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what language is spoken in india

India does not have a single national language; at the union (central government) level, Hindi and English are the main official languages, and 22 other major languages have constitutional recognition.

Quick Scoop: The language picture in India

  • Hindi (in Devanagari script) is the primary official language of the Government of India.
  • English is also an official language of the union and is widely used in government, law, higher education, and business.
  • The constitution lists 22 “scheduled languages”, which include Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, and others.
  • States and union territories choose their own official language(s), so you will see Telugu in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil in Tamil Nadu, Bengali in West Bengal, Marathi in Maharashtra, etc.
  • Linguistically, India is one of the most diverse countries in the world, with over a hundred distinct languages and many more mother tongues used in daily life.

In everyday terms: if you travel across India, the language on signboards, in markets, and at home can change from state to state, but Hindi and English often help people communicate across regions.

TL;DR: People in India speak many languages; Hindi and English are the main official ones at the national level, and 22 constitutionally recognized languages plus many regional tongues are used across different states.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.