Let’s Talk About Hindi

Namaste Everyone! Today, Let’s Talk About Hindi.

India is a country rich of languages, dialects, and cultures. Hindi, its official language, is spoken by around 500 million people. The second official language is English but there are several other languages that are quite relevant, depending on the region. Bengali, for example, is the second most spoken language in the country and Marathi is the third. Then, among many others, we have Gujarati, Tamil and Kannada. India is also a country in constant development. According to the World Bank, India’s economy grew at an annual average of 6.5% between 2000 and 2018. Considering the rapid growth of the Indian economy many companies are starting to consider opening up to its market. To do so, it is important to study the right approach. One way is to consider translating your content into Hindi as a way to better connect with the people of India.

HERE’S WHY

1. The number of internet users in urban India rose by 4% in 2020, reaching 323 million. The number of internet users now accounts for 67% of the urban population.  This means that there is a great opportunity for online businesses to reach new and many potential customers and users.
2. By limiting your content to English you will have more of a “surface” presence. By translating your content into Hindi, you’ll be able to reach and connect with the people at a deeper level. 
3. According to an article of The Economic Times, “the urban share of Hindi is as high as 37.2% as first-choice language and the all-India share is 38.5%. English, in contrast, has just 1.2% share in rural, 4.1% in urban and 2.5% in the aggregate. Among newspaper readers, Hindi’s primal position in those three slices of India is reflected in the 98%, 86% and 44% shares, respectively, reported from these regions.” This data shows why investing in translations into Hindi is a good choice. 

A BIT OF HISTORY

The journey of the Hindi language begins from the Aryan invasion around 1800 BCE to North-Western India. Hindi is part of the Indo-Aryan group of languages within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. It is the lingua franca of the Indian Subcontinent and its formation stands on the inclusion of words from not only the myriad vernaculars from around the subcontinent but also from the Mughal, English, Portugal and French rulers India had in the past. 

INTERESTING FACTS

1. There are a lot of spoken languages in India.

According to 2011’s census, there are a total of 121 languages and 270 mother tongues in India.

2. Each letter of the Hindi alphabet has its own independent and distinct sound.

For this reason, Hindi words are pronounced as they are written making it easy to learn Hindi words.

3. Hindi speakers are present in more than 20 countries outside India. 

In fact, Hindi-speaking countries excluding India are the US, Mauritius, South Africa, Yemen, Uganda, Singapore, Pakistan, Nepal and New Zealand.

Curious to know how we can help? Get in touch!