Hindi Language

There are over 430 million Hindi speakers around the world. It is one of India’s official languages and is mostly spoken in the northern part of India. Hindi is also spoken in Trinidad & Tobago, Mauritius, Nepal, Fiji, Suriname, and Guyana. An interesting fact is that many commonly-used words nowadays are loanwords from Hindi and not only in English but in many other languages. For example, words like bungalow, yoga, karma, guru, sorbet, shampoo, and many more are well known in the West and we use them in our day-to-day life!

The Hindi Media Scene

The first thing that comes to mind when mentioning Hindi and media in the same sentence would be Bollywood, right? It’s a whole universe on its own which in its own way brings out the real value of tackling the language and culture barrier. If Hollywood movies were fitting everyone’s taste then Bollywood wouldn’t exist at all.
Add the Devanagari script, the number of dialects and the vast market Idia is and you’ve got a very good reason to think about Hindi media translation to gain access to that market.

That goes in the other direction too, as movies produced in India have their own followers and viewership all over the world. It goes without saying they need proper adaptation into other languages in order to be understood and appreciated.

Language facts that affect English to Hindi and to other languages translation:

The complexity of Hindi translation

1. The written language > Translation Service

• Loan words: Hindi borrows heavily from Persian and Arabic. Over 5,000 words are loan words from these languages, which significantly enhances the vocabulary of the language making it a challenge when performing Hindi translation.
• The details: To a foreigner, the loanwords can look the same but a small dot can totally change the meaning of a word. The dot is called a Nuqtā (नुक़्ता), also spelled Nuktā and is a diacritic sign. In the Devanagari script, it represents a sound that has been introduced into the language later on.

2. The spoken language > Media Service

• Dialects: In Hindi, there are over 400 dialects and 4 varieties of the language (High Hindi, Literary Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Standard Hindi). The target group is the most important as you need to know which dialect exactly you will need. The translator has to translate into this dialect as well as consider the region where the audience belongs. And that is not all – the difference and sensitivity of the culture, politics, and society are a few more factors that should be taken into account.
• Regional influence: One of the biggest challenges in Hindi translation is the diversity of the language. The regional dialects are so many that it is hard to even count them all. When it comes to translating English into Hindi, the dialect of the translator is recognizable in the translation as well.

1-StopMedia’s solution for you

At 1-StopMedia we believe that sharing our experience with our clients and partners is an essential part of delivering the services your company needs. We branched out from 1-StopAsia with the single purpose of concentrating on improving our media translation services and creating a flawless and tailored solution for LSPs and large business companies that require media services for Asian languages.

Drawing from over 20 years of experience, we benefit from the skillful and accurate translators we have and at the same time fit our process to match your workflow and requirements. Our project managers are experienced in working with Asian languages, work as per ISO 17100 and ISO 9001 and at the same time can advise you on the type of services your company needs.