# Hindi: understood throughout India?



## cad12

I realize that the different regions all have their native, local languages. But can most people speak passable Hindi in addition to their local languages? 

Since Hindi is the official government language, is it safe to assume that most people in India will have at least learned it in school?


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## Illuminatus

Hindi is widely spoken and well understood in Northern India and fairly understood in the East. The extreme North-East has less speakers.

In the South, as far as Mahararastra, Hindi is quite widespread. The Speakers of the four South Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala have still not embraced the language that much.

Hindi speakers have serious communication problems when they visit the South.


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## cad12

So, if a Hindi speaker were to go to southern India, would they be best off trying to get by with Hindi? Or would they have a better chance with English?


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## Setwale_Charm

It would best to pick up some of the local language, I suspect, cad


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## lcfatima

I would suggest that one uses English over Hindi in South India. It is a matter of language politics as well.

A side note, I live in the Persian Gulf and I do find that South Asians who do not speak English will communicate with me and with other co-workers who do not speak their languages in a sort of broken pidgin Hindi. Once might find a group of Bangladeshis, Pathans from Pakistan, and Keralites all working together. So there are some situations in which Hindi is just the easiest to use to get the point across.


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## cad12

Setwale_Charm said:


> It would best to pick up some of the local language, I suspect, cad


Naturally. 

I was simply asking from the vantage point of a strictly English/Hindi speaker who wouldn't know any of the southern languages. 

Thanks everyone.


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## Illuminatus

If he/she visits rural areas, neither Hindi nor English will help. In cities, English will definitely win over Hindi.

In fact, South Indians have, in general, a higher level of English proficiency than North Indians


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## Setwale_Charm

Illuminatus said:


> If he/she visits rural areas, neither Hindi nor English will help. In cities, English will definitely win over Hindi.
> 
> In fact, South Indians have, in general, a higher level of English proficiency than North Indians


 
That's what I meant rather... That was my impression.
 So which language would be dominant (to any degree) in the South?


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## Illuminatus

Depends on the state. Many South Indian (SI) speakers understand more than one SI language. 

Andhra Pradesh - Telugu
Karnataka - Kannada
Kerala - Malayalam 
Tamil Nadu - Tamil


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## capsi

well, India having so many rich languages, there are certain ppl  who don't believe in one language policy [i'm one of them]; so when during the early years of post independence,
it was thought we should get rid of the foreign language[namely english] and only use Hindi[which is very new language,created by mixing sanskrit based 'hindustani' and urdu,farshi etc] and it was opposed by south india,as unlike north/east/west languages of that part belong to a different language group not the Indo-European group, so ppl of those areas find it hard to learn hindi ; so in the end internal map of india was redrawn on the basis of languages and English and Hindi are made official language.there is no national language in india.

but due to bollywood movies/songs Hindi has become popular in India and majority of Indians understand it[even south indians, but they pretend the opposite]. nothing binds india more than the bollywood movies and songs......as long as there is bollywood no political power can break india


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## macta123

South Indian languages comes in the Dravidian family.
English is the _lingua franca _of India. So there are good chances that you can get along with it in bigger cities.

 Hindi is spoken in the North and North Western India

Hindi speakers may have a slight communication difficulties in other part of India. 

 For example in rural parts of Maharashtra or Bengal .. nobody will completely get your message through in Hindi/English. In urban areas both the language may do fine.

 Same is the case all over India.

Then, there are problems with dialect. For eg, if you go to Rajasthan (deep interiors), the locals may speak Rajasthani ( a variation of Hindi ). So, some visitors/travellers may have a tough time communicating well. 

And so on... (the linguistic saga continues... )


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## bjoleniacz

macta123 said:


> South Indian languages comes in the Dravidian family.
> English is the _lingua franca _of India. So there are good chances that you can get along with it in bigger cities.



Lets say I wanted to go and do social work in India.  Is it even worth learning Hindi, since I already speak English, and many people don't even speak Hindi?


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## Illuminatus

Many _social workers_ come to India and spend time here. I would say that learning Hindi/the language prevalent in the area where you want to work would help you connect best with the people you want to help. They most certainly won't know English, and will appreciate and feel you closer if you can connect at the language level.


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## shaloo

Setwale_Charm said:


> That's what I meant rather... That was my impression.
> So which language would be dominant (to any degree) in the South?


 
Hey all..! I'm from South India.
If you're looking at cities, I'd say English, generally.
But to communicate with the people in the utilities sections, like the public transport, vendors, and general public, knowledge of the local language is very much an advantage and essential too, if that's a semi-urban or rural town/ village (this is for all the four states here)

The situation again varies, depending on which state you are in.

In Hyderabad, Hindi, Telugu, English, Urdu are spoken.
In fact, most of the North Indian population prefer to live in Hyderabad because of its multi-cultural co-existence.
Bangalore and Hyderabad would be most-preferred, for all the South Indian population, because you can find people from all the four SI states here.
To live in Chennai, you NEED to have at least some working knowledge of Tamil.
And in Kerala, Malayalam or English would do.


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## palomnik

Hindi will get you okay as far south as Goa, more or less. While it may not be the local language in any given area, people will generally understand it.

I'm living currently in Tamil Nadu (well, almost - Pondicherry, which is officially a separate state), and Tamil and English are the only two languages that it is worth knowing here. People study Hindi in school, and there is a certain sense that it is upwardly mobile to speak Hindi, but there is also a lot of resistance to learning Hindi here, and anyway English is more useful.

If you get away from the major cities it's really difficult to get around in Tamil Nadu without knowing Tamil. I am currently working full bore on learning Tamil, and it's not an easy language - or maybe I'm just getting old. Hindi seems incomparibly easier.


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## MarX

cad12 said:


> I realize that the different regions all have their native, local languages. But can most people speak passable Hindi in addition to their local languages?
> 
> Since Hindi is the official government language, is it safe to assume that most people in India will have at least learned it in school?


My friend comes from Kerala.
He learned Hindi at school, but he doesn't speak it and understands English much better than Hindi.


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## terredepomme

So do Souther Indians in general have a better grasp of Hindi or English? Which is easier for them to learn? Do Hindi-speakers find the non-European indic languages harder than English?


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## shaloo

South Indians in the state capitals have a better grasp on English than Hindi. 

(Read: Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai & Tiruvanantapuram for Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala)

Again, in Hyderabad, people are equally good in Hindi and/or English.

Now, when it comes to any South Indian city, town or village apart from the state capitals, you NEED to know the respective local language! 

(Read: Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam)

I speak three of the four languages above.


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