Hindi is going places, literally

Hindi may not be widely spoken or used by India’s urban youth. However, in spite of stiff entry barriers, the language has now found favour with Oxford Dictionary, widely regarded as the most trusted of all dictionaries. 

In fact, a Hindi word for almost every emotion can be found featured in the Dictionary. Sample this: Achha, badmash, bindaas, buddhu, sadhu, goonda, neta, seth, chhi-chhi, and namkin. The more popular ones are bapu, dhaba, dharna, gherao, mahajan, jhuggi, and ‘Hindutva’. The list is merely illustrative.

Juliet Evans, publicity manager, Oxford Dictionary, said, “Increasing multiculturalism may have led to more Hindi words being incorporated into English, and therefore a steadily increasing number enter our dictionaries each year.”

She explained that whilst 274 Indian words were added to the Dictionary, 374 words of Hindi etymology are also now a part of it.

Three hundred and thirty seven words from Sanskrit, 144 from Urdu and 27 from Tamil have also been incorporated into Oxford Dictionary.

Explaining the methodology, Evans said, “We continually monitor the Oxford English Corpus and the Reading Programme to track new words coming into the language. We need to see evidence that a word from another language has been naturalised into English in order to include it.”

Technology, too, has helped in pushing the Hindi language far and wide. To attract youngsters, popular social networking websites like Facebook and Orkut have gone vernacular.

A Facebook India spokesperson said, “Facebook started its translations application in 2008 so that it could be easily accessible to everyone. In order to translate the site quickly, we built an application internally for user-based translations, which enables us to combine the passion of users who wanted Facebook in their language and know their language the best, with a technical, systematic approach.”

Nokia, which was at the forefront of the telecom revolution in the country, said, “The development of a Hindi interface and applications in local languages has hence been a significant focus for the company. For Nokia, this innovation began way back in 2000, when we launched the Nokia 3210 — the first phone with a Hindi menu. Later we also became the first handset company to launch Hindi SMS (Saral Mobile Sandesh) for the Indian consumer. Additionally, as an ongoing initiative, we ensure that our key applications and software like Nokia Life Tools cater to the Hindi-speaking audience.”

The growing induction of Hindi into English has received mixed response back home. Hindi writer and thinker, Dr Namwar Singh, is not impressed. He said, “We should think of the future of Hindi language. Earlier, the government was interested in celebrating Hindi Divas but today they have no interest in doing so.” Official Hindi Divas celebrations beg in every year, on September 14 and last until September 28 at various government offices.

The Hindi film industry, which has played a major role in pushing Hindi beyond India, has its own take on the story. Actor Farooq Sheikh said the language of cinema is the language of the society. “Bollywood uses such words that are relevant and acceptable to the society. However, if we will only use English in Hindi movies then how can we call it Hindi cinema? This does not mean I am against modernisation and innovation in the language.”

Innovation helps, said author Vishnu Nagar. “The soul of the language is intact. Hindi has not lost its importance in India yet. Starting from Mahatma Gandhi to Anna Hazare, everyone has given priority to Hindi to communicate with masses,” he argued.

Endorsing Nagar’s view, Hindi poet, Ashok Chakradhar said, “Hindi may not be popular among urban youth but in rural India it is playing a significant role. I do admit English has
become an international language but Hindi has its own space.”

According to the Global Language Monitor report published in 2009, English had the maximum number of words to its credit at 10, 00,000. Hindi stood low with only 1,20,000 words. But according to a survey by the US-based Modern Language Association, enrolment for Hindi language courses has increased over the years. The survey claimed that while a 13.4 per cent rise in the number of students opting for Hindi courses in US colleges had been registered between 2006 and 2009, a whopping 889.7 per cent rise had been noted between 1974 and 2009.

(With inputs from Siddharth Tak)