Previously, we talked about the first half of how many languages are there in India. The fact that India homes a diverse ethnic group resulted in variation in the languages spoken from North to South and East to West. In the previous article, we discussed the scope of Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, and Malayalam languages.
Further, we bring to you the other official languages of India viz Marathi, Meiti, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, and finally English.
How many languages are there in India?
Marathi
Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken mostly by the natives of the Maharashtra state of India. This language accounts to some oldest literature dating back to 900 AD.
How many people in India speak Marathi?
There are about 78 million native speakers of this language.
Where is Marathi spoken?
It is predominantly spoken in Maharashtra and in traces in Goa, Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
Meiti
Meiti or Manipuri is the lingua franca in the Himalayan state of Manipur. It belongs to the Sino-Tibetan language family. At present, it is classified as a vulnerable language by UNESCO.
How many people in India speak Meiti?
There are about 1.25 million native speakers of this language.
Where is Meiti spoken?
It is spoken in Northeast India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar.
Nepali
Nepali language is also known by the endonym- Khas-Kura. An endonym is a common name used only inside the place, group, or linguistic community. It belongs to the Indo-Aryan language family.
How many people in India speak Nepali?
There are 20 million native speakers of this language, out of which 2.9 million reside in the north eastern states of India.
Where is Nepali spoken?
It is spoken in Nepal, Bhutan, and India.
Odia
Odia is a classical Indo-Aryan language, spoken mostly in eastern India. It is also an ancient language with inscriptions from 10th-century. This language is written using distinct Odia alphabets.
How many people in India speak Odia?
About 4.2 % of Indian population speaks Odia. There are around 33 million native speakers of this language.
Where is Odia spoken?
It is spoken mainly in the Indian state- Odisha and also in neighbouring states like Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh. Globally, it is also spoken in Bangladesh.
Punjabi
Punjabi or Gurmukhi language belongs to the Indo-Aryan family and is the 10th most widely spoken languages in the world.
How many people in India speak Punjabi?
There are over 100 million native speakers of Punjabi language worldwide.
Where is Punjabi spoken?
It is the official language in Pakistan and Indian states of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, and Himachal Pradesh.
Sanskrit
Sanskrit is an ancient and philosophical language of Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism. It was also a lingua franca for ancient and medieval south Asia. It is a dialect from old Indo-Aryan language.
How many people in India speak Sanskrit?
Sanskrit was a language during 600 BCE. At present, there are about 15 thousand native speakers of this language.
Where is Sanskrit spoken?
The people well versed in Sanskrit reside in India and Nepal.
Santali
Santali belongs to the Austroasiatic language family, spoken by the Santal and Teraibasi Santali tribal communities in India and Nepal.
How many people in India speak Santali?
There are about 6.27 million native speakers of this language.
Where is Santali spoken?
It is spoken in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan.
Sindhi
It is the official language of the Pakistani province of Sindh. Sindhi language belongs to the Indo-Aryan language family of the Sindh region. The Sindhi script is a mix of Perso-Arabic script, Devanagari, Khudabadi, Laṇḍā, and Gurmukhi style of writing.
How many people in India speak Sindhi?
There are about 25 million native speakers of this language.
Where is Sindhi spoken?
It is spoken in India and Pakistan.
Tamil
Tamil language belongs to the Dravidian language family. It is an official language in three countries- Singapore, Sri Lanka, and of course India.
The writing system this language adheres to is the Tamil alphabets, which is derived from Brahmic style.
How many people in India speak Tamil?
There are about 70 million native speakers of this language, out of which 8 million are Indians.
Where is Tamil spoken?
It is spoken in Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and Andaman & Nicobar islands.
Telugu
Telugu belongs to the Dravidian language family, spoken in the south-central region of India.
How many people in India speak Telugu?
There are about 74 million native speakers of this language.
Where is Telugu spoken?
It is spoken in Indian states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Puducherry.
Urdu
Urdu is the national language of Pakistan. It is also an official language in many Indian states.
How many people in India speak Urdu?
There are about 81 million native speakers of this language, with 65 million Indian residents.
Where is Urdu spoken?
It is spoken in South Asia, known as Hindi-Urdu belt. This includes Pakistan and Indian states of Jammu & Kashmir, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal.
English in India
The English language in the Asian countries is a result of colonization. In India, the British started spice trading during 1600 AD. They established trading posts in many Indian coastal cities and controlled them from the East India Company. The company’s influence in Indian territories can be observed between the years 1765 and 1947.
English was taught to the natives through Christian missionaries and with the aim of spreading education. Since then, English is taught as a compulsory subject in junior schools in India.
This is how, English became widespread in India and hence the official language.
How many people in India speak English?
There are about 360-400 million speakers of this language in India.
What is the Indian perception towards English language?
Although, after the Independence of India, people thought that English would be phased out from the administration and Hindi will become the national language. But, because of cultural diversity, there wasn’t a unanimous decision to make HIndi the national language and as a result, India still don’t have one.
English is at the heart of this country, and with the increased global trade relations, people have fairly accepted its essence.
Read more about learning languages here:
A Simple Guide to Learning Hindi through English
