Hindi Language Information
Hindi Language Overview
Hindi is an Indo-Aryan language predominantly spoken in India. It serves as the lingua franca of the Hindi Belt region, which includes parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. The language holds significant importance as it is one of the two official languages of the Government of India, alongside English.
Geographical Distribution
Hindi is primarily spoken in India ๐ฎ๐ณ, and it is also spoken in several other countries where the Indian diaspora is present, such as Nepal ๐ณ๐ต, South Africa ๐ฟ๐ฆ, Mauritius ๐ฒ๐บ, Fiji ๐ซ๐ฏ, Suriname ๐ธ๐ท, Guyana ๐ฌ๐พ, Trinidad and Tobago ๐น๐น, and the United Arab Emirates ๐ฆ๐ช.
Total Speakers
There are about 350 million native speakers of Hindi and related languages reported as ‘Hindi’ in the 2011 census. Additionally, there are 260 million second-language speakers as of 2020.
Official or First Language
Hindi is the first language for over 260 million people and holds official status in India and Fiji.
Language Family
Hindi belongs to the Indo-European language family, within the Indo-Iranian branch, and is part of the Indo-Aryan group.
Similar Languages
Hindi shares similarities with other Indo-Aryan languages like Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, and others. It is mutually intelligible with Urdu, sharing grammar and a large portion of vocabulary.
Writing System
The primary writing system for Hindi is the Devanagari script. Historically, other scripts like Kaithi, Mahajani, and Laแนแธฤ have also been used.