3 ms·

I may be completely ignorant but, is it weird that the biggest retailer in India has an English name?

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
tspike 8y ago
There are more speakers of Hindi than English in India, but they are geographically skewed toward the north of the country. Some regions (esp Tamil Nadu) are actively antagonistic toward Hindi. English is a good bet to be able to communicate across the entire country, and is also an official language.
- tamizhar 8y ago
  > Some regions (esp Tamil Nadu) are actively antagonistic toward Hindi. People of any region tend to be antagonistic towards crude attempts to force a foreign language and culture upon them. Hindi has no common ancestry with South Indian languages like Tamil. In fact, Hindi-Urdu-Farsi is from the same language family as English. Therefore, Hindi is just as foreign as English to South India and therefore it makes much more sense for South Indians to speak their native tongues and a useful foreign language like English or perhaps Mandarin in the future rather than be forced to learn Hindi.
abhi3 8y ago
India has 22 official languages & English is the lingua-fraca.(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_with_official_status_in_India#Eighth_Schedule_to_the_Constitution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_with_official_status...) Almost everyone middle-class and up can atleast read English so makes sense that online retailers use that.
- blreng 8y ago
  In the southern parts of the country (Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu), I have seen even the poorer class, auto-drivers, and cab-drivers too speak English fluently. :-)
dingo_bat 8y ago
English is the default language if you want to reach a maximum number of Indians. Hindi would probably be second, but why bother? Personally I like our migration to a common language. I feel that our different languages divide us.
sumedh 8y ago
India has the second highest number of English speakers in the world.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

There are more speakers of Hindi than English in India, but they are geographically skewed toward the north of the country. Some regions (esp Tamil Nadu) are actively antagonistic toward Hindi. English is a good bet to be able to communicate across the entire country, and is also an official language.

tamizhar 8y ago
> Some regions (esp Tamil Nadu) are actively antagonistic toward Hindi. People of any region tend to be antagonistic towards crude attempts to force a foreign language and culture upon them. Hindi has no common ancestry with South Indian languages like Tamil. In fact, Hindi-Urdu-Farsi is from the same language family as English. Therefore, Hindi is just as foreign as English to South India and therefore it makes much more sense for South Indians to speak their native tongues and a useful foreign language like English or perhaps Mandarin in the future rather than be forced to learn Hindi.

abhi3 8y ago

India has 22 official languages & English is the lingua-fraca.(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_with_official_status_in_India#Eighth_Schedule_to_the_Constitution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_with_official_status...) Almost everyone middle-class and up can atleast read English so makes sense that online retailers use that.

blreng 8y ago
In the southern parts of the country (Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu), I have seen even the poorer class, auto-drivers, and cab-drivers too speak English fluently. :-)

dingo_bat 8y ago

English is the default language if you want to reach a maximum number of Indians. Hindi would probably be second, but why bother? Personally I like our migration to a common language. I feel that our different languages divide us.

sumedh 8y ago

India has the second highest number of English speakers in the world.