Spoken by about 341 million people as their first language, Hindi is the fourth most spoken language in the world. As we’ve previously done with other languages, today we are dedicating to this ancient and pure one, and we’ll go through some amazing facts about it. How many did you know before?
Hindi is one of the languages spoken in India, but not THE national one. In fact, India does not have a national language, but Hindi and English are both recognized as official languages. The current list of languages in India includes 447 individual living languages.
Hindi belongs to the Indo-European language family, just like English.
Most Hindi speakers are found in India’s northern half. However, speakers of Hindi can be found in Nepal, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, Guyana, Fiji, Mauritius, and several other countries, including the US and the UK.
The name came from Classical Persian language. Its root is ‘Hindī,’ a Persian word that translates to ‘Indian’ that was derived from Hind, meaning India, which is a proper noun. ‘Hind’ also translates to ‘Land of the Indus River.’ The Indus River is one of Asia’s longest rivers.
More than 5,500 words in the Hindi dictionary are of Perso-Arabic origin.
Mahatma Gandhi, a popular political figure in India and well-known for being a freedom fighter, encouraged the use of Hindi as the collective voice of India, the language of protest and the language of communication.
The Hindi language is completely Phonetic; it is pronounced exactly how it is written.
Hindi is taught as a language in 176 universities across the world.
The world’s first Hindi typewriters were made in the 1930s.
Hindi has regional variants, such as standard Hindi, Nagari Hindi, literary Hindi and high Hindi.
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