About Hindi
Hindi is the second most spoken language in the world. About 500 million people speak Hindi in India and abroad, and the total numbers of people who can understand the language are around 800 million. It is the official language of India, home of over 400 different languages and dialects. In diasporic context, Hindi is spoken in 17 countries, mostly in Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Fiji, Guyana, Surinam, Trinidad, United Arab Emirates, Nepal, Singapore, Mauritius, United Kingdom and United States
Hindi is a direct descendant of Sanskrit, and belongs to the Indo-European language family. It has been influenced and enriched by Dravidian, Turkish, Persian, Arabic, Portuguese and English. Several dialects of Hindi have been used in literature. Braj before, and Khari Boli now is the standard dialect. Marwari, Bundeli, Kanauji, Chattisgarhi, Bagheli, Avadhi and Bhojpuri are other popular dialects of Hindi. Written left to right, Hindi uses the Devanagari script - one of the world's most attractive scripts. Devanagari has 34 consonants and 12 vowels - though diacritics indicate the vowels. Consonant clusters are formed into ligatures, which have a particularly ornate form. The language can be transliterated into a Latin script.
Hindi is a powerful and expressive language. In poetry and songs it can convey emotions using simple and gentle words. It can also be used for exact and rational reasoning. With globalization and India’s aggressive entry in world market, Hindi has become a more widely recognized tongue than ever before and is gaining importance in trade and security, and in schools.
Very few migrating Indians in North America spoke Hindi in the early days of 1960s and 70s. They used to feel shy in using it in their day-to-day lives, However, since the onset of globalization in 1990s, the situation has changed. Indians feel proud of their language and culture. Hindi has gradually become the link language and the majority now use it in their day-to-day lives as evident from our growing membership and patronage.