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IAFL Translation & Interpretation Services
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HS 27 FF
Kailash Colony Market
New Delhi 110048
INDIA
tel:
+91-11-29235313 or +91-11-29240035
or +91-11-29241036
fax:
+91-11-29235557
or +44-870-458-0179
(Office hours : 9:30 AM to 7:30 PM; New Delhi is +5:30 hours GMT)
Telephones (after office hours): +091-11-2621-2873
or
+91-11-4101-1843
or +91-98111-49584
(mobile)
India's
language
People often ask IAFL Translation & Interpretation Services about "India's language." The "India's language" question deserves a detailed answer. IAFL Translation & Interpretation Services is India's leading translation agency or language services company and can fulfill all your "India's language" related linguistic services needs.
Currently, India has twenty-three(23) official languages and so there are twenty-three contenders for the "India's language" label. However, the number of strongest contenders for "India's language" label is around ten(10).
Hindi, the strongest contender for "India's language"
Hindi, the pre-dominant language in North India is the strongest contender for the "India's language" tag. Hindi, the strongest contender for "India's language" tag, is spoken by more than a third of India's populace. India's current population is more than 1 billion (1000 million) and Hindi, the strongest contender for the "India's language" label, is spoken by nearly four-hundred million people, according to the latest Indian census.
No India's language
No Indian language can claim to be "India's language" because India is linguistically very diverse.
India is a relatively vast country and its linguistic diversity can be compared to Europe. Just as it wouldn't be right to call a single European language, "Europe's language"; similarly, it wouldn't be agreeable to call a single Indian language, "India's language."
Northern India is linguistically more homogenous compared to Southern or Eastern or Western India and Hindi, the strongest contender for the India's language tag, is intelligible to a large extent in Eastern and Western India too.
Official Indian languages or the contest for becoming "India's language"
There are literally tens of languages spoken in India, though they are usually intelligible with a major Indian language, and various groups lobby and have successfully lobbied to get their languages entered in the "India's language" contest by getting them recognized as official Indian languages.
In the last decade the number of official Indian languages was eighteen and currently, it stands at twenty-three.
The list of major Indian languages that can claim to be "India's language" along with the indicative number of speakers, is:
| "India's language" | Indicative number of speakers |
| Hindi | 337 million |
| Urdu | 250 million |
| Telugu | 100 million |
| Bengali(Bangla) | 69 million |
| Marathi | 62 million |
| Tamil | 53 million |
| Gujarati(Gujurati/Gujerati) | 40 million |
| Kannada | 40 million |
| Malayalam | 30 million |
| Oriya | 28 million |
| Punjabi | 23 million |
| Assamese | 13 million |
| Konkani | 7.5 million |
| Kashmiri(Koshur) | 4.5 million |
| Dogri | 2 million |
| Bodo(Boro) | 1.5 million |
| Manipuri(Meitei) | 1.5 million |
English is also one of India's official languages and a somewhat weak contender for the "India's language" distinction
English is understood throughout India, but less than 5% of the Indians comprehend it well. The English used in India is many times called Indian English and most Indians who understand English well are challenged when words common in the USA or the UK are used.
The reason English is a weak contender of the "India's language" distinction is that English is not widely understood, particularly in the Indian rural areas.
Translating into a language contending for the "India's language" label is critical to the popularity of mass-market products and those with wide appeal.
Different Indian languages are spoken in different parts of India and so can claim to be "India's language"
The major languages of North India are: Hindi,Urdu, Punjabi, Kashmiri and Dogri.
The major languages of South India are: Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam.
The major languages of East India are: Bengali, Assamese, Oriya, and Manipuri.
The major languages of Western India are: Gujarati, Marathi and Konkani.
IAFL Translation & Interpretation Services also provides translations in Pakistan's languages, Bangladesh's language, Sri Lanka's languages, Nepal's language, Afghanistan's languages, Bhutan's language, Myanmar's language, and Arabic and Farsi.
Know more about the contenders for India's language: Hindi, Urdu, Dari, Pushto(Pashto/Pushtu/Pukhtu), Punjabi, Bengali, Gujarati(Gujurati/Gujerati), Marathi, Tamil,Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam,
Sinhala(Sinhalese/Singhalese), Nepali(Nepalese),Tibetan,
Myanmarese(Burmese), Bodo(Boro), Bhutanese, Sanskrit, Assamese, Kashmiri(Koshur), Konkani, Oriya, Dogri, Manipuri(Meitei), etc.
For advice
regarding which Indian language(s) is/are suitable for your translation
needs, please contact us or visit our office. We
reply to 95% of all emails within 1 hour, so do contact us or
visit our office, for linguistic services in any of the contenders
for the "India's language" distinction or a free
quote:
IAFL
Translation
& Interpretation Services
HS 27 FF
Kailash Colony
New Delhi 110048
INDIA
Email:info@iaflindia.com
[We respond to 95%
of all emails within 1
hour.]
Tel:+91-11-29235313 / 29240035 / 29241036
Fax: +91-11-29235557, +44-870-458-0179
HS 27 FF
Kailash Colony
New Delhi 110048
INDIA
Email:info@iaflindia.com
[We respond to 95%
of all emails within 1
hour.]
Tel:+91-11-29235313 / 29240035 / 29241036
Fax: +91-11-29235557, +44-870-458-0179
(Office hours : 9:30 AM to 7:30 PM; New Delhi is +5:30 hours GMT)
Telephones (after office hours): +091-11-2621-2873,+91-11-4101-1843, +91-98111-49584 (mobile)
IAFL Translation & Interpretation Services has associates and translators in Mumbai(Bombay), Chennai(Madras), Kolkata(Calcutta), Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mysore, Pune, Islamabad(Pakistan), Lahore(Pakistan), Karachi(Pakistan), Kathmandu(Nepal), Colombo(Sri Lanka), Dhaka(Bangladesh), Kabul(Afghanistan), Thimpu(Bhutan),Yangon (Rangoon)[Myanmar], and many other places in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Bhutan and Myanmar.
