--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: India's linguistic diversity surprises…" description: "\"“India's linguistic diversity surprises many Westerners, but there are nearly thirty languages in India with at least a million native speakers. There ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/05b/bob-harris-67326_languages-india_india-s-linguistic-diversity-surprises-m_2430815.jpg" --- # India's linguistic diversity surprises many Westerners… ![“India's linguistic diversity surprises many Westerners, but there are nearly thirty languages in India with at least a million native speakers. There are more native speakers of Tamil on our planet than of Italian. Likewise, more people speak Punjabi than German, Marathi than French, and Bengali…” quote by Bob Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/05b/bob-harris-67326_languages-india_india-s-linguistic-diversity-surprises-m_2430815.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/05b/bob-harris-67326_languages-india_india-s-linguistic-diversity-surprises-m_2430815.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/05b/bob-harris-67326_languages-india_india-s-linguistic-diversity-surprises-m_2430815.jpg) > ““India's linguistic diversity surprises many Westerners, but there are nearly thirty languages in India with at least a million native speakers. There are more native speakers of Tamil on our planet than of Italian. Likewise, more people speak Punjabi than German, Marathi than French, and Bengali than Russian. There are more Telugu speakers than Czech, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Greek, Slovak, and Swedish speakers combined .”” Bob Harris ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. India’s linguistic landscape is vast, with many languages spoken by millions, surpassing many European languages in speaker numbers. **In simple terms:** India has many widely spoken languages. Key Takeaway Recognize linguistic diversity. Themes culture language diversity Mood informative curious Type educational inspirational When to use this quote - education policy - media broadcasting - travel planning - cross‑cultural communication Key Concepts linguistics demographics Questions to Reflect On - How does language diversity shape national identity? - What can be done to support minority languages? A Different Perspective Dominant languages may still marginalize smaller ones. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet ## Related quotes > [“Can we reconcile indefinitely these two imperatives: the desire to preserve every individual's special identity and the need for Europeans to be able to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amin-maalouf/can-we-reconcile-indefinitely-these-two-imperatives-the-desire-to/) [Amin Maalouf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amin-maalouf/) > [“I patch together a living language out of reanimated parts, like Frankenstein, and feel no disgust at scrabbling in the charnel house. Each of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shelley-jackson/i-patch-together-a-living-language-out-of-reanimated-parts-like/) [Shelley Jackson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shelley-jackson/) > [“He made us write papers without using “good,” “bad,” “very,” “like,” or any form of “to be,” and it was the native speakers who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-browning/he-made-us-write-papers-without-using-good-bad-very-like-or-any-form/) [James Browning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-browning/) > [Native speakers of a language know intuitively whether a sentence is grammatical or not. They usually cannot specify exactly what is wrong, and very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-farb/native-speakers-of-a-language-know-intuitively-whether-a-sentence-is/) [Peter Farb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-farb/) > [Above all, translators must be native speakers. It’s not because they speak the language better – I understand that sometimes a foreigner can learn…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sergei-lukyanenko/above-all-translators-must-be-native-speakers-it-s-not-because-they/) [Sergei Lukyanenko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sergei-lukyanenko/) > [I haven't spoken English with native speakers in several months. I've been speaking Arabic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-walker-lindh/i-haven-t-spoken-english-with-native-speakers-in-several-months-i-ve/) [John Walker Lindh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-walker-lindh/) > [Even in India the Hindi film industry might be the best known but there are movies made in other regional languages in India, be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aishwarya-rai-bachchan/even-in-india-the-hindi-film-industry-might-be-the-best-known-but/) [Aishwarya Rai Bachchan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aishwarya-rai-bachchan/) > [I love and respect all languages of India. I have sung songs in different languages.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kumar-sanu/i-love-and-respect-all-languages-of-india-i-have-sung-songs-in/) [Kumar Sanu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kumar-sanu/) > [Actually, I want to work in all the languages in India, even if there is no money in some of the industries, like Bhojpuri,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jagapathi-babu/actually-i-want-to-work-in-all-the-languages-in-india-even-if-there/) [Jagapathi Babu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jagapathi-babu/) > [Translations are very important these days, since an average person can only know 2-3 three languages. We have so many languages in India and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gulzar/translations-are-very-important-these-days-since-an-average-person/) [Gulzar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gulzar/) > [“There are over six thousand languages in India, as per one estimate. At home, my driver speaks three: Kannada, Tamil and Telugu. I speak…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachna-singh/there-are-over-six-thousand-languages-in-india-as-per-one-estimate-at/) [Rachna Singh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachna-singh/) > [I think with so many languages in India, it helps in taking music beyond one particular language.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonita-gandhi/i-think-with-so-many-languages-in-india-it-helps-in-taking-music/) [Jonita Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonita-gandhi/) > [Apparently, there are as many as 880 spoken languages in India, out of which 31 languages have been given an official status. To hear,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shweta-basu-prasad/apparently-there-are-as-many-as-880-spoken-languages-in-india-out-of/) [Shweta Basu Prasad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shweta-basu-prasad/) ## More by Bob Harris > [“Our lives take on meaning to the degree that our love and our actions are the same.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-harris/our-lives-take-on-meaning-to-the-degree-that-our-love-and-our-actions/) Bob Harris > [“Monstrous wars that had killed tens of thousands of innocent people weren’t enough to inspire enlightened self-interest. Tiny loans, on the other hand, were.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-harris/monstrous-wars-that-had-killed-tens-of-thousands-of-innocent-people/) Bob Harris > [“In high school, we barely brushed against Ogden Nash, Lewis Carroll, Edward Lear, or any of the other so-unserious writers who delight everyone they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-harris/in-high-school-we-barely-brushed-against-ogden-nash-lewis-carroll/) Bob Harris Explore all 4 Bob Harris quotes ## More Languages India quotes > [Actually, I want to work in all the languages in India, even if there is no money in some of the industries, like Bhojpuri,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jagapathi-babu/actually-i-want-to-work-in-all-the-languages-in-india-even-if-there/) [Jagapathi Babu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jagapathi-babu/) > [Even in India the Hindi film industry might be the best known but there are movies made in other regional languages in India, be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aishwarya-rai-bachchan/even-in-india-the-hindi-film-industry-might-be-the-best-known-but/) [Aishwarya Rai Bachchan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aishwarya-rai-bachchan/) > [I love and respect all languages of India. I have sung songs in different languages.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kumar-sanu/i-love-and-respect-all-languages-of-india-i-have-sung-songs-in/) [Kumar Sanu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kumar-sanu/) > [Translations are very important these days, since an average person can only know 2-3 three languages. We have so many languages in India and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gulzar/translations-are-very-important-these-days-since-an-average-person/) [Gulzar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gulzar/) > [“There are over six thousand languages in India, as per one estimate. At home, my driver speaks three: Kannada, Tamil and Telugu. I speak…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachna-singh/there-are-over-six-thousand-languages-in-india-as-per-one-estimate-at/) [Rachna Singh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachna-singh/) > [I think with so many languages in India, it helps in taking music beyond one particular language.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonita-gandhi/i-think-with-so-many-languages-in-india-it-helps-in-taking-music/) [Jonita Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonita-gandhi/) > [Apparently, there are as many as 880 spoken languages in India, out of which 31 languages have been given an official status. To hear,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shweta-basu-prasad/apparently-there-are-as-many-as-880-spoken-languages-in-india-out-of/) [Shweta Basu Prasad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shweta-basu-prasad/) Browse all 8 Languages India quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“India's linguistic diversity surprises many Westerners, but there are nearly thirty languages in India with at least a million native speakers. There are more native speakers of Tamil on our planet than of Italian. Likewise, more people speak Punjabi than German, Marathi than French, and Bengali than Russian. There are more Telugu speakers than Czech, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Greek, Slovak, and Swedish speakers combined .”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Bob Harris" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-harris/india-s-linguistic-diversity-surprises-many-westerners-but-there-are/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Languages India" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-harris/india-s-linguistic-diversity-surprises-many-westerners-but-there-are/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/05b/bob-harris-67326_languages-india_india-s-linguistic-diversity-surprises-m_2430815.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/05b/bob-harris-67326_languages-india_india-s-linguistic-diversity-surprises-m_2430815.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/05b/bob-harris-67326_languages-india_india-s-linguistic-diversity-surprises-m_2430815.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“India's linguistic diversity surprises many Westerners, but there are nearly thirty languages in India with…” — Bob Harris", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Bob Harris", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-harris/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“India's linguistic diversity surprises many Westerners,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-harris/india-s-linguistic-diversity-surprises-many-westerners-but-there-are/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-harris/india-s-linguistic-diversity-surprises-many-westerners-but-there-are/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```