Do you speak English?

We all think of India as a country that speaks English. We outsource so much customer service from the US to India (rather than, say, China) because of the strong English-speaking base. But the reality on the ground is a little more complicated. There are 29 distinct states in India, and these are NOT like the states in the US. We *think* we have diversity in the US, with southerners different from northerners, east vs. west. vs. middle of the country. I think the differences across the US are subtle and nuanced compared to the differences across India. When I spoke to my (IBM US colleague) Bhuv before coming to India, she advised me that the Indian states are more like the European Union than United States. For us, those differences are most perceptible with respect to language. We have been told that the southern states speak a lot of English; the northern states do not. We, in New Delhi, are in the North, and we can at least confirm that northern rule of thumb.  Basically, only the educated population seems to speak English. My colleagues at IBM certainly all speak English, and business is conducted in English. Hallway chatter, though, is in Hindi – that is clearly their preferred language, overall. The less educated labor force - - drivers, cleaning staff, shop owners - - are generally non-English speaking. Before our trip, I didn’t think there would be much need to learn Hindi, in a country that was (I thought) completely bilingual. Given the facts on the ground, we are all doing our part to learn more so that we can traverse the country more effectively. I have been taking a Berlitz class. Amnon is practicing through Rosetta Stone. Jordan and Jesse have taken some Hindi mini-classes and plan to do more. Jesse seems to have the most functional Hindi of the kids so far. Adam wanted to take Hindi as his language at the American Embassy School this year, instead of Spanish. What a perfect environment – study Hindi formally during the day, and exploit real-life opportunities to practice after school. But the school doesn’t offer Hindi; they offer the standard Spanish, French, and maybe a couple of other languages. This was very surprising to me (as well as disappointing!)  for a school located in New Delhi. I spoke to the guidance counselor, who explained that they have *tried* to offer Hindi, but they don’t get the enrollment. Most of the American Embassy School kids will be going to universities in the US and Europe; and the “standard” languages are deemed more ….important? relevant? Seems to me that a language spoken by a billion or so people should be “relevant” too, with its long and rich history and literature. Maybe this reflects the lingering western biases….which, I trust, will dissipate over time with the rapid growth of the developing world. We do already see increased interest in learning Mandarin. Perhaps another obstacle for learning Hindi is that it won’t be the linguistic bridge you need for all of India; given the wide array of languages and dialects. I have read that there are more than 350 languages in India. There is a saying in Hindi:  "kos kos bar badley pani chaar kos par vani,” which means that in India the taste of water changes every kilometer and the language changes every four kilometers.