Hindi Diwas
A unique Indian celebration of the Hindi language
As the third most spoken language across the globe, Hindi is used by 602 million individuals in almost 40 countries as either their mother tongue (‘L1’) or as a second language (‘L2’). It is also one of two official languages within India (the other being English), where more than 98% of its speakers are located. Despite its official status, Hindi is just one of 452 Indian languages in one of the most linguistically diverse countries on the planet, and is the L1 language for less than 30% of India’s population (Derivation, Ethnologue).
Countries where people use Hindi as their first language
To encourage wider adoption, the language is the focus of a unique annual national language event called Hindi Diwas (Hindi Day), held each year on September 14th, to promote its continued usage within Hindi-speaking states and across India as a whole. The formal origins of this event date back to an agreement being reached within the Constitution of India, on 14 September 1949, which defined Hindi and English as official Government languages (Wikipedia). Of course, there was also earlier foundational work to promote the use of Hindi, including the notable contributions of Mahatma Gandhi, Beohar Rajendra Simha and Balkrishna Sharma Navin. The first Hindi Diwas was observed in 1953 by the country’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and has since become an important annual event.
In addition to its traditional written and spoken forms, Hindi is also one of the strongest and most influential digital languages, globally and nationally. Hindi is a ‘supported language’ across a range of digital platforms, offering access to digital content, spell checkers, speech recognition and even voice assistants (e.g., Alexa). Aside from English, it has the highest level of Digital Language Support out of all languages within India. On the global stage, it is one of around 30 languages to be considered as ‘Thriving’ – the highest level of digital ascension for languages.
Digital Language Support across the Top 10 languages in India
Hindi Diwas is blending the traditions of the past whilst embracing the current and future, and continues to encourage and reward the use of Hindi. This includes events such as essay writing, debates, and poetry recitation, within schools and other institutions. In some states, school children enter competitions to design slogans to show why Hindi learning is essential, and businesses often display extra signage in Hindi alongside locally used languages. The Bhasha Samman award is given to people who have contributed significantly to the language via literary or artistic works. Although Hindi Day is a national celebration of the language within India, Hindi is also a global language with a global presence. So, to the 602 million speakers of the language around the world, we wish you a happy and healthy Hindi Diwas!
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- Information:
- Wikipedia (Hindi Day – Wikipedia)
