The language

Hi, everyone! I am a bit behind with the posts in English, so let’s see if I have a bit of time next week and I can catch up. I am going to tell you a bit about the language.

Before I came, I used to tell everyone that, even though I don’t speak Hindi, that shouldn’t be a problem, as English is also an official language of the country. Huge mistake!

Yes, it is an official language, but no, not everyone can speak it. I realized how that could be a problem when I took a rickshaw with my housemates on the first day. I could only say the name of the place, and then… well, that was it! What if I get lost? I cannot even ask for directions or take the transport on my own!

Well, in the end, it’s not that bad. I have been here for 2 months and you can survive! When they talk to you, instead of answering with yes or no… well, at some point they realize you don’t understand what they are saying and just nod or shake their head. For paying, it is numbers, so you can use the fingers most of the time or, in shops, you can see it on the till. Sometimes they do speak English or, at least, a bit. And when they knock on the door and you don’t know what they want… you can just say “No Hindi” and “Angrezi?” (English?), and, if they don’t speak English, well, that’s it! So I think I’ll survive here!

However, sometimes you get misunderstandings. A rickshaw driver wanted us to pay sixty rupees, but that didn’t make sense to us, because it was too much, so we asked “Sixteen?” and he said: “Yes, sixteen”. Then, on arrival, he wanted us to pay sixty… we paid 20 in the end, which was the normal price for the distance. I also got two ladies into the house because they said something about cleaning lady and, the rest of the words, in Hindi. I thought they were coming instead of our cleaning lady, but, in fact, they were looking for work! So I got them in the house… and, in the end, we called our neighbour, who is very nice, so that she would help us and be our interpreter!

I have also bought a “Teach yourself Hindi” book and I may start getting classes next week. For the moment, I know the alphabet more or less (devanagari) and some basic expressions, like “My name is Aida” or “That is too expensive” (very useful for bargaining).

But even speaking Hindi wouldn’t be perfect. Ahmedabad is in Gujarat, where people speak Gujarati! It may be a bit similar to Hindi, but I think that people from other regions here don’t understand them; although they can always communicate in Hindi (as far as I know). Writing is also different, although some letters seem to be a bit similar. It is annoying, because when I go to the shops and I don’t know their vegetables, I cannot even read their names to look for it later on and check how to cook them!

I’ll keep you updated about my Hindi… फिर मिलेंगे or see you later!