Did you know that in India there are over 400 languages and an estimated 2,000 dialects? What must it be like to live in a country where in a 2 mile bus ride, you can hear 10 or even 20 different languages, and where the money has to be written in 15 languages?
India is an extraordinarily large country, as the 7th largest country in terms of land and 2nd in terms of population. All the same, the number of languages and dialects is still quite shocking, even considering this amount of land and people. One fundamental factor in the current demographic makeup is the direct result of the history of this area, which is extremely rich and characterized by an enormous capacity of assimilating trends and influences, all without losing its own identity.
For the most part, there are 2 principal roots for these languages: Aryan, also known as Indo-European, which is common for the languages in the north (Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Bengali, etc.) and Dravidian, with predominant presence in the South (Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil, etc.). There are also other languages with Sino-Tibetan and Austro-Asiatic roots.
In the Constitution, while recognizing Hindi and English as official languages, there is no mention of a “national language”. 22 official languages are recognized and each state sets its own, plus their dialects, based on this division. English is the language of power and is most often used to communicate with tourists and travelers. It is the language used in more educated circles, in scientific, technical and political fields. The language of the “high” areas, and common in state affairs. At the same time, there are several languages that are in danger of extinction. Some dialects are spoken by only tens or hundreds of people.
Trusted Translations offers translation services in various dialects of India, and regularly translate English language projects for multiple languages with professionals who are highly trained in translation, proofreading and desktop publishing.
(Versión en español: https://www.trustedtranslations.com/india-el-pais-de-los-2000-dialectos-2011-10-17.html)
