Re: "Hindilish" & "Hinglish"

>
> > As Daniel said, English will always have a place in India. I see it
> > becoming, if it's not already, the second largest English speaking
country
> > in the world. In fact there was a survey in 1997 according to which 30%
of
> > Indians said they understood English. In a population of one billion,
that
> > even beats America.
> >
> How many as a first language?
>
> - andrew.
Probably very very few as most people will learn to speak their mother
tongue, if not to read or write in it. But in recent years, most rich or
middle class parents in my state and I imagine around the country have been
sending their children to English medium schools. I would do the same as an
English speaking student would have an advantage when it comes to looking
for jobs etc. But some state governments have apparently decided that enough
is enough. For example Tamil Nadu has taken the decision to have all
education upto the fifth standard in Tamil. West Bengal's been following the
policy of only Bengali till the fifth since 1978 or thereabouts. Anyway, a
case's been filed in Tamil Nadu by a parent who wants to the right to choose
the education that his child gets. The argument will be about the government
infringing on the democratic rights of its citizens etc.  I've always been
amazed that countries like France could impose language restrictions on its
citizens - like not using the word walk-man. French will always be what the
people of France want it to be, and not what the government of France thinks
it should be.