Language
The different states of India have different official languages; however, some of them are not recognized by the central government. There are fifteen national languages recognized by the Indian constitution which are spoken in over 1600 dialects.
Some states have more than one official language. Bihar in east India has three official languages – Hindi, Urdu and Bengali – which are all recognized by the central government. But Sikkim, also located in east India, has four official languages of which only Nepali is recognized by the central government. Besides the languages officially recognized by central or state governments, there are other languages which don't have this recognition and their speakers are running political struggles to get this recognition. The central government decided that Hindi was to be the official language of India and therefore it also has the status of official language in the states.
As previously mentioned, India's official language is Hindi in the Devnagri script. However, English continues to be the official working language. For many educated Indians, English is virtually their first language, and for a great number of Indians who are multi-lingual, it will probably be the second. This is beneficial for businesses looking to expand into India as there will be little to no language barriers.
The country has a wide variety of local languages and in many cases the State boundaries have been drawn on linguistic lines. Besides Hindi and English, the other popular languages are Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjab, Oriya, Telugu and Urdu.
Some states have more than one official language. Bihar in east India has three official languages – Hindi, Urdu and Bengali – which are all recognized by the central government. But Sikkim, also located in east India, has four official languages of which only Nepali is recognized by the central government. Besides the languages officially recognized by central or state governments, there are other languages which don't have this recognition and their speakers are running political struggles to get this recognition. The central government decided that Hindi was to be the official language of India and therefore it also has the status of official language in the states.
As previously mentioned, India's official language is Hindi in the Devnagri script. However, English continues to be the official working language. For many educated Indians, English is virtually their first language, and for a great number of Indians who are multi-lingual, it will probably be the second. This is beneficial for businesses looking to expand into India as there will be little to no language barriers.
The country has a wide variety of local languages and in many cases the State boundaries have been drawn on linguistic lines. Besides Hindi and English, the other popular languages are Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjab, Oriya, Telugu and Urdu.
Travelling to India? Why not learn some useful Hindi phrases?