What language do Bolly celebs speak at home? - Page 3

Podcasts and shows on Netflix are for audience of all backgrounds. So why will they not be in English primarily? They want to reach out to all audiences be it foreigners, NRIs and non Hindi speakers.

Or else they remain regional or local audience confined.

Interviews and podcasts or web series are no way to gauge what language people speak at home.

Though Indian celebs speak neither Indian languages correctly nor English correctly. Their English is useless except for someone like AB Sr who uses correct grammar and has good vocabulary and uses less slang.

Pre 90s celebs had better knowledge of Indian languages and English.

What language one chooses to speak at home is entirely their own choice and honestly none of our business.

Adding more to the Konkani discourse. Konkani is not limited to Goa but is spoken up and down the Konkan coast. Goa happens to be entirely on the coast so Konkani is the lingua franca. With Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, and Gujarat (which does have a small Konkani population.) the states are much larger so Konkani is spoken mostly on the coast only. In the Udipi/Mangalore area SB and GSB Konkani is spoken. Goan Konkani has many Portuguese loanwords. Malvani Konkani has many Marathi loanwords. Many of the coastal regions like Chiplun, Ratnagiri etc. have their own dialects of Konkani.

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As for why so many people speak English primarily. Bollywood celebrities who grew up in Bombay go to convent schools like Bombay Scottish, Don Bosco, etc. These schools teach English from the kindergarten level so English is the first language (or the children grow up truly multilingual). Bombay is also a melting pot where everyone has a different mother tongue. So by default from a very young age children communicate with each other in English. Students who do go to Hindi or Marathi medium schools tend to communicate in those languages as their first language. Lots of variances in primary language by suburb and class also.

But year, many celebrities speak English because that's what they grew up with primarily. I think it maybe true with many large metros across India.

Originally posted by: HearMeRoar

Goans are South Indians.

Konkani people are not limited to Goa. There are many all over South India.

Thank You!

I don't know why (maybe tourism) but for some reason, Indians don't realize that Goans are South Indians too. I've had major arguments with people trying to convince them that my roots are South Indian.

Originally posted by: return_to_hades

Adding more to the Konkani discourse. Konkani is not limited to Goa but is spoken up and down the Konkan coast. Goa happens to be entirely on the coast so Konkani is the lingua franca. With Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, and Gujarat (which does have a small Konkani population.) the states are much larger so Konkani is spoken mostly on the coast only. In the Udipi/Mangalore area SB and GSB Konkani is spoken. Goan Konkani has many Portuguese loanwords. Malvani Konkani has many Marathi loanwords. Many of the coastal regions like Chiplun, Ratnagiri etc. have their own dialects of Konkani.

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As for why so many people speak English primarily. Bollywood celebrities who grew up in Bombay go to convent schools like Bombay Scottish, Don Bosco, etc. These schools teach English from the kindergarten level so English is the first language (or the children grow up truly multilingual). Bombay is also a melting pot where everyone has a different mother tongue. So by default from a very young age children communicate with each other in English. Students who do go to Hindi or Marathi medium schools tend to communicate in those languages as their first language. Lots of variances in primary language by suburb and class also.

But year, many celebrities speak English because that's what they grew up with primarily. I think it maybe true with many large metros across India.

Does that make sense though? The bold is true of America, too. But I literally speak fluent Nepali at home with parents and relatives and switch to English no problem if I have to speak to an English speaker? Other people of my generation who live abroad do the same. They understand English just fine but it’s about respect when you’re at home and not surrounded by non-Nepali speakers. Maybe it’s just different for us ABCD kids

Only kangana speaks English at home, all the time. She gives English lessons to everyone.

The rest revert back to their mother tongue as soon as the cameras leave.

Originally posted by: Supari_khala

Does that make sense though? The bold is true of America, too. But I literally speak fluent Nepali at home with parents and relatives and switch to English no problem if I have to speak to an English speaker? Other people of my generation who live abroad do the same. They understand English just fine but it’s about respect when you’re at home and not surrounded by non-Nepali speakers. Maybe it’s just different for us ABCD kids

I'm one of those who grew up multilingual, with 3 languages.

After a while, your reading is mostly English. I read plenty of Malayalam, but while there's great literature, most of it just didn't fit the rapidly modernizing world around me.

TV shows were/are nausea-inducing. So my watching habits also turned American while I was still a child in India. Can you imagine you turn on the screen, and there's nothing besides Ekta-type shows? I was watching reruns of American shows because there was nothing else I related to.

Besides, a lot of my friends in school were not Malayalis. They did learn the language since they were living in the state, but we found it easier to converse in English.

By the time I was in my teens, I was thinking in English.

Then, I moved to the U.S. and found American Malayalis speaking exclusively in Malayalam at home😆

I still speak Malayalam fluently and Hindi is something I can understand. But my default setting is English.

I've come to regard English as much an Indian language now, TBH. I mean, a few million Americans created their version of English. So if 10% of India speaks English, that's still 140 million people. That's our version of English. 😆

Originally posted by: Supari_khala

Does that make sense though? The bold is true of America, too. But I literally speak fluent Nepali at home with parents and relatives and switch to English no problem if I have to speak to an English speaker? Other people of my generation who live abroad do the same. They understand English just fine but it’s about respect when you’re at home and not surrounded by non-Nepali speakers. Maybe it’s just different for us ABCD kids

good for you!

given hindi is the first (and second) language spoken and understood by the most number of Indians, I think it makes sense for people wanting to be in the hindi BW industry to learn and speak that language too (in addition to anything else they know). It would help them come off more natural in their acting and probably give them a more solid connect with the audiences. I can think of AB Sr who has that command of hindi language... and his acting reflects that. There are probably a lot of older actors too who had that familiarity with hindi. They probably could not even speak english well, and they still did well.

from the looks of these characters, i think they walk, talk and act filmi at home too. Kuch kuch hota hai and all. 😆

Originally posted by: Supari_khala

Does that make sense though? The bold is true of America, too. But I literally speak fluent Nepali at home with parents and relatives and switch to English no problem if I have to speak to an English speaker? Other people of my generation who live abroad do the same. They understand English just fine but it’s about respect when you’re at home and not surrounded by non-Nepali speakers. Maybe it’s just different for us ABCD kids

Why would it not make sense? When everyone speaks a different language, it makes sense to have an education in a single common language. English tends to be preferred because of colonization but also because people perceive English as opening more opportunities in life.

I grew up quadrilingual in Bombay (English, Konkani, Hindi, Marathi). With my immediate family, I speak a mix of English and Konkani. Most of the time I am not even aware of what language I am speaking in with my family - it just flows. By some of my friends spoke Tamil, Telugu, and Bengali - languages I don't speak - so I defaulted to English with them many times, more like Hinglish because all language in Bombay is really b@stardized. I was in my twenties when I realized that kanda batata is not Hindi.

As podcasts and similar content is for global consumption, it makes financial sense to host them in English for wider audience reach. This primarily would factor into the advertising revenues they can rake in as opposed to pigeon holing themselves into Hindi or any specific Indian language.

That said, The new gen celebs like Jhanvi, Ananya, even the likes of Kylie ( who they try to copy) speak awful English. The new gen Desi celebs speak more Hinglish, and generally have poor command of either language and can barely express themselves concisely.

I think it’s primarily because they don’t aim to speak one language properly, they haven’t read core English/Hindi literature (like classics, or widely popular novels, think pieces) nor do they practice writing the said language.