Talk:Fiji Hindi

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If the constitution mandates “Hindustani,” which encompasses the entire Hindi-Urdu Sprachraum, wouldn’t Fijian Hindi fall under that definition? Maybe that section should be reworded.
Also, I assume the Hindustani translation of the constitution is in Devanagari; would that not basically make it Standard Hindi? In that case, does anybody know why the terminology opted for is Hindustani, instead of Hindi?

I removed the chart of numbers as they were otherwise identical to Hindi, except 2 and 6, which are already mentioned in the text. —Wiki Wikardo 13:20, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] More Numbers in Fiji Hindi

Wait, the paragraph says numbers above ten use the English words, but goes on to say “[n]umbers greater than twenty are made up of a combination of the Hindi multiple of ten plus the Hindi number between one and nine.” This strikes me as contradictory. —Wiki Wikardo 23:26, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

I recommend asking User:Girmitya, a native speaker, for clarification. BTW, removing the numbers on the basis that most of them are the same as in standard Hindi is akin to removing the numbers from Spanish just because most of them are similar to Portuguese or Italian numbers. It doesn't make sense to me. David Cannon 11:52, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

Firstly Fiji Hindi is a spoken language and has very little literature of its own, although in recent times attempts have been made to write Fiji Indian history in Fiji Hindi. Almost all official publications targeted at Fiji Indians is in Standard Hindi which Fiji Indians learn in schools. Muslims would learn Urdu in schools.

Secondly, the purpose of the article was to explain the Fiji Hindi as a distinct Language, developing in Fiji. From my experience people from India who speak Hindi are unable to understand Fiji Hindi, although a Punjabi (regarded as a different language in India) speaking person will most of the time understand Standard Hindi.

Finally, regarding the numbers. Most Fiji Indians only use the numbers one to ten in a form derived from Standard Hindi but use English numbers for numbers greater than 10, but older Fiji Indians and those living in rural areas would also use Hindi numbers between 10 and 20. The numbers provided in the table was given to provide a full list of numbers as used by Fiji Indians, so readers could understand how they are different from Standard Hindi. Girmitya 02:49, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

I can only assume you mean numbers up to 29? Or 99? Neither 21 nor 37 is between 10 and 20.

Also, as stated before, according to the table, the only numbers that are written differently than in Standard Hindi are 2 and 6. Wiki Wikardo 13:31, 24 March 2007 (UTC)