Poll: How many Indian languages can you name? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "How many Indian languages can you name?".
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| | | | | | | | | Good memories | Mar 18, 2025 |
English, Hindi and Gujarati, thanks to a very sweet friend of me I recently got back in touch with. I had completely forgotten about Urdu though.
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Emily Scott 
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:14
Member (2018)
French to English
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Hindi, Punjabi, Gujarati, Urdu, Tamil, English - also thanks to some good friends of mine. According to Wikipedia, there are 424 native languages in India.
| | | | | Only two actually | Mar 18, 2025 |
I only know two Indian languages: Hindi (written in those gorgeous signs) and Konkani - spoke in Goa, a former Portuguese colony, because I have friends from this part of India.
| | | | | 16 apart from English | Mar 18, 2025 |
Marathi, Hindi, Gujerati, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, Urdu, Punjabi, Kashmiri, Konkani, Kannada, Oriya, Odia, Assamese.
My parents spoke Marathi fluently, and my father's great inspiration was Dr William Carey of Serampore. It was not until much later that I appreciated his genius for languages and translation.
Sadly, although I heard it all the time, I never learned Marathi myself, only a few words that ended in the family's private vocabulary, and some lette... See more Marathi, Hindi, Gujerati, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, Urdu, Punjabi, Kashmiri, Konkani, Kannada, Oriya, Odia, Assamese.
My parents spoke Marathi fluently, and my father's great inspiration was Dr William Carey of Serampore. It was not until much later that I appreciated his genius for languages and translation.
Sadly, although I heard it all the time, I never learned Marathi myself, only a few words that ended in the family's private vocabulary, and some letters of the Devanagiri alphabet.
My father could take a church service in Hindi or Gujerati without an interpreter (and did so every week in Marathi, of course). He could understand the interpreter more or less in several other languages, but not in Chinese when he was asked to officiate at the wedding of a Chinese couple! ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Hindi vs Urdu | Mar 18, 2025 |
It's really fascinating how Hindi and Urdu, despite having different scripts (Devanagari for Hindi and Nastaliq for Urdu), share so much in terms of vocabulary, grammar, and structure.
And even more fascinating is that this similarity allows native speakers of both languages to communicate easily, especially when spoken. I witnessed this.
If we dive deeper into them, we can find that a lot of words are borrowed from Persian, Arabic, and even Portuguese. The word "chave" in Portugues... See more It's really fascinating how Hindi and Urdu, despite having different scripts (Devanagari for Hindi and Nastaliq for Urdu), share so much in terms of vocabulary, grammar, and structure.
And even more fascinating is that this similarity allows native speakers of both languages to communicate easily, especially when spoken. I witnessed this.
If we dive deeper into them, we can find that a lot of words are borrowed from Persian, Arabic, and even Portuguese. The word "chave" in Portuguese (key) is one of them.
Yes, I had the chance to learn a few words in Urdu and get to know the culture. ▲ Collapse
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| Just 5, to my shame. | Mar 19, 2025 |
Hindi, English, Khasi, Urdu, Punjabi. Thanks to a dear friend who grew up in the Khasi Hills.
~Jane
| | | | MollyRose
United States
Local time: 10:14
English to Spanish
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Navajo, Zuni, Mescalero Apache, Quechua, Cherokee, Eskimoan, Siouan, Mixtec, Nahuatl, Algonquin, Appalachian, etc.
I actually took a semester of Navajo at the university, years ago. I only remember a few words.
[Edited at 2025-03-19 17:06 GMT]
| | | | | I think they were referring to Indian from India, but, maybe not : ) | Mar 19, 2025 |
MollyRose wrote:
Navajo, Zuni, Mescalero Apache, Quechua, Cherokee, Eskimoan, Siouan, Mixtec, Nahuatl, Algonquin, Appalachian, etc.
I actually took a semester of Navajo at the university, years ago. I only remember a few words.
[Edited at 2025-03-19 17:06 GMT]
| | | | | My ignorance of India is infinite | Mar 19, 2025 |
Wow. How many are there?
Hindi. That's it. Unless English counts too.
Don't they realize that if they're going to Make India Great Again they need just ONE language? ; ) (Please note tongue in cheek)
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Baran Keki
Türkiye
Local time: 18:14
Member
English to Turkish
Justin Peterson wrote:
My ignorance of India is infinite
That's because you don't have good, sweet or dear friends.
Btw whatever happened to that Finnish Indian guy that posted in various languages in powwow (that's Indian, right?) threads?
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...which is one of the numerous Indo-Germanic languages, including Frisian, which goes for certain because of them (= us) being so fond of tea as the Indians. Greetings and Moin!
| | | | | Indigenous languages | Mar 19, 2025 |
MollyRose wrote:
Navajo, Zuni, Mescalero Apache, Quechua, Cherokee, Eskimoan, Siouan, Mixtec, Nahuatl, Algonquin, Appalachian, etc.
I actually took a semester of Navajo at the university, years ago. I only remember a few words.
[Edited at 2025-03-19 17:06 GMT]
Those languages are indigenous languages (from the Americas) rather than languages spoken in India.
It's my understanding that the poll just says "Indian languages" which typically refers to languages spoken in India, like Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, etc. but I may be mistaken...
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