LANGUAGES
Because there is no single national language developed in India, to this day, mainly English is spoken here, which is e.g.. the official language of the judiciary, though the British colonizers almost left the country 40 years ago. Different languages are spoken in each region – they, too, were the main criterion in determining the boundaries of states. It stands out as much as 18 languages, officially recognized in the constitution, which belong to two families: in-Doaran and Dravidian. In India, there are over 1600 minor languages and dialects, which was recorded during the census of 1991 r. No wonder then, that the people of this country have so many communication problems!
The Indo-Aryan languages belong to the Indo-European language family, which also includes English. They were spoken by the peoples of central Asia, which conquered the territories of the present Indian state. Dravidian languages were used by the indigenous people of the south of the peninsula, who did not resist the influence of Sanskrit and Hindi.
Most of these languages are also written, which is used equally with English. However, in a few states, e.g. in Gujarat, the subtitles are in the local language only, while in others, as in Himacal Pradesh, almost exclusively in English. To find out about the multitude of scriptures in India, just look at the five-rupture banknote, with the inscriptions v 13 languages. Viewed from the top, these are: asami, bengali, gujarali, kannada, Malay, hindi, oria, panjabi, rajasthani, Tamil, telugu iiirdu.
The Indian government has put in a lot of effort, to eliminate English and make Hindi the only official language in the country. However, the main stumbling block is this, that that language, dominant in the north, it has little in common with the southern Dravidian languages. Hindi is spoken by a few inhabitants of this part of the country at present. No wonder then, that just from the south, especially from Tamil Nadu, the greatest number of Hindi opponents comes from, who are demanding the maintenance of the English language.
For most educated Indians, English has become the mother tongue, and many who speak their own local dialect, treats him second, no less important language. Therefore, tourists coming to India usually have no trouble communicating with the Indians, who often have to use English, to communicate even with each other. Nevertheless, it will be useful to know at least a few local words.
Hindi
Nasal vowels are shown in bold.
Please note, that aha is the equivalent of the universal OK. The use of this word can also signal, that someone understood the interlocutor, but disagrees with his words. Although the authorities are trying to make Hindi the official language of India, only a few southern people know how to use it. Most Tamilians, however, know English. Tamil language is very difficult to learn, and this is due to the complicated pronunciation.
Numbers
Hindus express the numbers in the tens, hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands and tens of millions. A hundred thousand is lakh, and a hundred million are called crore.
These two terms almost always replace their English counterparts orally and in writing. Larger numbers are also written with these words; for example, three hundred thousand it 30 00 000, and not 300 000, and 10500 000 appears here as 1 50 00 000 (1 crore 5 lakh). If prices are quoted in these units, means, that you should pay in rupees, and not in any other currency.
Hindu number naming from 10 do 100 it is not subject to any rules, by which to form compound numerals. So you have to memorize everyone.