Modi o Modi

Kinnera wrote:Gujarati and hindi are mostly similar, afaik. When my gujarati friends converse with each other in gujarati, i'll be able to follow their conversation pretty decently, though i miss something here and there. Till now, i haven't come across a gujarati who didn't know hindi.

FluteHolder wrote:

Kinnera wrote:Gujarati and hindi are mostly similar, afaik. When my gujarati friends converse with each other in gujarati, i'll be able to follow their conversation pretty decently, though i miss something here and there. Till now, i haven't come across a gujarati who didn't know hindi.

I donot think Gujarati and Hindi are mostly similar. I donot see much common words in both. I have friends who speak Hindi and Gujarati and I donot think both are similar. If I remember correctly, Gujarati is an offshoot of language of olden Goorjar (somewhere in Punjab/northwest India) before they migrated to current Gujarat. The current Gujarat was predominantly Marathi speakers before the migrations.

Kayalvizhi wrote:Modi is from Gujarat and is a Hindi fanatic.

On Hindi day of 2014, A reporter asked the meaning of 10 Hindi words (like ainak, nirman and jurab) to 18 educated people (age 18 to 30) in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad (Amdavad). Maximum any one knew was 7 words. 32.86% could not understand a single word.

Kris wrote:

Kayalvizhi wrote:Modi is from Gujarat and is a Hindi fanatic.

On Hindi day of 2014, A reporter asked the meaning of 10 Hindi words (like ainak, nirman and jurab) to 18 educated people (age 18 to 30) in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad (Amdavad). Maximum any one knew was 7 words. 32.86% could not understand a single word.

>>>> Maybe Modi thinks he can communicate better in hindi. Maybe it is a practical move because a higher number of  people  North Indians understand it than other languages in India. I would have a problem if the speeches are not translated for the benefit of others. Otherwise, no skin off my nose what he wants to speak in.

confuzzled dude wrote:

Kris wrote:

Kayalvizhi wrote:Modi is from Gujarat and is a Hindi fanatic.

On Hindi day of 2014, A reporter asked the meaning of 10 Hindi words (like ainak, nirman and jurab) to 18 educated people (age 18 to 30) in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad (Amdavad). Maximum any one knew was 7 words. 32.86% could not understand a single word.

>>>> Maybe Modi thinks he can communicate better in hindi. Maybe it is a practical move because a higher number of  people  North Indians understand it than other languages in India. I would have a problem if the speeches are not translated for the benefit of others. Otherwise, no skin off my nose what he wants to speak in.

Fixed. Problem is most of the South Indians feel alienated in their own country let him continue with this nonsense though as this is akin to digging his own grave

truthbetold wrote:Kinnera

Excellent question. If the criteria is understanding language, Hindi beats English anyday. 

Modi's English is grating on ears. If I were his advisor, I would tell him to stick to Hindi. I would also suggest translation into all india languages.

Kayalvizhi wrote:Modi is from Gujarat and is a Hindi fanatic.

On Hindi day of 2014, A reporter asked the meaning of 10 Hindi words (like ainak, nirman and jurab) to 18 educated people (age 18 to 30) in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad (Amdavad). Maximum any one knew was 7 words. 32.86% could not understand a single word.

Kinnera wrote:

truthbetold wrote:Kinnera

Excellent question. If the criteria is understanding language, Hindi beats English anyday. 

Modi's English is grating on ears. If I were his advisor, I would tell him to stick to Hindi. I would also suggest translation into all india languages.

i don't understand this hullaboo about Modi speaking in Hindi. Didn't the congress leaders address the ppl in hindi previously? Why didn't anyone make it a big issue then as some are doing now?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dbTbdexZpE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmGqu7PocbA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d54g2ApaGRw

confuzzled dude wrote:

Kris wrote:

>>>> Maybe Modi thinks he can communicate better in hindi. Maybe it is a practical move because a higher number of  people  North Indians understand it than other languages in India. I would have a problem if the speeches are not translated for the benefit of others. Otherwise, no skin off my nose what he wants to speak in.

Fixed. Problem is most of the South Indians feel alienated in their own country let him continue with this nonsense though as this is akin to digging his own grave

smArtha wrote:

confuzzled dude wrote:

Kris wrote:

>>>> Maybe Modi thinks he can communicate better in hindi. Maybe it is a practical move because a higher number of  people  North Indians understand it than other languages in India. I would have a problem if the speeches are not translated for the benefit of others. Otherwise, no skin off my nose what he wants to speak in.

Fixed. Problem is most of the South Indians feel alienated in their own country let him continue with this nonsense though as this is akin to digging his own grave

CD - Don't act like those Tamil zealots who think that TN represents all of South India. Within South India - Telangana and Northern Karnataka folks not only understand but can converse sufficiently fluently in Hindi. And high school educated folks in AP and rest of Karnataka do understand basic Hindi. I don't know much about Kerala. TN is a case of deliberate ignorance.

confuzzled dude wrote:

smArtha wrote:

confuzzled dude wrote:

Kris wrote:

>>>> Maybe Modi thinks he can communicate better in hindi. Maybe it is a practical move because a higher number of  people  North Indians understand it than other languages in India. I would have a problem if the speeches are not translated for the benefit of others. Otherwise, no skin off my nose what he wants to speak in.

Fixed. Problem is most of the South Indians feel alienated in their own country let him continue with this nonsense though as this is akin to digging his own grave

CD - Don't act like those Tamil zealots who think that TN represents all of South India. Within South India - Telangana and Northern Karnataka folks not only understand but can converse sufficiently fluently in Hindi. And high school educated folks in AP and rest of Karnataka do understand basic Hindi. I don't know much about Kerala. TN is a case of deliberate ignorance.

You couldn't have been more wrong. Max has always been sound, reasonable and consistent with his arguments on learning or not learning Hindi. I, on a daily basis, communicate with my Hindi speaking NI friends in Hindi and I don't have any problem speaking in Hindi but I don't like what this administration is trying to do wrt Hindi.

confuzzled dude wrote:

Kinnera wrote:

truthbetold wrote:Kinnera

Excellent question. If the criteria is understanding language, Hindi beats English anyday. 

Modi's English is grating on ears. If I were his advisor, I would tell him to stick to Hindi. I would also suggest translation into all india languages.

i don't understand this hullaboo about Modi speaking in Hindi. Didn't the congress leaders address the ppl in hindi previously? Why didn't anyone make it a big issue then as some are doing now?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dbTbdexZpE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmGqu7PocbA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d54g2ApaGRw

I haven't watched those videos but the reason for this outcry is nobody in recent times was as blatant as this administration with their attempts to impose Hindi.

smArtha wrote:By Tamil Zealots I wasn't referring to Max or Kris. More like KV types who keep mis-using the larger SI identity to garner support for their narrow interests. In any case, I was
commenting on your claim that most SIs feel alienated in their own country...which is very KVish.

Copies of circulars sent out by deputy directors of public instruction (DDPIs) in some districts of the State, made available to The Hindu, state that listening to the address live is “compulsory” and schools should make arrangements.

In Mysore, a circular by the DDPI to heads of all government, aided and unaided schools states that it is “compulsory” to ensure that students watch Mr. Modi’s televised address. DDPI H.R. Basappa convened a meeting of all heads of institutions on Monday to make sure television sets, computers, laptops or radios were available for students from Class I to X to watch the address from 2.30 p.m. to 4.45 p.m. on September 5.

The students had nothing much to do because they did not understand a word of what he spoke, said Bharath S., a Class IX student. Karthik S. of Class VI also said that he could not understand what the Prime Minister was speaking.

Bharath said he had hoped that the Prime Minister would announce a scheme or two just as he had announced his inclusive banking scheme, a few days ago. But what the Prime Minister spoke made no sense to him because language was the barrier. “If it had been English, I would have been happier, for I was very eager to listen to him.”

confuzzled dude wrote:

Kris wrote:

Kayalvizhi wrote:Modi is from Gujarat and is a Hindi fanatic.

On Hindi day of 2014, A reporter asked the meaning of 10 Hindi words (like ainak, nirman and jurab) to 18 educated people (age 18 to 30) in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad (Amdavad). Maximum any one knew was 7 words. 32.86% could not understand a single word.

>>>> Maybe Modi thinks he can communicate better in hindi. Maybe it is a practical move because a higher number of  people  North Indians understand it than other languages in India. I would have a problem if the speeches are not translated for the benefit of others. Otherwise, no skin off my nose what he wants to speak in.

Fixed. Problem is most of the South Indians feel alienated in their own country let him continue with this nonsense though as this is akin to digging his own grave

Kris wrote:

confuzzled dude wrote:

Kris wrote:

Kayalvizhi wrote:Modi is from Gujarat and is a Hindi fanatic.

On Hindi day of 2014, A reporter asked the meaning of 10 Hindi words (like ainak, nirman and jurab) to 18 educated people (age 18 to 30) in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad (Amdavad). Maximum any one knew was 7 words. 32.86% could not understand a single word.

>>>> Maybe Modi thinks he can communicate better in hindi. Maybe it is a practical move because a higher number of  people  North Indians understand it than other languages in India. I would have a problem if the speeches are not translated for the benefit of others. Otherwise, no skin off my nose what he wants to speak in.

Fixed. Problem is most of the South Indians feel alienated in their own country let him continue with this nonsense though as this is akin to digging his own grave

>>>CD, No offense, this is starting to get old and disingenuous just to score a few political points. Unless you have joined our resident troll KV who gets his/her jollies with this "alienated SI" cause, you seriously can't believe anyone gives a crap about this as long as they are not left out of the info loop. It is not possible fro Modi to speak in every language to please every linguistic demographic for obvious reasons. He speaks English to some extent, but frankly I would rather he speak in the language he feels comfortable in and concentrate on governing.  The only grave he will be digging for himself is if he screws up on that front. If that is the case, he can speak in tamil or telugu or assamese, it won't make a whit of difference.

Kris wrote:

confuzzled dude wrote:

Kris wrote:

Kayalvizhi wrote:Modi is from Gujarat and is a Hindi fanatic.

On Hindi day of 2014, A reporter asked the meaning of 10 Hindi words (like ainak, nirman and jurab) to 18 educated people (age 18 to 30) in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad (Amdavad). Maximum any one knew was 7 words. 32.86% could not understand a single word.

>>>> Maybe Modi thinks he can communicate better in hindi. Maybe it is a practical move because a higher number of  people  North Indians understand it than other languages in India. I would have a problem if the speeches are not translated for the benefit of others. Otherwise, no skin off my nose what he wants to speak in.

Fixed. Problem is most of the South Indians feel alienated in their own country let him continue with this nonsense though as this is akin to digging his own grave

>>>CD, No offense, this is starting to get old and disingenuous just to score a few political points. Unless you have joined our resident troll KV who gets his/her jollies with this "alienated SI" cause, you seriously can't believe anyone gives a crap about this as long as they are not left out of the info loop. It is not possible fro Modi to speak in every language to please every linguistic demographic for obvious reasons. He speaks English to some extent, but frankly I would rather he speak in the language he feels comfortable in and concentrate on governing.  The only grave he will be digging for himself is if he screws up on that front. If that is the case, he can speak in tamil or telugu or assamese, it won't make a whit of difference.

confuzzled dude wrote:

Kris wrote:

confuzzled dude wrote:

Kris wrote:

Kayalvizhi wrote:Modi is from Gujarat and is a Hindi fanatic.

On Hindi day of 2014, A reporter asked the meaning of 10 Hindi words (like ainak, nirman and jurab) to 18 educated people (age 18 to 30) in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad (Amdavad). Maximum any one knew was 7 words. 32.86% could not understand a single word.

>>>> Maybe Modi thinks he can communicate better in hindi. Maybe it is a practical move because a higher number of  people  North Indians understand it than other languages in India. I would have a problem if the speeches are not translated for the benefit of others. Otherwise, no skin off my nose what he wants to speak in.

Fixed. Problem is most of the South Indians feel alienated in their own country let him continue with this nonsense though as this is akin to digging his own grave

>>>CD, No offense, this is starting to get old and disingenuous just to score a few political points. Unless you have joined our resident troll KV who gets his/her jollies with this "alienated SI" cause, you seriously can't believe anyone gives a crap about this as long as they are not left out of the info loop. It is not possible fro Modi to speak in every language to please every linguistic demographic for obvious reasons. He speaks English to some extent, but frankly I would rather he speak in the language he feels comfortable in and concentrate on governing.  The only grave he will be digging for himself is if he screws up on that front. If that is the case, he can speak in tamil or telugu or assamese, it won't make a whit of difference.

Well, like I said it is just not him giving speeches in Hindi when you look at it in conjunction with other moves of this administration with their attempts to impose Hindi, one will get the clear picture. If one thinks that makes a troll or bigot, so be it. I've been called so many names on this forum, what's another.

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:

Kris wrote:

confuzzled dude wrote:

Kris wrote:

Kayalvizhi wrote:Modi is from Gujarat and is a Hindi fanatic.

On Hindi day of 2014, A reporter asked the meaning of 10 Hindi words (like ainak, nirman and jurab) to 18 educated people (age 18 to 30) in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad (Amdavad). Maximum any one knew was 7 words. 32.86% could not understand a single word.

>>>> Maybe Modi thinks he can communicate better in hindi. Maybe it is a practical move because a higher number of  people  North Indians understand it than other languages in India. I would have a problem if the speeches are not translated for the benefit of others. Otherwise, no skin off my nose what he wants to speak in.

Fixed. Problem is most of the South Indians feel alienated in their own country let him continue with this nonsense though as this is akin to digging his own grave

>>>CD, No offense, this is starting to get old and disingenuous just to score a few political points. Unless you have joined our resident troll KV who gets his/her jollies with this "alienated SI" cause, you seriously can't believe anyone gives a crap about this as long as they are not left out of the info loop. It is not possible fro Modi to speak in every language to please every linguistic demographic for obvious reasons. He speaks English to some extent, but frankly I would rather he speak in the language he feels comfortable in and concentrate on governing.  The only grave he will be digging for himself is if he screws up on that front. If that is the case, he can speak in tamil or telugu or assamese, it won't make a whit of difference.

i don't have a problem with modi speaking any language in which he feels comfortable. what i object to is the narrative that follows from it:

(a) indians and indian americans should feel proud that he spoke in an indian language. i don't. hindi is way more alien to me than english. to me as a person of southern indian origin, english is more of an indian language than hindi.

(b) that because he spoke in hindi, somehow it is representative of india. it is not. a huge segment of people in southern india don't speak hindi and are not comfortable in it. it cannot be representative of india so long as india contains the states of kerala, TN, karnataka, and andhra pradesh (i'll leave telengana out of this list).

if we can agree on these things, especially (b) we can put this to rest.

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:
i don't have a problem with modi speaking any language in which he feels comfortable. what i object to is the narrative that follows from it:

(a) indians and indian americans should feel proud that he spoke in an indian language. i don't. hindi is way more alien to me than english. to me as a person of southern indian origin, english is more of an indian language than hindi.

>>>>>> You are only talking about yourself. Of course, as the son of an english teacher, you are more comfortable with english than hindi. Not everyone's mom is an english teacher. English feels like an indian language to *you*. You can't speak for others.

(b) that because he spoke in hindi, somehow it is representative of india. it is not. a huge segment of people in southern india don't speak hindi and are not comfortable in it. it cannot be representative of india so long as india contains the states of kerala, TN, karnataka, and andhra pradesh (i'll leave telengana out of this list).

if we can agree on these things, especially (b) we can put this to rest.

>>>>Most ppl in Kerala, TN, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh don't know english either. If he spoke in english, would it be representative of those states?

confuzzled dude wrote:

Kris wrote:

confuzzled dude wrote:

Kris wrote:

Kayalvizhi wrote:Modi is from Gujarat and is a Hindi fanatic.

On Hindi day of 2014, A reporter asked the meaning of 10 Hindi words (like ainak, nirman and jurab) to 18 educated people (age 18 to 30) in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad (Amdavad). Maximum any one knew was 7 words. 32.86% could not understand a single word.

>>>> Maybe Modi thinks he can communicate better in hindi. Maybe it is a practical move because a higher number of  people  North Indians understand it than other languages in India. I would have a problem if the speeches are not translated for the benefit of others. Otherwise, no skin off my nose what he wants to speak in.

Fixed. Problem is most of the South Indians feel alienated in their own country let him continue with this nonsense though as this is akin to digging his own grave

>>>CD, No offense, this is starting to get old and disingenuous just to score a few political points. Unless you have joined our resident troll KV who gets his/her jollies with this "alienated SI" cause, you seriously can't believe anyone gives a crap about this as long as they are not left out of the info loop. It is not possible fro Modi to speak in every language to please every linguistic demographic for obvious reasons. He speaks English to some extent, but frankly I would rather he speak in the language he feels comfortable in and concentrate on governing.  The only grave he will be digging for himself is if he screws up on that front. If that is the case, he can speak in tamil or telugu or assamese, it won't make a whit of difference.

Well, like I said it is just not him giving speeches in Hindi when you look at it in conjunction with other moves of this administration with their attempts to impose Hindi, one will get the clear picture. If one thinks that makes a troll or bigot, so be it. I've been called so many names on this forum, what's another.

Kris wrote:

confuzzled dude wrote:

Kris wrote:

confuzzled dude wrote:

Kris wrote:
>>>> Maybe Modi thinks he can communicate better in hindi. Maybe it is a practical move because a higher number of  people  North Indians understand it than other languages in India. I would have a problem if the speeches are not translated for the benefit of others. Otherwise, no skin off my nose what he wants to speak in.

Fixed. Problem is most of the South Indians feel alienated in their own country let him continue with this nonsense though as this is akin to digging his own grave

>>>CD, No offense, this is starting to get old and disingenuous just to score a few political points. Unless you have joined our resident troll KV who gets his/her jollies with this "alienated SI" cause, you seriously can't believe anyone gives a crap about this as long as they are not left out of the info loop. It is not possible fro Modi to speak in every language to please every linguistic demographic for obvious reasons. He speaks English to some extent, but frankly I would rather he speak in the language he feels comfortable in and concentrate on governing.  The only grave he will be digging for himself is if he screws up on that front. If that is the case, he can speak in tamil or telugu or assamese, it won't make a whit of difference.

Well, like I said it is just not him giving speeches in Hindi when you look at it in conjunction with other moves of this administration with their attempts to impose Hindi, one will get the clear picture. If one thinks that makes a troll or bigot, so be it. I've been called so many names on this forum, what's another.

>>>I don't know. This "Modi, the Hindi- Speaker' controversy seems to be a contrived one. This ranks pretty close to the "Modi- the Light Saffron-Jacket wearing, code-language speaker to Hindus" controversy that came up a couple of days ago. In the scheme of things, what Modi speaks in and what colors he wears become this much of a focal point of discussions, the opposition is seriously grasping at straws.

confuzzled dude wrote:If you exclude twin cities Telangana is not very different from AP, not many can speak or understand Hindi

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:

Kris wrote:

confuzzled dude wrote:

Kris wrote:

Kayalvizhi wrote:Modi is from Gujarat and is a Hindi fanatic.

On Hindi day of 2014, A reporter asked the meaning of 10 Hindi words (like ainak, nirman and jurab) to 18 educated people (age 18 to 30) in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad (Amdavad). Maximum any one knew was 7 words. 32.86% could not understand a single word.

>>>> Maybe Modi thinks he can communicate better in hindi. Maybe it is a practical move because a higher number of  people  North Indians understand it than other languages in India. I would have a problem if the speeches are not translated for the benefit of others. Otherwise, no skin off my nose what he wants to speak in.

Fixed. Problem is most of the South Indians feel alienated in their own country let him continue with this nonsense though as this is akin to digging his own grave

>>>CD, No offense, this is starting to get old and disingenuous just to score a few political points. Unless you have joined our resident troll KV who gets his/her jollies with this "alienated SI" cause, you seriously can't believe anyone gives a crap about this as long as they are not left out of the info loop. It is not possible fro Modi to speak in every language to please every linguistic demographic for obvious reasons. He speaks English to some extent, but frankly I would rather he speak in the language he feels comfortable in and concentrate on governing.  The only grave he will be digging for himself is if he screws up on that front. If that is the case, he can speak in tamil or telugu or assamese, it won't make a whit of difference.

i don't have a problem with modi speaking any language in which he feels comfortable. what i object to is the narrative that follows from it:

(a) indians and indian americans should feel proud that he spoke in an indian language. i don't. hindi is way more alien to me than english. to me as a person of southern indian origin, english is more of an indian language than hindi.

(b) that because he spoke in hindi, somehow it is representative of india. it is not. a huge segment of people in southern india don't speak hindi and are not comfortable in it. it cannot be representative of india so long as india contains the states of kerala, TN, karnataka, and andhra pradesh (i'll leave telengana out of this list).

if we can agree on these things, especially (b) we can put this to rest.

Kris wrote:

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:

Kris wrote:

confuzzled dude wrote:

Kris wrote:
>>>> Maybe Modi thinks he can communicate better in hindi. Maybe it is a practical move because a higher number of  people  North Indians understand it than other languages in India. I would have a problem if the speeches are not translated for the benefit of others. Otherwise, no skin off my nose what he wants to speak in.

Fixed. Problem is most of the South Indians feel alienated in their own country let him continue with this nonsense though as this is akin to digging his own grave

>>>CD, No offense, this is starting to get old and disingenuous just to score a few political points. Unless you have joined our resident troll KV who gets his/her jollies with this "alienated SI" cause, you seriously can't believe anyone gives a crap about this as long as they are not left out of the info loop. It is not possible fro Modi to speak in every language to please every linguistic demographic for obvious reasons. He speaks English to some extent, but frankly I would rather he speak in the language he feels comfortable in and concentrate on governing.  The only grave he will be digging for himself is if he screws up on that front. If that is the case, he can speak in tamil or telugu or assamese, it won't make a whit of difference.

i don't have a problem with modi speaking any language in which he feels comfortable. what i object to is the narrative that follows from it:

(a) indians and indian americans should feel proud that he spoke in an indian language. i don't. hindi is way more alien to me than english. to me as a person of southern indian origin, english is more of an indian language than hindi.

(b) that because he spoke in hindi, somehow it is representative of india. it is not. a huge segment of people in southern india don't speak hindi and are not comfortable in it. it cannot be representative of india so long as india contains the states of kerala, TN, karnataka, and andhra pradesh (i'll leave telengana out of this list).

if we can agree on these things, especially (b) we can put this to rest.

(a) I didn't know that this was the narrative, but if someone wants to feel this pride for whatever reason, doesn't bother me.

(b) I see this as nothing more than him communicating in a language he feels comfortable in. I have heard him speak English on some youtube clip. It is definitely not his strong point. If an event like the Madison Square gathering was meant to get the mainstream media's attention for a buzz, his English would have been a huge negative (i.e someone speaking English requiring subtitles in English). Of course, there may well have been a PR angle to appeal to a sizeable segment of the Indian American segment with this. This is politics and he is playing the card that gets maximum ROI.

southindian wrote:

Kris wrote:

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:

Kris wrote:

confuzzled dude wrote:
Fixed. Problem is most of the South Indians feel alienated in their own country let him continue with this nonsense though as this is akin to digging his own grave

>>>CD, No offense, this is starting to get old and disingenuous just to score a few political points. Unless you have joined our resident troll KV who gets his/her jollies with this "alienated SI" cause, you seriously can't believe anyone gives a crap about this as long as they are not left out of the info loop. It is not possible fro Modi to speak in every language to please every linguistic demographic for obvious reasons. He speaks English to some extent, but frankly I would rather he speak in the language he feels comfortable in and concentrate on governing.  The only grave he will be digging for himself is if he screws up on that front. If that is the case, he can speak in tamil or telugu or assamese, it won't make a whit of difference.

i don't have a problem with modi speaking any language in which he feels comfortable. what i object to is the narrative that follows from it:

(a) indians and indian americans should feel proud that he spoke in an indian language. i don't. hindi is way more alien to me than english. to me as a person of southern indian origin, english is more of an indian language than hindi.

(b) that because he spoke in hindi, somehow it is representative of india. it is not. a huge segment of people in southern india don't speak hindi and are not comfortable in it. it cannot be representative of india so long as india contains the states of kerala, TN, karnataka, and andhra pradesh (i'll leave telengana out of this list).

if we can agree on these things, especially (b) we can put this to rest.

(a) I didn't know that this was the narrative, but if someone wants to feel this pride for whatever reason, doesn't bother me.

(b) I see this as nothing more than him communicating in a language he feels comfortable in. I have heard him speak English on some youtube clip. It is definitely not his strong point. If an event like the Madison Square gathering was meant to get the mainstream media's attention for a buzz, his English would have been a huge negative (i.e someone speaking English requiring subtitles in English). Of course, there may well have been a PR angle to appeal to a sizeable segment of the Indian American segment with this. This is politics and he is playing the card that gets maximum ROI.

I was at a Dandia event last weekend and there were people from Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, AP, Karnataka, Bengal and the rest of India. The songs played were in Gujarati, Hindi and everyone there could understand, sing and dance along.

Those who assimilate and enjoy India's event go to these events wherever they can find in local areas. Those who can't... signup on SuCH.

Impedimenta wrote:
err? liar. people who are invited to sing at these events, usually yell into the mike. not sure if anyone can even understand the lyrics. you picked such a lousy example.

Impedimenta wrote:oh yea. but i would not call them professional. if they are, then i am starting my own dandia garage band :-)

Kris wrote:

confuzzled dude wrote:

Kris wrote:

confuzzled dude wrote:

Kris wrote:
>>>> Maybe Modi thinks he can communicate better in hindi. Maybe it is a practical move because a higher number of  people  North Indians understand it than other languages in India. I would have a problem if the speeches are not translated for the benefit of others. Otherwise, no skin off my nose what he wants to speak in.

Fixed. Problem is most of the South Indians feel alienated in their own country let him continue with this nonsense though as this is akin to digging his own grave

>>>CD, No offense, this is starting to get old and disingenuous just to score a few political points. Unless you have joined our resident troll KV who gets his/her jollies with this "alienated SI" cause, you seriously can't believe anyone gives a crap about this as long as they are not left out of the info loop. It is not possible fro Modi to speak in every language to please every linguistic demographic for obvious reasons. He speaks English to some extent, but frankly I would rather he speak in the language he feels comfortable in and concentrate on governing.  The only grave he will be digging for himself is if he screws up on that front. If that is the case, he can speak in tamil or telugu or assamese, it won't make a whit of difference.

Well, like I said it is just not him giving speeches in Hindi when you look at it in conjunction with other moves of this administration with their attempts to impose Hindi, one will get the clear picture. If one thinks that makes a troll or bigot, so be it. I've been called so many names on this forum, what's another.

>>>I don't know. This "Modi, the Hindi- Speaker' controversy seems to be a contrived one. This ranks pretty close to the "Modi- the Light Saffron-Jacket wearing, code-language speaker to Hindus" controversy that came up a couple of days ago. In the scheme of things, what Modi speaks in and what colors he wears become this much of a focal point of discussions, the opposition is seriously grasping at straws.

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:

Kris wrote:

confuzzled dude wrote:

Kris wrote:

Kayalvizhi wrote:Modi is from Gujarat and is a Hindi fanatic.

On Hindi day of 2014, A reporter asked the meaning of 10 Hindi words (like ainak, nirman and jurab) to 18 educated people (age 18 to 30) in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad (Amdavad). Maximum any one knew was 7 words. 32.86% could not understand a single word.

>>>> Maybe Modi thinks he can communicate better in hindi. Maybe it is a practical move because a higher number of  people  North Indians understand it than other languages in India. I would have a problem if the speeches are not translated for the benefit of others. Otherwise, no skin off my nose what he wants to speak in.

Fixed. Problem is most of the South Indians feel alienated in their own country let him continue with this nonsense though as this is akin to digging his own grave

>>>CD, No offense, this is starting to get old and disingenuous just to score a few political points. Unless you have joined our resident troll KV who gets his/her jollies with this "alienated SI" cause, you seriously can't believe anyone gives a crap about this as long as they are not left out of the info loop. It is not possible fro Modi to speak in every language to please every linguistic demographic for obvious reasons. He speaks English to some extent, but frankly I would rather he speak in the language he feels comfortable in and concentrate on governing.  The only grave he will be digging for himself is if he screws up on that front. If that is the case, he can speak in tamil or telugu or assamese, it won't make a whit of difference.

i don't have a problem with modi speaking any language in which he feels comfortable. what i object to is the narrative that follows from it:

(a) indians and indian americans should feel proud that he spoke in an indian language. i don't. hindi is way more alien to me than english. to me as a person of southern indian origin, english is more of an indian language than hindi.

(b) that because he spoke in hindi, somehow it is representative of india. it is not. a huge segment of people in southern india don't speak hindi and are not comfortable in it. it cannot be representative of india so long as india contains the states of kerala, TN, karnataka, and andhra pradesh (i'll leave telengana out of this list).

if we can agree on these things, especially (b) we can put this to rest.

To promote use of Hindi and reach out to investors conversant in this language, capital markets regulator Sebi has enhanced focus on its use and will soon empanel professionals for translation of its various documents into this language.

The move is part of Sebi's efforts to ensure compliance with the central government's official language policy.

goodcitizn wrote:

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:

i don't have a problem with modi speaking any language in which he feels comfortable. what i object to is the narrative that follows from it:

(a) indians and indian americans...i.

(b) that because he spoke in hindi, somehow it is representative of india....

if we can agree on these things, especially (b) we can put this to rest.

+1000.

FluteHolder wrote:

In this video Modi speaks in English at Chennai (I guess Music academy). When convenient and votes are needed he would switch to English? Why not broadcast his speech in all the relevant languages as they did for Fareed in English? By speaking in Hindi to Tamil or Non-hindi speaking students without giving them the translation, what message he is sending?

Kinnera wrote:It's amusing to see how the modi haters and a particular language fanatics getting all twisted about the indian prime minister talking in an indian language that is understood by the majority of indians (irrespective of the percentages that the minister gave) They'd rather have him speak in english, a non-native language which most indians don't understand. Do they even understand how ridiculous the whole thing is? It's going to be so mind boggling to a non-indian.