Which Indian language to learn (for pleasure)?

Hi! I'm looking for a new language to learn (I speak English and Russian) and am really attracted to Indian languages, but I really don't know which to learn - it's really difficult to make a decision as there's so many Indian languages. It's between Gujarati, Tamil, Punjabi and Bengali but I'm open to other suggestions. A lot of people say Hindi, and I know that's probably the most useful, but I'm just not enthusiastic about Hindi so I'd rather learn something else.

Does anyone have any suggestions or advice? Thanks. :smile:

Reply 1

ML94

Original post by signeduptoask

Hi! I'm looking for a new language to learn (I speak English and Russian) and am really attracted to Indian languages, but I really don't know which to learn - it's really difficult to make a decision as there's so many Indian languages. It's between Gujarati, Tamil, Punjabi and Bengali but I'm open to other suggestions. A lot of people say Hindi, and I know that's probably the most useful, but I'm just not enthusiastic about Hindi so I'd rather learn something else.

Does anyone have any suggestions or advice? Thanks. :smile:

I understand why people would say learn Hindi, as it is the biggest Indian language that nearly everyone can speak and understand. I speak bits and bobs of it but I speak Panjabi as I've grown up in a Sikh family. It's great for learning as most words are the same you just have to learn a couple of variations and bobs your uncle.

Reply 2

tazarooni89

20

Original post by signeduptoask

Hi! I'm looking for a new language to learn (I speak English and Russian) and am really attracted to Indian languages, but I really don't know which to learn - it's really difficult to make a decision as there's so many Indian languages. It's between Gujarati, Tamil, Punjabi and Bengali but I'm open to other suggestions. A lot of people say Hindi, and I know that's probably the most useful, but I'm just not enthusiastic about Hindi so I'd rather learn something else.

Does anyone have any suggestions or advice? Thanks. :smile:

What's wrong with Hindi?
A lot of Indian languages are spin-offs of Hindi anyway. A person who understood Hindi would probably automatically understand a fair bit of Punjabi and Urdu for example (or certainly find them both easier to learn).

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 3

For The Love Of Giraffe

10

Tbh, Hindi would be your best bet as a lot of other Indian languages are very similar to it, so it would mean that if you were to talk to a Punjabi or a Gujurati speaker (for example), you would probably be able to pick up the gist of what they're saying, but if you learnt Punjabi, you would struggle with a Gujurati speaker a bit more. Also you would be able to understand the vast majority of Bollywood films.

I'm fluent in Punjabi and find that it's helped me a lot with family who only speak Hindi, but I struggle when I hear my friend's mother talk in Gujurati, so that's why I say what I said above.

But yeah, I'm not quite sure why you're less enthusiastic about Hindi as it's so similar to Punjabi and Gujurati. If you wanted something very different, I'd suggest maybe Tamil as it's also quite a prominent language (what with there being lots of famous Tamil speaking films) and is the least like the other languages you have listed (from my personal experience).

Reply 4

signeduptoask

OP

1

Thanks so much for all the help! :smile:

I don't really know why I'm not enthusiastic about Hindi, I think it's just a gut reaction thing (that and my best friend is comes from India - she speaks Gujarati fluently and was taught Hindi at her school and absolutely loathed learning it), but as I'm learning for pleasure I don't really want to learn it just because it's useful (which I won't deny it is!).

Reply 5

tomtimtee

Original post by ML94

I understand why people would say learn Hindi, as it is the biggest Indian language that nearly everyone can speak and understand. I speak bits and bobs of it but I speak Panjabi as I've grown up in a Sikh family. It's great for learning as most words are the same you just have to learn a couple of variations and bobs your uncle.

Daffa ho kanjar na hovay tha. :lol:

Reply 6

Politricks

19

Hindi is probably a good choice if you're thinking about taking a trip to India, Hindi is one of the more influential languages in that region.

Reply 7

ML94

Original post by tomtimtee

Daffa ho kanjar na hovay tha. :lol:

Hai ma! Ehna dukh laggiya ? LOL

Reply 8

ML94

Original post by The Polymath

To be brutal, Punjabi is rubbish. It's the 'uneducated villager' language, and is all guttural. It's like learning Cockney English. I'd definitely go with Urdu/Hindi.

Hindi = Urdu when speaking, they just vary in written and formal forms. Certainly a Hindi speaker and an Urdu speaker could converse rapidly without any hesitation.

I wouldn't call it 'rubbish'. It may not be at the top of the most well known Indian languages, but it's there. Yes originated from Panjab, but some of Delhi speaks it but with a slight change in pronunciation.

i dot want to blab on too much as I cannot give you rock hard evidence from sources or my own experience. It was just a suggestion, nothing much.

As mentioned before, yes Hindi may be the most well known but I was going on what the OP said. Nothing more.

Reply 9

Doglamlico

16

Original post by ML94

I wouldn't call it 'rubbish'. It may not be at the top of the most well known Indian languages, but it's there. Yes originated from Panjab, but some of Delhi speaks it but with a slight change in pronunciation.

i dot want to blab on too much as I cannot give you rock hard evidence from sources or my own experience.

I'm not talking about how much it's spoken, I'm talking about the language from an academic sense. Have you heard punjabi? I know it very well - it's literally the language of the uneducated. Ask any native Indian/Pakistani and they'll tell you that it would be absurd for a foreigner to learn Punjabi, just as it would for a German person to learn the Geordie way of English.

"You are allowed to communicate either in English or Urdu. Never, ever think about Punjabi language! Not even a single
word! Don’t you know that Punjabi is the language of uneducated people who
live in villages?"

Reply 10

signeduptoask

OP

1

Original post by The Polymath

To be brutal, Punjabi is rubbish. It's the 'uneducated villager' language, and is all guttural. It's like learning Cockney English. I'd definitely go with Urdu/Hindi.

You seem to know a lot about this - do you know how the other languages (Tamil, Bengali and Gujarati) are perceived in India?

Reply 11

Doglamlico

16

Original post by signeduptoask

You seem to know a lot about this - do you know how the other languages (Tamil, Bengali and Gujarati) are perceived in India?

Sorry, I only know about Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi. Hindi/Urdu is seen as the 'proper, educated language', so learn it, for the same reason that virtually every foreign english learner learns Queen's English (received pronunciation). You don't hear many Swiss people talking in broken Scottish English :smile:

Reply 12

NotAfraid

Original post by signeduptoask

You seem to know a lot about this - do you know how the other languages (Tamil, Bengali and Gujarati) are perceived in India?

All are very "big" languages...

Reply 13

shyamshah

12

Gujarati! Even though I can't speak it :smile:

Reply 14

DontJudge

3

'For pleasure' :lolwut:

Then the language of lurrvvv...

Mujse shaadhi korogi :perv:

Reply 15

tazarooni89

20

Original post by The Polymath

Hindi = Urdu when speaking, they just vary in written and formal forms. Certainly a Hindi speaker and an Urdu speaker could converse rapidly without any hesitation.

I know what you mean, my family is all Urdu-speaking, but having lived mainly in India and watching Hindi films etc. it seems easy enough when conversing with Hindi-speakers for the two languages to kind of merge together.

I really like the sound of more formal Hindi as well, with it's long Sanskrit-like words. But I don't understand it at all :p:

Reply 16

HemalLeFail

If your friends speaks Gujarati then learn that as you could get help in learning it and it would be fun to converse with you best friend in another language that not many people would understand. I love going aboard with my family and being able to speak Gujarati with my Mum or Dad as it makes the conversation more private and more fun and you can say things without thinking twice...

Reply 17

signeduptoask

OP

1

Original post by HemalLeFail

If your friends speaks Gujarati then learn that as you could get help in learning it and it would be fun to converse with you best friend in another language that not many people would understand. I love going aboard with my family and being able to speak Gujarati with my Mum or Dad as it makes the conversation more private and more fun and you can say things without thinking twice...

Yeah, that's one of the main reasons I'm considering Gujarati. :smile:

She's already taught me a tiny bit, and says if I learn it she'll speak it to me as often as I want, which I imagine will be useful whilst learning!

Reply 18

Devina-S

11

I would suggest Gujarati. It is not a difficult language since the structure of sentences is very flexible and nowadays most people combine english words with gujarati.
Good on you for learning an Indian language though! Good luck :smile:

Reply 19

Iammyownbadman

Learn punjabi...in the UK, punjabis have set themsellves apart from the cultures moreso than others. You'd impress quite a few people over here, cos alot of UK-born indians speak punjabi to each other as well as English, whereas those who speak hindi generally don't have that passion of speaking their language...at least whats what ive generally noticed lol
although hindi is good because of its relations to quite a few other indian languages

and i dont see much poeople blasting hindi music, but i see a lot blaring some good ol' bhangra lol

(edited 11 years ago)

Which Indian language to learn (for pleasure)?

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