Hindi
Namaste! (Hello!) Hindi is one of the most spoken languages in the world. About 500 million people speak Hindi in India and abroad, and the total number of people who can understand the language may be as high as 800 million. Hindi is an Indo-Aryan language, and a direct descendant of Sanskrit. It is one of the official languages of India and is spoken primarily in north and central India, along with other languages such as Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi or Bengali. Hindi is also closely related to Urdu, the primary language of Pakistan.
Hindi Fun Facts
Bollywood! Outside Hollywood, one of the biggest film industries is located in Mumbai (previous called Bombay, hence the term “Bollywood”), where over 1000 films are produced a year.
Hinglish (“Hindi” and “English”) is the combination of the two languages that is becoming more and more popular in India, and has penetrated into advertising, popular songs, and even novels. For example, Pepsi’s 1998 slogan: Yehi hai right choice, Baby (This is the Right Choice, Baby)
The first printed book in Hindi was John Gilchrist’s Grammar of the Hindoostanee Language, which was published in 1796.
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The iconic Taj Mahal in Agra, India. Photo submitted by Praveen Kumar.
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Hard working women near Tashi Jong, a small Tibetan community in Northern India. Photo submitted by Khrystene.
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Ubiquitous Indian streetfood. Photo submitted by Kool_kash.
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The Meenakshi Amman Temple, a historic Hindu temple in Madurai, India. Photo submitted by ♥ RawRR ♥.
Hindi and the Livemocha Community
- Indians on Livemocha are learning English over 4x more than any other language
- More Indians on Livemocha speak English than Hindi - though only by a very slight margin
- More Indians on Livemocha are learning Hindi than people from any other country. Hindi learners from the United States and Brazil come in second and third.
- Outside of India, Livemocha members in the US, Pakistan, the UK, and the UAE speak Hindi in large numbers