Ok, Lemmy, let's play a game!
Post how many languages in which you can count to ten, including your native language. If you like, provide which languages. I'm going to make a guess; after you've replied, come back and open the spoiler. If I'm right: upvote; if I'm wrong: downvote!
My guess, and my answer...
My guess is that it's more than the number of languages you speak, read, and/or write.
Do you feel cheated because I didn't pick a number? Vote how you want to, or don't vote! I'm just interested in the count.
I can count to ten in five languages, but I only speak two. I can read a third, and I once was able to converse in a fourth, but have long since lost that skill. I know only some pick-up/borrow words from the 5th, including counting to 10.
- My native language is English
- I lived in Germany for a couple of years; because I never took classes, I can't write in German, but I spoke fluently by the time I left.
- I studied French in college for three years; I can read French, but I've yet to meet a French person who can understand what I'm trying to say, and I have a hard time comprehending it.
- I taught myself Esperanto a couple of decades ago, and used to hang out in Esperanto chat rooms. I haven't kept up.
- I can count to ten in Japanese because I took Aikido classes for a decade or so, and my instructor counted out loud in Japanese, and the various movements are numbered.
I can almost count to ten in Spanish, because I grew up in mid-California and there was a lot of Spanish thrown around. But French interferes, and I start in Spanish and find myself switching to French in the middle, so I'm not sure I could really do it.
Bonus question: do you ever do your counting in a non-native language, just to make it more interesting?
I have not heard of Marathi, but from the context, you're Indian? Hindi is the official national language, but most Indians grow up learning a local regional language at home, IIRC.
Yepp
Oh noooo nonono. This is a large misconception (kinda one that was spread intentionally).
So here's the deal. India is very similar to Europe, in that there are hundreds of little cultures that have had very different histories, very different cultures, very different religious practices, etc. At no point in history was India (the current borders) under one state, just like Europe wasn't under one state.
India has 22 official languages, out of which Hindi is the most spoken one (largely in northern India in the basin of the Ganga).
Hindu nationalists have this idea that India needs to be a nation state to protect itself from foreign threats. "A very important step towards that is by having one language that is spoken by all. English can't be that language cuz it belongs to the colonizers. Hindi however, is Indian. Hence, all Indians must speak it."
The problem however, is that those that don't speak Hindi don't want Hindi imposed on them. According to them, English is a perfectly fine bridge language. South Indians generally hold this position. Their languages are very very different from Hindi. Even their scripts are different (like how English and Japanese have different scripts).
Lemme explain this by giving an example of Europe. Imagine Britain colonizes all of mainland Europe. Europe has never been united before. However, to defeat the British, Europe unites for the first time. They drive the British out, and establish their own state.
Now, a group of Catholic Christian nationalists believe that Europe must become more united to fight against such threats. They want all Europeans to speak one language. This language turns out to be German. State institutions across Europe start making their employees only talk in German. Understandably, the French are pissed with this.
That's kinda what's happening in India right now. Many (especially south Indians) are pretty mad about this and are resisting.
It's the language spoken in the state of Maharashtra (whose capital is Mumbai).
83 million people speak it natively, while 16 million speak it as a second language. It shares the same script with Hindi. So if you know Marathi, it's kinda easy to learn Hindi and vice versa. There are many common words and stuff. I think a huge majority of Marathi folk can speak an ok amount of Hindi today (largely because of internal immigration from North India to cities in Maharashtra and the aforementioned "Hindi imposition").
Thanks for the detailed explanation! I've worked with a ton of Indians (software development, East coast US), and I picked that up from one of them. It hadn't occurred to me to verify it, mainly because it wasn't critical knowledge for me; just trivia.
Aww no worries <3
Ah. Nah, it's a case of "repeat a lie again and again till it becomes the truth". I vaguely remember us being taught about this national language thing in school too! Kinda like the Mandela effect (but very likely spread intentionally).