Se habla ingles?

[hackthis_archive]

I had a dream last night that I had to make this poll. It's just for curiousity's sake, but you know me, I may try to pick your brains later if I want one of my characters to start cursing at people in Russian. Even though my keyboard isn't equipped for Russian.

ETA: I define 'speak' as some degree of fluency/proficency where you can a) carry on a conversation b) curse prolifically and summon a policeman in said language and/or c) survive if you are kidnapped, tied up, dropped off in that country with nothing but your name, and can communicate well enough with other people (without sign language) so you can get back home.

Too much Burn Notice what?

ETA 2: Yes, kids, I know that Scandinavian and Eastern European are regions and not languages, but in some instances you have to generalize because unless it's for a paper, I'm not listing 600 languages.

[Poll #1077017]

Comments

[ellecain.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Hindi is spoken a lot, but for most, it's a second language. They teach it in schools because it's the national language and most pick up by watching Bollywood films (which I'm guessing you're a fan of by your icon). :-) But the people who live in the state of Maharashtra speak Marathi as their mother tongue.

[fivil.livejournal.com]

I was under the impression that Mumbai was like a Hindi-speaking spot on the otherwise Marathi-speaking state. I do know they of course teach both at schools and outside Mumbai the state's main language is Marathi. And apparently Mumbai is also supposed to have a lot of people who moved from other states and speak languages like Tamil, Telugu as their first (I know some Mumbai-Tamils).

Regardless, thank you! Good to know. :)

[applegnat.livejournal.com]

This is absolutely true. The native population speaks Marathi, the large immigrant population from north India speaks Hindi, but Bombay is home to a very large number of communities, who speak practically every language in India. This is why, among other things, discussing a potential bargain in front of a shopkeeper in your native language is completely useless. You might tell your mother in Malayalam or Kannada, "this is absolutely shameless, I could get those earrings in Hyderabad for twenty rupees," and the shopkeeper, in spite of not speaking a word of Malayalam or Kannada, will still have picked up enough to butt right in and inform you in Hindi that he doesn't know why you say that, madam, because it's not like you're ever going to get something of such quality in Hyderabad even if it's cheaper there!