Learning the Language: Are You Kidding???? Reflections in Puducherry...

"Arun, did you speak to him in Hindi?" I ask our driver in Madurai. "No", he says "They speak Tamil here." "And when we were in Mysore did you speak Hindi or Tamil there?" I ask again. "No", Arun says "I spoke Kannada there. In Karnataka we speak Kannada." "So when I was in Hyderabad before I met you were they speaking Hindi there?" "No" Arun states. "Hyderabad is in Andra Pradesh and there they speak Telegu." I am thinking so what if the folks in Illinois spoke Illegu and the folks in Michigan spoke Magoo. How would we communicate are my thoughts. So I say... "But Arun, how do you speak to each other?" "Kannada is similar to Tamil" he says. "Actually all three languages are Dravidian." "Dravidian?" I ask.

So here's the scoop...there is no one Indian language as such. The constitution recognises 18 different languages including English. The non-English languages fall into 2 groups, Indic and Dravidian. There are also over 1600 minor languages and dialects. Efforts have been made to promote Hindi as the official language of India and to gradually phase out English. Hindi is the predominant language of the north but it bears no relation to the Dravidian languages of the south; so very few people in the south speak Hindi. Resistance to change has been strongest in Tamil Nadu.

"I ask directions," Arun says "because I can't read the street signs." "You can't read?" I ask. "I can read" he says "but I can't read Tamil." (Tamil has it's own alphabetic script.) "The street signs are all in Tamil and none offer an English translation."

Yes, English is widely spoken but as the trip has progressed there have been many more instances when I have not been able to make myself understood. This morning while walking someone attempted to speak to me in French. Puducherry in Tamil Nadu was formerly a French colony so here they speak Tamil and French with some English. It is comforting to know that even Arun struggles at times. As if communication wasn't difficult enough even when speaking the same language!