Language

Hello there,

I read a post earlier but can't find it at the moment where the writer was expressing her annoyance about the incorrect grammar between Hindi and Gujarati in the show. Because I am strictly English speaking, can you help me understand.

Are Hindi and Gujarati similar languages but just have different words?

Or are they different languages but share similar words?

Can Hindi and Gujarati speaking people automatically understand each other?

For you, is the show being spoken in Hindi, Gujarati and English at the same time?

Thank you.

I know!! 😡 I'm so glad I'm not the only one who feels this way!

Chhe is a Gujarati word that means "is." As you probably know, different languages have different sentence structures. So in Indian languages the verb usually goes at the end. For example instead of saying "I am good" in Indian languages one would say "I good am." So in Hindi the verb for "to be" is hai and in Gujarati it's chhe. In this show one thing they do often to make it more Gujarati is make the characters say an entire sentence in Hindi and then replace the hai with chhe. You probably don't notice it much, but for people like us who speak both languages it gets kind of annoying to hear them throw in these word salads in the script rather than actual sentences. It's kind of similar to when people speak in English but then they keep using the French word moi. For example, they'll say "moi is so happy..." I don't know if you've ever heard anyone say that, but I have, and it's so frustrating.

If it seems to be common practice for the producers to combine the two languages wouldn't it be better to just use one language throughout the whole show?

Perhaps I should ask the producer!

No problem!

Well here's the thing, these shows are made for the masses, that's why they are in Hindi. Many people in India understand and can speak Hindi. So the bulk of the show is in Hindi. However, the storywriters often want shows to have different cultural backdrops (e.g. Punjabi, Gujarati, Bengali, etc). So in order to highlight the fact that it is a Punjabi/Gujarati/Bengali/etc family, they'll put in a few sentences here and there. ADDKN is set in Gujarat and the families are shown as Gujarati so to make it seem more Gujarati, they add in these words. Except the way it's been executed in this show so far, hasn't been great. It would make sense to use Gujarati when a character has only one sentence to say at a specific point in time. But making them say half a sentence in Gujarati when they have a paragraph worth of lines to say doesn't make sense or sound right. Another thing that adds to the issue is that most of the actors (including Pranav and Jyoti) aren't Gujarati. Pranav has done a fantastic job in changing his dialect, he often says Hindi words in a Gujarati accent (I personally find it so funny 😆) and I think that that's a great way to highlight the Gujarati backdrop. The same is true for Anand Kaka and Teja's Mamaji; when they speak Hindi, it's very evident that they have a Gujarati accent. For me this is much more effective at highlighting the Gujarati than replacing the "hai's" with "chhe's." The one thing that's strange is that Teja is shown to have been born and brought up in Gujarat, yet I have not heard her say a word in Gujarati. Maybe it's because they're trying to show that she's educated, so she only speaks Hindi. 😕 Idk, anyways that was such a long ramble. Sorry, I just wish the scriptwriters would execute the Gujarati backdrop of the show a little better.

It's been so interesting learning about this. Do they use "two languages" so to speak in these soap type shows or do they do the same in the Bollywood movies?

I suppose it might be easier for me to watch the shows because I don't know the language and then I can just read the subtitles. As opposed to you who know the language but you are hearing it a bit choppy when they combine the two languages.

In case you weren't aware, there are some discrepancies for us English viewers too. Sometimes the actors will say something in English and the English subtitles will use different words. So they might say, "Don't worry about it," but the subtitle will say "Relax about it." Umm...clearly that was not what he said!! Oh well, keeps you alert!