The Problem With The English Language In India скачать в хорошем качестве

The Problem With The English Language In India

How Widely Spoken is English in India? It should come as no surprise that some English is spoken in India, since it was a British colony for several hundred years, but just how prevalent is English in India? Is it possible for a tourist visiting there to get by for example just using English and not any of the local languages? The actual number of estimated English speakers in India is high due to the large population, with an estimated 194 million people who can speak English in the country. However, in terms of the percentage of the population, this is quite a low level of prevalence, with around 14% of the population able to speak English. In general, English is widely spoken in the big cities in India like Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai and others but less so in the more rural and Northern areas, where Hindi and various local dialects are more common. The overall percentage of English speakers in India is quite low, but this needn’t be a problem for tourists since the majority of English speakers are concentrated in the areas tourists are most likely to visit. Reliable and up to date stats on the prevalence of English speakers in India are actually hard to find, with different estimates taken from different sources, many of which are quite old now. A study from 2012 estimates that around 14% of the population, or around 194 million people, can speak English to some extent in India. However, the actual absolute number of English speakers is still quite high in India. In fact due to the sheer size of the India population, now at well over a billion people, there are actually around twice the number of English speakers in India than in the UK itself, despite the low percentage reported to be conversant in English. And India is now second only to the US in terms of the actual number of English speakers in the country, even though the overall percentage in terms of the total population is low. The Complexity of Languages in India There are many different languages spoken as well as English in India, which really complicates the picture. Some of the main languages other than India include Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujurati and Punjabi. On top of this, there are dozens and dozens more local dialects in different regions, so the language situation is extremely complex and it is impossible to be able to speak the local language in all areas of India because there are simply too many of them to learn. However Hindi and English stand out as the two most spoken languages across the country. Both are recognized as co-official languages in India, with Hindi being more prevalent but English also being very common in higher level business, universities and Government. Broadly speaking there also appears to be a North-South divide in India between the prevalence of Hindi and English, with the North being seen as more Hindi friendly and the South being seen as less Hindi friendly and more English friendly. The general consensus among people who have traveled there is that English works, and is generally preferable to Hindi, in the Southern region of India, whereas in the Northern regions Hindi is more prevalent than English. Similarly English is widespread in the built up areas and major cities, which in fairness is where the majority of tourists go. If you are going to any of the following cities, you should have no problem using English – people will either be fluent or at least understand the gist of your question: Bangalore/Mumbai/Chennai/Hyderabad/Delhi. Conversely, traveling around some of the more Northern regions, like Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Punjab, you may find Hindi more prevalent and English speakers will be less common, although not impossible to find with a bit of asking. You can find an English speaker in most places in India; it is just a matter of degree. The Bottom Line The bottom line here is that using English should be fine across most of India in major cities in hospitality, tourist areas, buying and selling and other business. This is what most foreigners traveling through India are going to do anyway so you should be OK using English. If you are going more off the beaten track to more rural and countryside areas, then it is harder to find English speakers and you could do with some basic Hindi to get by asking locals for directions. This can also be true the further North you go in India, though this can’t be totally generalized. #EnglishSpeakingPopulationInIndia #Spokenenglish #englishlanguage #altafmalikenglish