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Languages of India

There are 15 national languages recognized by the Indian constitution and these are spoken in over 1600 dialects. The national or official languages are Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Panjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu and English (Associate Official). An estimated 850 languages are in daily use (Todd and Hancock 1986). The literacy rate of India is between 36% to 52%. Other languages spoken in India include Judeo-Iraqi Arabic, Armenian, Burushaski, Western Farsi, Geman Deng, Lisu, Northern Pashto, Portuguese, Russian, Thami, Chitwania Tharu, Kathoriya Tharu, Uyghur, Walungge, Arabic and Chinese.

India's official language is Hindi in the Devnagri script. However, English continues to be the official working language. For many educated Indians, English is virtually their first language, and for a great number of Indians who are multilingual, it will probably be the second.

The country has a wide variety of local languages and in many cases the state boundaries have been drawn on linguistic lines. Besides Hindi and English, the other popular languages are Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Panjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.

Some Indian languages have evolved from the Indo-European group of languages. This set is known as the Indic group of languages. The other set of languages are Dravidian and are native to South India, though a distinct influence of Sanskrit and Hindi is evident in these languages. Most of the Indian languages have their own script and are spoken in the respective states along with English.

1. Gujarati

Gujarati is the state language of Gujarat, an western state of India, and is spoken by 70 percent of the state's population. More than 46 million people worldwide consider Gujarati as their first language. Apart from Gujarat, it is widely spoken in the states of Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. Worldwide it is spoken in the United Kingdom, USA, Kenya, South Africa, East Africa, Uganda, Fiji, Singapore and New Zealand.

GUJARATI: a language of India

Speakers 46 million-first language speakers.
Region Gujarat; Maharashtra; Rajasthan; Karnataka; Madhya Pradesh. Also spoken in Bangladesh, Fiji, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Oman, Pakistan, Reunion, Singapore, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, United Kingdom, USA, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Classification Indo-European
Order OCLC Language Sets

2. Hindi

Hindi is spoken mainly in the northern part of India, however it is widely understood all across India, except a few states of southern India by about 40 percent of the population.

It is not easy to delimit the borders of the Hindi-speaking region. Outside India, Hindi speaking population is found in Mauritius, Fiji, Guyana, Trinidad, UAE, Yemen, South Africa, Singapore, Uganda, Nepal, Germany, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.

HINDI: an official language of India

Speakers 366 million first-language speakers; additional 121 million second-language speakers.
Region Throughout northern India: Delhi; Uttar Pradesh; Rajasthan; Punjab; Madhya Pradesh; northern Bihar; Himachal Pradesh. Also spoken in Bangladesh, Belize, Botswana, Germany, Kenya, Nepal, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Uganda, UAE, United Kingdom, USA, Yemen, Zambia.
Classification Indo-European
Order OCLC Language Sets

3. Panjabi

Eastern Panjabi is the state Language of Panjab, the northern state of India. 30 to 45 million people regard Eastern Panjabi as their main language. Western Panjabi is widely spoken in Pakistan; about 27 million consider this branch of Panjabi their first language.

PANJABI, EASTERN: a language of India

Speakers 27 million people speak Eastern Panjabi as their first language.
Region Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi; Jammu and Kashmir. Also spoken in Bangladesh, Canada, Fiji, Kenya, Malaysia, Mauritius, Singapore, UAE, United Kingdom, USA.
Classification Indo-European

PANJABI, WESTERN : a language of Pakistan

Speakers 30-45 million first-language speakers.
Region Mainly in the Punjab area of Pakistan. Also spoken in Afghanistan, Canada, India, UAE, United Kingdom, USA.
Classification Indo-European
Order OCLC Language Sets

4. Tamil

This ancient Dravidian language is at least 2,000 years old. It is the state language of Tamil Nadu and is spoken by at least 66 million people as their first language and additional 8 million people use Tamil as a second language.

TAMIL: a language of India

Speakers 66 million first-language speakers; additional 8 million second-language speakers.
Region Tamil Nadu and neighboring states. Also spoken in Bahrain, Fiji, Germany, Malaysia (Peninsular), Mauritius, Netherlands, Qatar, Reunion, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, UAE, United Kingdom.
Classification Dravidian
Order OCLC Language Sets

5. Urdu

Urdu is one of the official languages of Pakistan, although it is spoken by only 8% of the population. It is also the state language of the Indian provinces of Jammu and Kashmir. Urdu is the language adopted by the majority of the Muslims in India. Urdu is written in the Persio-Arabic script and contains many words from the Persian language.

URDU: a language of Pakistan

Speakers 11 million first-language speakers; additional 44 million second-language speakers.
Region Also spoken in Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Botswana, Fiji, Germany, Guyana, India, Malawi, Mauritius, Nepal, Norway, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Thailand, UAE, United Kingdom, Zambia.
Classification Indo-European
Order OCLC Language Sets

Any statistics in this page are as of May 2004.