtrian community residing there, does urban parlance tend to favor Hindi?

I know of an Oriya girl who grew up in Mumbai and she recounted to me that she had to learn Marathi in school, but she refused to speak it and denied knowledge of it.  Is this linguistic antipathy common among the youth in Bombay and does it follow any sort of pro-Hindi/English speaking trend?  I am reminded of Barcelona, which has a very large migrant population, but many have assimilated to being a Catalan speaker as well, or at least respect the language.

I've long had an interest in this question and have been spurred to bring it up after hearing of these recent terrorist attacks.  My prayers go out to Bombay right now - I hope that the perpetrators are apprehended and that safty and normalcy return.


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## Illuminatus

Hi PG,

I will try to answer your question from as non-political a perspective as I can manage.
In Bombay, knowledge of Hindi is almost sufficient for day to day interaction. This is primarily attributed to its being a metro and of course the whole Bollywood influence.

If you want to get work done in Government Offices etc, it is always better to communicate in Marathi, because, people normally become more helpful if addressed in their mother tongue.

Bambaiya Hindi is of course famous and is often heard on the streets. Some constructions sound particularly irritating to my ears too, but I guess we just have to live it. Eg. _Main aaj wahaan jaayega. _It is common to use third person forms with first person subjects.

Pune can be called a fully Maharashtrian city and knowledge of Marathi would be much more helpful. Also, the Puneri Marathi speakers are generally more purist and _roadside-type_ usage would normally be frowned upon (or so I think).

Young people in Bombay normally tend more towards Hindi, especially in colleges/schools, which see lots of cultures mingling together.

In Pune, I believe Marathi is much more common between people in schools/colleges.

In both cities, expect to hear Marathi in government offices.


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## panjabigator

Thanks again for this info Illum.  I just reread it as I prepare for a trip to North India with a short 3 day excursion to Bombay.


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## Illuminatus

Oh, _Bon voyage!_

Hope India treats you well!


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## lcfatima

Rab de havale PG. Have fun. 

Very interesting coversation.

The "main jaiyega" is very common in Dubai, too. Somehow there really are a lot of connections between the Bombay "slang" and the Hindi of the Dubai laborers/uneducated workers.


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## bakshink

Don't call Bombay as Bombay in Bombay, call it Mumbai. Amchi Mumbai and Amchi Pune (Whether Pune will be Amchi or Amcha I don't know. Illumine me Illuminatus!!) Don't get in to an argument with MNS goons.You won't have any problem of communication in Maharashtra. Hindi is understood by everyone. 
Try all your Hindi/Punjabi including using Asse.n and Sadey for yourself in Chandigarh. No one will frown. I may be there in the last week of June. My cell no. is 9876478238. It's awfully hot there these days. Have a good trip, if being in India in this summer can let the trip be a pleasant one.


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## panjabigator

Thank you for your well wishes.  ICF, I had the interesting experience of speaking Hindi with two Nepali women.  It was great - 3 non-natives using Hindi as the link language.  They spoke in the masculine and objects had no gender.  Perhaps Hindi/Urdu works well as a lingua franca amongst Dubai South Asian communities as well - I do know plenty of Indo-Americans who learned the language from films and though many of them don't use gender or object agreement, their Hindi is quite functional.

I somehow never remember to call in Mumbai, and I've met people who recoiled at the name change.  I guess I _should_ start...

Illum, and thoughts on the name change?  Is Bombay still common among Bombaykars?


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## Subhash Kumar

bakshink said:


> Whether Pune will be Amchi or Amcha I don't know.


Amchi Mumbai and Amche Pune!


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## bakshink

Welocme to Forum Subhash

I drew similarity from Humari and Humara in Hindi. Like in Hindi it will be Humari Mumbai and Humara Nagpur (feminine gender for  "i" and "e" ending town names and masculine gender for town names ending with "a"). So will it be Amche Nagpur and Amche Sholapur? Is Amche for a neutral or third gender you speak about in your other post?


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## Subhash Kumar

panjabigator said:


> with a short 3 day excursion to Bombay.


Some suggestions (though  not asked for):
1. In Mumbai, call it Mumbai
2. Watch a couple of Bollywood flicks that are abundant with Mumbaiya Hindi just before you visit Mumbai.
3. Okay to speak Hindi as there are people with all different native languages. As far as possible, do NOT use pure Hindi. People may not understand it correctly  Use abundant English words ... one English word in a sentence.
4. Use masculine verb form in all sentences no matter what. e.g. Gaadi aayaa, bus gayaa, rickshaw milaa (say rickshaw; do not say Auto).


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## Subhash Kumar

bakshink said:


> Welocme to Forum Subhash
> 
> I drew similarity from Humari and Humara in Hindi. Like in Hindi it will be Humari Mumbai and Humara Nagpur (feminine gender for "i" and "e" ending town names and masculine gender for town names ending with "a"). So will it be Amche Nagpur and Amche Sholapur? Is Amche for a neutral or third gender you speak about in your other post?


Yes, it is the neutral gender. i.e. Amche Nagpur and Amche Solapur.
I think in Marathi, most of the town names are either feminine or neutral gender .. but I can recall some small villages with masculine names ... like Karnala, Arnala etc .. yes mostly ending with 'a'.
State and country names can be masculine like Amcha Maharashtra, Aamcha Punjab or Amcha Bharat.
Actually, going more deep into this Amcha amchi stuff ... Marathi also has an inclusive form of this (perhaps like Dravidian languages??). So more correctly, it is Appli Mumbai, Aaple Pune, Aaple Nagpur, Aaplaa Bhaarat. Here, when one says aapli, it includes the other person (the one addressed to) in it.


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## bakshink

Is Appli and Aaple same as Apna, Apni in Hindi? 
Though Humara too I think includes both speaker and the one being spoken too, depending on the context like "Humara Bharat" includes all citizens. 
So "Arey apna Tendulkar zyada accha khelta hai is same as Humara Tendulkar.


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## Subhash Kumar

bakshink said:


> Is Appli and Aaple same as Apna, Apni in Hindi?
> Though Humara too I think includes both speaker and the one being spoken too, depending on the context like "Humara Bharat" includes all citizens.
> So "Arey apna Tendulkar zyada accha khelta hai is same as Humara Tendulkar.


Oh yes .. Aapli, aaplaa etc is same as Apna in Hindi. Sorry for not recalling the Hindi equivalent.
Yes, if talking to other fellow Indian, I would say aapla Tendulkar .. but talking to an Australian or Pakistani, I would say Aamcha Tendulkar 

In short, Amcha/Amchi/Amche does NOT include the other person (in correct Marathi).
BTW, for "hum" in Hindi, Marathi has two words ... Aamhi (does NOT include the addressed person) and AapaN (includes addressed person).


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## Expatobserver

bakshink said:


> Don't call Bombay as Bombay in Bombay, call it Mumbai. Amchi Mumbai and Amchi Pune (Whether Pune will be Amchi or Amcha I don't know. Illumine me Illuminatus!!) Don't get in to an argument with MNS goons.You won't have any problem of communication in Maharashtra. Hindi is understood by everyone.
> Try all your Hindi/Punjabi including using Asse.n and Sadey for yourself in Chandigarh. No one will frown. I may be there in the last week of June. My cell no. is 9876478238. It's awfully hot there these days. Have a good trip, if being in India in this summer can let the trip be a pleasant one.



Mumbai is feminine, Pune is neuter. So Amcha Pune.


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## drkpp

Expatobserver said:


> Mumbai is feminine, Pune is neuter. So Amcha Pune.


The neuter gender form is Amche
Masculine: Amchaa
Feminine: Amchee
Neuter: Amche


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## Birdcall

I will be spending a couple of months in Mumbai this winter. So far, Hindi has been sufficient in communication (though I do acknowledge genders, I keep my vocabulary Mumbaiyya). Still, since I'm staying for an extended period of time, I think it'd be useful to know some Marathi besides "kaay zhaalaa." Does anyone know of a good Marathi-learning book? If it helps, I really liked Teach Yourself Hindi by Rupert Snell.


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