2006-07-14 01:16:59 · 5 answers · asked by barbie 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Indians speak hundreds of languages, some are spoken only by tiny tribes...
However, there are two so-called official languages which are widely spoken - English is spoken as a second language by an estimated 200 million Indians, and Hindi which is spoken by about 350 million, but understood by many others.
India is a very diverse country and is organised into States (like the US) but largely by language...
Those languages spoken by over 500,000 people are:
1. Hindi: 337 million - spoken in the states Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkand, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh
2. Telugu: 80 million - spoken in Andhra Pradesh
3. Bengali: 70 million - in West Bengal and Tripura
4. Marathi: 63 million - in Maharashtra
5. Tamil: 53 million - in Tamil Nadu
6. Urdu: 43 million - spoken largely by Muslims
7. Gujarati: 41 million - in Gujarat
8. Kannada: 33 million - in Karnataka
9. Malayalam: 30 million - in Kerala
10. Oriya: 28 million - in Orissa
11. Punjabi: 23 million - in Punjab and Haryana
12. Bhojpuri: 23 million - in Bihar and Jharkand (although not officially recognised)
13. Assamese: 13 million - in Assam
14. Maithili: 8 million - in Bihar
15. Sindhi : 2.1 Million - the Sindhi community in Western India
16. Konkani: 1.7 Million - in Goa
17. Manipuri : 1.2 Million - in Manipur
18. Nepali : 1 Million - in Sikkim
19. Kashmiri: 0.5 million - in Kashmir
All the above, except for Bhojpuri are recognised in the constitution as National Languages. In addition Bodo, Dogri and Santali are recognised as National Languages.
2006-07-14 02:13:17 · answer #1 · answered by the last ninja 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It is great to know about India....People usually speak different languages as it varys from state to state....like Malayalam, hindi(widely spoken & national language), gujarathi, marathi, tamil, bengali, and so on...Look on for important lang. like Hindi as it is widely spoken in all states and it is a bit related with other languages
2006-07-14 08:25:47 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
hi there are around 3000 kinds of language spoken in India u can't imagine and can't remember so don't bother about the languages be patriotic-JAI HIND
2006-07-14 13:00:07 · answer #3 · answered by vkas j 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Many, at least 20. But English is the lingua franca.
2006-07-14 10:03:56 · answer #4 · answered by J9 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
hi ,
am sayooj frm india.we use a lot of languages .our main language is hindi and that is also our national language . others are marathi, tamil, malayalam,telegu,kannada,gujarathi, sanskrith,kashmiri,gujarathi and so on
2006-07-14 08:40:58 · answer #5 · answered by sayooj 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋