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Contact details:

IAFL Translation & Interpretation Services

email:

info@iaflindia.com

[We respond to 95% 
of all emails within 1
hour.]

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)

Indian language

People often ask us, IAFL Translation & Interpretation Services, about the "Indian language." The Indian language question requires a detailed answer. IAFL Translation & Interpretation Services is Indian leading translation agency or language services company and can fulfill all your "Indian language" related linguistic services' needs.

Currently, India has twenty-three(23) official languages and so there are twenty-three contenders for the Indian language tag. But, the number of strongest contenders for the Indian language tag is around ten(10).

Hindi is the strongest contender for "Indian language"

Hindi is the pre-dominant language in North-India and is the strongest contender for the "Indian language" label. Hindi, the strongest contender for the "Indian language" label, is spoken by more than a third of Indian populace. Currently, India's population is more than 1 billion (1000 million) and Hindi, the strongest contender for the "Indian language" tag, is spoken by nearly four-hundred million people, according to the latest Indian census.

No Indian language

No Indian language can claim to be the "Indian language" because India is linguistically very varied.

India is a relatively vast country and the linguistic variety here can be compared to that in Europe. Just as it wouldn't be right to call a single European language the "European language"; similarly, it wouldn't be agreeable to call a single Indian language "the Indian language."

Northern-India is linguistically more homogenous compared to Southern or Eastern or Western India and Hindi, the predominant North-Indian language is the strongest contender for "the Indian language" distinction and is intelligible to a large extent to the people in Eastern and Western India too.

Official Indian languages or the contest for becoming  the "Indian 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 "Indian language" contest by getting them recognized as official Indian languages.

In the last decade the number of official Indian languages was eighteen and currently there are twenty-three official Indian languages.

The list of major Indian languages that can claim to be the "Indian language" along with the indicative number of speakers, is:
"Indian 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

Different Indian languages are spoken in different parts of India and so can claim to be the "Indian 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.

English is also one of India's official languages and a somewhat weak contender for the "Indian language" label

English is understood throughout India, but less than 5% of India's population 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 UK  or the USA are used.

The reason English is a weak contender of the "Indian language" distinction is that English is not widely understood, particularly in the Indian rural areas.

Translating into a language contending for the "Indian language" distinction is critical to the popularity of mass-market products and those with wide appeal.

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 the Indian language distinction: 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 "Indian language" label 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

(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.