Languages in India: Introduction Guide

India is a land of different languages. There is no country in the world can be compared with India on its language diversities. The number of mother tongues in India is 1652. The oldest of the languages before even people learned to speak in other parts of the world, Indian history has records of people conversed in specific languages. There are inscriptions as old as 5000 years and more which was written in Sanskrit, Tamil and many more.

Though India has 1652 mother tongue speaking people, the number of languages spoken by a large number of people is 150. Few have written structure; few do not have. It is interesting to note that every language brings its own tradition to their community and it is notably different from the other cultures. The Indian government has made 22 languages as official languages.

The literary history of Indian languages is very long. Few languages which exist in India has its roots in the tribal ages, but the population of people who speak that language is more than that of few European languages spoken by the Europeans.

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Indian languages belong to 4 categories

1. Indo – European – Indo – Aryan
2. Dravidian
3. Mon – Khmer
4. Sino – Tibetan

India’s beauty in languages lies in the natural way the language diversity has happened among people. More precisely, the language difference is also attributed to geographical locations. Indo – Europe is mostly spoken in Northern and North-Western parts of India. Whereas Dravidian is spoken in Central and Southern India. Sino – Tibetan, and Mon – Khmer is widely spoken in the Northeastern parts of India.

Prominent Speaking Languages of India

Not everyone speaks all the languages, but you can certainly find many people speaking at least 2 to 3 languages fluently. The language barrier among Indians is also overcome as most of the Indians speak English. Here we will see the information of a few prominent languages of India.

Hindi

Hindi is again an Indo – European language and is has its clear roots with Sanskrit. Hindi is widely spoken in India, though their mother tongues are different. Most of the schools in India, teach Hindi along with their local language and English.

Hindi| When did the language originate?

Scholars believe that Hindi came into existence from the 17^th Century AD

Hindi | Where is it spoken?

Hindi is spoken in many parts of the country; however, the native people of Hindi speakers belong to the below-mentioned states.

Hindi | Speaking Population

422 Million people in India speak Hindi in India

Hindi | Interesting Facts

1. English language has borrowed a lot of words form Hindi e.g. Bungalow, Jungle, pyjamas
2. Hindi script is phonetic, it is spoken as it is written unlike English

Sanskrit

This is language of Gods. Sanskrit is an old Indo – Aryan Language of ancient India. It is one of the 22 official languages of India. In religions like Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, Sanskrit is considered sacred. Many books and scriptures were written in Sanskrit.

Sanskrit | When did the language originate?

It is said that Sanskrit is 4000 years old, some even say 6000 years old. It is a fact that Sanskrit is one of the oldest languages of the world and that belongs to India

Sanskrit | Where is it spoken?

Sanskrit is a language with a vast vocabulary. Certain scripts are missing after World War II when Germans wanted to decrypt nuclear technology. It is not widely spoken these days, however, there are some villages which still follow the culture and tradition by speaking it.

Please read below as Place, State

Sanskrit | Speaking Population

A total of 24, 821 people have registered Sanskrit as their mother tongue in India.

Sanskrit | Interesting Facts

1. It is the only language which can use fewer words to convey more
2. A report submitted by NASA states that they make 6^th and 7^th generation computers is based on Sanskrit language, it is the language of computers too.

Bengali

Bengali is the 2^nd most largely spoken language in India, of course, it is an Indo – Aryan language. Bengali is a language that emerged from a mixture of many communities coming to this part of the world in different centuries. Vedda from Sri Lanka, Turks, Persians, and few Mediterranean communities joined and became Bengali.

Bengali| When did the language originate?

It is proved and believed that Bengali originated in India during the 10^th Century AD

Bengali | Where is it spoken?

Bengali is the language of West Bengal and it is also widely spoken in many parts of India.

Bengali | Speaking Population

Around 300 million people in India speak Bengali

Bengali | Interesting Facts

1. Bengali evolved from Sanskrit
2. Indian National Anthem is composed in Bengali

Marathi

Marathi is widely spoken in western India. More precisely ‘Mumbai speaks Marathi’. Marathi ranks 10^th in the world’s most spoken languages

Marathi| When did the language originate?

Marathi is 1300 years old in India.

Marathi | Where is it spoken?

Marathi | Speaking Population

83 million people in India speak Marathi

Marathi | Interesting Facts

1. Marathi has external influences of Arabic and other Asian languages in its formation
2. Marathi is the 4^th most spoken language in India

Telugu

Telugu is a Dravidian language. It is one of 22 scheduled official languages of India.

Telugu| When did the language originate?

Telugu came into existence from 400 BC

Telugu | Where is it spoken?

Telugu is widely spoken in states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana

Telugu | Speaking Population

Roughly 84 million people in India speak Telugu

Telugu | Interesting Facts

1. Speaking the language Telugu activates 72000 neurons, more than any other language in the world does.
2. Few Sri Lankan tribes in their country speak Telugu

Kannada

Kannada is a language closely connected to Telugu. It is a Dravidian language and oldest surviving language in India.

Kannada| When did the language originate?

Kannada shares the same period of origination as Telugu – 400 BC

Kannada | Where is it spoken?

Kannada is the official language of Karnataka.

Kannada | Speaking Population

Around 44 Million people speak Kannada in India

Kannada | Interesting Facts

1. Kannada is one of the languages of India to be featured in Wikipedia Logo
2. Kannada is considered to be 99 % perfect scientifically

Tamil

Tamil is one of the oldest and greatest languages in India. It is the language after Sanskrit has scriptures in making Atomic Bombs 4000 years ago.

Tamil | When did the language originate?

It is the oldest language, how old? Scholars finally believed that Tamil is in India from 5000 years

Tamil | Where is it spoken?

Tamil is the mother language of Tamil Nadu

Tamil | Speaking Population

Around 70 Million people speak Tamil in India

Tamil | Interesting Facts

1. Tamil was declared as a Classical Language by UNESCO
2. Tamil is the official language of Singapore and Sri Lanka

While these being the prominent languages of India, there are many other languages you will come across when you visit India. Assamese, Punjabi, Gujarati, Odiya, Malayalam, Kashmiri, Urdu and so on. All the languages have their own style and culture imbibed in it.

What brings unity in Languages among Indians is English.

English came into existence from the British rule. It is a common language in India. English is taught as 1^st language in most of the schools. Western countries outsource most of their customer service jobs either voice or non-voice to India because of English proficiency.

Come to India and enjoy the different languages spoken by the people and also converse with them in English and …. Why not learn one of our local languages???